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How to create assignments for your canvas course.

  • Quick Start
  • Instructor Help
  • Student Help

How to Create Assignments

Using assignments in Canvas provides a streamlined process for assigning homework and creating quizzes for students.  Canvas considers an ‘assignment’ to be anything that is graded, whether that be a quiz or homework assignment, and whether it’s delivered entirely online, paper-and-pencil, or is a participatory assignment with no actual deliverable.

This Quick Start guide will cover the creation of assignments where the student submits a file electronically, on paper, using an external tool such as Turnitin or Panopto , or where no submission is expected (e.g. class participation). See How to Create Tests and Quizzes for Your Canvas Course and Create and Manage Discussions for more information about using those tools as assignments.

1. In the Course Navigation menu, click the Assignments link.

Navigation menu in Canvas with red arrow pointing to link for Assignments.

2. Click “ +Assignment ” at the top right.

Blue add assignment button in Canvas.

3. Write the assignment title and directions for students.

Screenshot indicating with red arrows to the Assignment Name text box and the RCE text box

4. Assign the number of points available for the assignment.

Screenshot of Points field in a Canvas assignment showing a sample value of 20.

5. Choose an “ Assignment Group” . Assignment groups are, in essence, a category of assignment. For more information about using Assignment Groups, see the Canvas guides regarding Assignments.

Screenshot of assignments dashboard in Canvas with drop down menu showing how to assign an assignment to a group.

6. There are four submission types :

Screenshot of Canvas assignments with drop down menu indicating how to select an assignment type. Red arrow pointing to the "online" option.

  • No Submission: an activity where nothing will be collected from students (e.g. a participation grade)
  • For the full details about the online assignment subtypes, (text entry, annotation, file upload, etc.), please see the official documentation .
  • We have a recorded mini-webinar on annotation assignments, including assignment ideas, available on the Training Webinars page.
  • On Paper: assignments/quizzes/activities that were written on paper and collected by the instructor
  • External Tool: assignments submitted through a 3rd party tool that is integrated with Canvas, such as a textbook publisher’s website or Turnitin

7. Submission Attempts: You may allow unlimited submission attempts for Online assignments, or restrict attempts to one or more. When a student submits to an assignment they have already submitted to, the previous submission is retained as well, and the instructor may view both.

8. Group Assignments and Peer Reviews:  Assignments can be created as either a group assignment or peer review assignment.

9. Assign options- You can assign an assignment to your entire class, a specific student, and/or a section of your class. You can also set the due date and the availability dates (when your students can submit their assignment). Each section can have different due dates and availability dates.

Screenshot of assignment parameters in Canvas with red arrows pointing as "Assign to:", "Date:" and available fields.

10. If you are finished creating the assignment, click on “ Save & Publish “. If you are not finished creating the assignment, click on “ Save ” and you may come back and work on it more later without students having access to it.

Canvas assignment button with "Save" highlighted in blue.

Instructor Help for Assignments

Creating assignments.

  • How do I create an assignment?
  • How do I add a moderated assignment to be graded by multiple reviewers?
  • How do I create an online assignment?
  • How do I add or edit details in an assignment?
  • How do I add or edit points for an assignment?
  • What assignment types can I create in a course?
  • How do I limit submission attempts for an assignment?
  • How do I add an assignment that includes anonymous grading?
  • How do I enable anonymous instructor annotations in student submissions?
  • How do I import SCORM files as an assignment?
  • How do I publish or unpublish an assignment as an instructor?

Managing Assignments

  • How do I use the Assignments Index Page?
  • Can a student resubmit Canvas assignments?
  • How do I assign an assignment to everyone in a course?
  • How do I assign an assignment to a course group?
  • How do I assign an assignment to a course section?
  • How do I assign an assignment to an individual student?
  • How do I view differentiated assignments with different due dates in a course?
  • How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
  • How do I delete an assignment?
  • How do I duplicate an assignment?
  • How do I move or reorder an assignment?
  • How do I use Direct Share to copy an assignment to another course?
  • How do I use Direct Share to send an assignment to another instructor?

Creating and Managing Peer Review Assignments

  • How do I create a peer review assignment?
  • How do I use peer review assignments in a course?
  • How do I automatically assign peer reviews for an assignment?
  • How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment?
  • How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor?

Creating External Tool Assignments

  • How do I add an assignment using an external app?
  • How do I create a cloud assignment with a Microsoft Office 365 file?

Using Assignment Groups

  • How do I add an assignment group in a course?
  • How do I create an assignment shell in an assignment group?
  • How do I create rules for an assignment group?
  • How do I move or reorder an assignment group?
  • How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?

Grading Considerations

  • How do I add a grading scheme to an assignment?
  • How do I download all student submissions for an assignment?
  • How do I upload all student submissions for an assignment?
  • How do I exclude an assignment from the course’s final grades?
  • How do I give extra credit in a course?

Student Help for Assignments

  • How do I view Assignments as a student?
  • How do I filter assignments by type as a student?
  • How do I submit an online assignment?
  • How do I submit a text entry assignment?
  • How do I enter a URL as an assignment submission?
  • How do I submit a media file as an assignment submission?
  • How do I upload a file as an assignment submission in Canvas?
  • How do I upload a file from Microsoft Office 365 as an assignment submission?
  • How do I know when my assignment has been submitted?
  • How do I manage celebration animations in Canvas as a student?
  • How do I submit a cloud assignment with Microsoft Office 365?
  • How do I download assignment submissions from all my courses?
  • How do I annotate a file as an assignment submission in Canvas?
  • How do I use DocViewer in Canvas assignments as a student?
  • How do I submit a PDF assignment with annotations in the Student app on my Android device?
  • How do I add annotations to a submission in the Student app on my iOS device?

Groups and Peer

  • How do I submit an assignment on behalf of a group?
  • How do I know if I have a peer review assignment to complete?
  • How do I submit a peer review to an assignment?
  • Where can I find my peers’ feedback for peer reviewed assignments?
  • How do I view the rubric for my assignment?
  • How do I view the rubric for my external tool assignment?
  • How do I view rubric results for my assignment?
  • How do I know when my instructor has graded my assignment?
  • How do I view assignment comments from my instructor?
  • How do I view annotation feedback comments from my instructor directly in my assignment submission?
  • How do I view my Roll Call Attendance report as a student?
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IT Connect | UW Information Technology

About assignments in Canvas

Watch a video overview of Canvas assignments

Why do I have to re-create my assignments in Canvas?

If you already have assignments created in Word or Google docs, Catalyst tools, or posted online, you might wonder, “What’s the point is of recreating them in Canvas?” Not only does Canvas make it easy to create assignments with lots of options (selective release, group assignments, peer review, submission type) it also adds convenience for you and your students.

What are Assignment Groups?

Like Catalyst Gradebook, Canvas prefers for you to create assignment groups for organization. The groups you create control how the gradebook is structured and you can choose to weight final grades based on those groups. By default you begin with a group called Assignments. You can choose to keep all of your assignments in this one group, or create as many new ones as you like.

Where do I create assignments?

You can create assignments in the Assignments area of Canvas or in the Calendar. Your Assignments page will show the work you have assigned. In student view, the Assignments page will show all assigned work and the point value of each (if you set point values when setting up an assignment). Any graded activity (such as a discussion, quiz, essay or project) can be an assignment.

When you create an assignment in your Canvas course it is automatically added to the assignment list on the Syllabus page, the course calendar, and your gradebook. If you change the due date for an assignment, Canvas updates it course-wide. If you alter the assignment you can have Canvas notify your students.

What can I do with assignments?

Assignments can be used to:

  • Set up online submissions that can be quickly graded in the SpeedGrader™
  • Grade online submissions work submitted on paper
  • Set up peer review
  • Grade Discussions, either among the whole class or student groups
  • Open Quizzes for a limited amount of time
  • Create ungraded activities that align with course outcomes

Assignments and Grading

Having your assignments in Canvas and automatically linked to the gradebook means you can take advantage of SpeedGrader and rubrics to make the grading process faster and more efficient. Canvas communication tools allow you to provide your students with text or multimedia feedback on all assignments.

Instructional Technology Blog

ITG supports faculty use of technology for teaching and learning at Emerson College

A banner image of a laptop, plant, and water bottle on a desk.

  • by Natalie Hebshie
  • August 3, 2021 February 2, 2023

Should you create assignments for readings in your Canvas course?

Last April, I co-wrote a blog post with Jodi Burrel titled Tidying Up Canvas to Help Students Stay Organized . It was a follow up to a workshop we developed together about course design strategies based on student feedback. The main purpose of these design tips was to help students and faculty manage their time and energy.

One of the things I learned from working with Jodi is that students found it very helpful when faculty created a corresponding assignment for readings that they wanted their students to do. Truthfully, this was not a strategy that I was actively encouraging at the time. I assumed it would just clutter the student assignment view and the faculty gradebook view. But once I heard that this was a game changer for students who struggled with time management, I decided to look into it and experiment with various ways to set this up in Canvas. Here is a video on what I think is the best way to set up reading assignments in Canvas:

To summarize, I recommend creating an assignment for each set of readings that are due at the same time. Having an assignment for each individual reading is too much. Listing out all of your readings in a semester long schedule on the syllabus is too clunky. You could create Canvas Calendar events instead of assignments for your readings but then you miss some of the additional prompts that you get with an assignment. An ungraded assignment for each due is just right. Here is how to do it:

  • Start with a clear naming convention that is consistent throughout the course. If your class meets live (in person or on Zoom) and you have separate readings for each session, create a different assignment for each due date. Examples could include  Week 1 Readings, Week 1 Class 1 Readings, etc.  Remember that Canvas can adjust the due date fields when importing to future courses, but it cannot adjust dates added to Name fields or Description fields. So if you do decide to include the due date in the Assignment Name field, just remember that you will need to manually change that in future courses.
  • List and link the readings in the assignment description.   Don’t refer to a list that exists elsewhere. List those readings in the description area and if they’re electronic, link to them. You can link to course files or to websites via the Rich Content Editor .
  • Set points to 0 . The purpose of this type of assignment is to let the students know exactly what they need to read and when they need to read it by. We’re keeping grades out of it so just leave the points at 0. If you’re looking to build in accountability, you’ll probably want to look at other options for low stakes tasks, such as self check quizzes or online discussions.
  • Choose “Not Graded” for Display Grade As . Again, we’re doing this for time management purposes, not for grading. Choosing Not Graded will ensure that this does not appear in your Canvas Gradebook.
  • Set a Due Date and Time . If you’ve attended any of my workshops, you know that I think this is a big deal. Adding a due date in the due date field generates a series of beautiful prompts for your students. The assignment will be listed in their To Do’s, on their Calendar, on the Course Summary on their Syllabus as well as below the assignment name in the Assignment and Module view.
  • Avoid Available From and Until Dates. These fields just restrict student access to an assignment . A student may wants or need to get a head start on readings or refer back to something that they read. We recommend removing any roadblocks that might get in the way of their ability to manage their workload.

I’d definitely recommend reading the Tidying Up Canvas post and watching the corresponding video if you haven’t done so already. You can also check out one of our upcoming sessions on the topic at teachanywhere.emerson.edu . If you do decide to incorporate reading assignments into your Canvas course, let us know how it goes, or reach out with any questions or concerns you might have at [email protected] .

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Canvas LMS - REST API and Extensions Documentation

Assignments api.

API for accessing assignment information.

An ExternalToolTagAttributes object looks like:

A lockinfo object looks like:, a rubricrating object looks like:, a rubriccriteria object looks like:, an assignmentdate object looks like:, a turnitinsettings object looks like:, a needsgradingcount object looks like:, a scorestatistic object looks like:, an assignment object looks like:, an assignmentoverride object looks like:, delete an assignment assignmentscontroller#destroy, delete /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:id.

Delete the given assignment.

Example Request:

List assignments assignmentsapicontroller#index, get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments, get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignment_groups/:assignment_group_id/assignments.

Returns the paginated list of assignments for the current course or assignment group.

Request Parameters:

Parameter Type Description
include[] string

Optional information to include with each assignment:

structures, one for each override, and also a if the assignment has an “Everyone” / “Everyone Else” date

structures

(and if is supplied) to indicate whether the caller can edit the assignment or date. Moderated grading and closed grading periods may restrict a user’s ability to edit an assignment.

Allowed values: , , , , , , ,

search_term string

The partial title of the assignments to match and return.

override_assignment_dates boolean

Apply assignment overrides for each assignment, defaults to true.

needs_grading_count_by_section boolean

Split up “needs_grading_count” by sections into the “needs_grading_count_by_section” key, defaults to false

bucket string

If included, only return certain assignments depending on due date and submission status.

Allowed values: , , , , , ,

assignment_ids[] string

if set, return only assignments specified

order_by string

Determines the order of the assignments. Defaults to “position”.

Allowed values: , ,

post_to_sis boolean

Return only assignments that have post_to_sis set or not set.

new_quizzes boolean

Return only New Quizzes assignments

List assignments for user AssignmentsApiController#user_index

Get /api/v1/users/:user_id/courses/:course_id/assignments.

Returns the paginated list of assignments for the specified user if the current user has rights to view. See List assignments for valid arguments.

Duplicate assignment AssignmentsApiController#duplicate

Post /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:assignment_id/duplicate.

Duplicate an assignment and return a json based on result_type argument.

Parameter Type Description
result_type string

Optional information: When the root account has the feature ‘newquizzes_on_quiz_page` enabled and this argument is set to “Quiz” the response will be serialized into a quiz format( ); When this argument isn’t specified the response will be serialized into an assignment format;

Allowed values:

Get a single assignment AssignmentsApiController#show

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:id.

Returns the assignment with the given id.

Parameter Type Description
include[] string

Associations to include with the assignment. The “assignment_visibility” option requires that the Differentiated Assignments course feature be turned on. If “observed_users” is passed, submissions for observed users will also be included. For “score_statistics” to be included, the “submission” option must also be set.

Allowed values: , , , , , ,

override_assignment_dates boolean

Apply assignment overrides to the assignment, defaults to true.

needs_grading_count_by_section boolean

Split up “needs_grading_count” by sections into the “needs_grading_count_by_section” key, defaults to false

all_dates boolean

All dates associated with the assignment, if applicable

Create an assignment AssignmentsApiController#create

Post /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments.

Create a new assignment for this course. The assignment is created in the active state.

Parameter Type Description
assignment[name] Required string

The assignment name.

assignment[position] integer

The position of this assignment in the group when displaying assignment lists.

assignment[submission_types][] string

List of supported submission types for the assignment. Unless the assignment is allowing online submissions, the array should only have one element.

If not allowing online submissions, your options are:

online_quiz" "none" "on_paper" "discussion_topic" "external_tool"

If you are allowing online submissions, you can have one or many allowed submission types:

Allowed values: , , , , , , , , ,

assignment[allowed_extensions][] string

Allowed extensions if submission_types includes “online_upload”

Example:

assignment[turnitin_enabled] boolean

Only applies when the Turnitin plugin is enabled for a course and the submission_types array includes “online_upload”. Toggles Turnitin submissions for the assignment. Will be ignored if Turnitin is not available for the course.

assignment[vericite_enabled] boolean

Only applies when the VeriCite plugin is enabled for a course and the submission_types array includes “online_upload”. Toggles VeriCite submissions for the assignment. Will be ignored if VeriCite is not available for the course.

assignment[turnitin_settings] string

Settings to send along to turnitin. See Assignment object definition for format.

assignment[integration_data] string

Data used for SIS integrations. Requires admin-level token with the “Manage SIS” permission. JSON string required.

assignment[integration_id] string

Unique ID from third party integrations

assignment[peer_reviews] boolean

If submission_types does not include external_tool,discussion_topic, online_quiz, or on_paper, determines whether or not peer reviews will be turned on for the assignment.

assignment[automatic_peer_reviews] boolean

Whether peer reviews will be assigned automatically by Canvas or if teachers must manually assign peer reviews. Does not apply if peer reviews are not enabled.

assignment[notify_of_update] boolean

If true, Canvas will send a notification to students in the class notifying them that the content has changed.

assignment[group_category_id] integer

If present, the assignment will become a group assignment assigned to the group.

assignment[grade_group_students_individually] integer

If this is a group assignment, teachers have the options to grade students individually. If false, Canvas will apply the assignment’s score to each member of the group. If true, the teacher can manually assign scores to each member of the group.

assignment[external_tool_tag_attributes] string

Hash of external tool parameters if submission_types is [“external_tool”]. See Assignment object definition for format.

assignment[points_possible] number

The maximum points possible on the assignment.

assignment[grading_type] string

The strategy used for grading the assignment. The assignment defaults to “points” if this field is omitted.

Allowed values: , , , , ,

assignment[due_at] DateTime

The day/time the assignment is due. Must be between the lock dates if there are lock dates. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z.

assignment[lock_at] DateTime

The day/time the assignment is locked after. Must be after the due date if there is a due date. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z.

assignment[unlock_at] DateTime

The day/time the assignment is unlocked. Must be before the due date if there is a due date. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z.

assignment[description] string

The assignment’s description, supports HTML.

assignment[assignment_group_id] integer

The assignment group id to put the assignment in. Defaults to the top assignment group in the course.

assignment[assignment_overrides][] AssignmentOverride

List of overrides for the assignment.

assignment[only_visible_to_overrides] boolean

Whether this assignment is only visible to overrides (Only useful if ‘differentiated assignments’ account setting is on)

assignment[published] boolean

Whether this assignment is published. (Only useful if ‘draft state’ account setting is on) Unpublished assignments are not visible to students.

assignment[grading_standard_id] integer

The grading standard id to set for the course. If no value is provided for this argument the current grading_standard will be un-set from this course. This will update the grading_type for the course to ‘letter_grade’ unless it is already ‘gpa_scale’.

assignment[omit_from_final_grade] boolean

Whether this assignment is counted towards a student’s final grade.

assignment[hide_in_gradebook] boolean

Whether this assignment is shown in the gradebook.

assignment[quiz_lti] boolean

Whether this assignment should use the Quizzes 2 LTI tool. Sets the submission type to ‘external_tool’ and configures the external tool attributes to use the Quizzes 2 LTI tool configured for this course. Has no effect if no Quizzes 2 LTI tool is configured.

assignment[moderated_grading] boolean

Whether this assignment is moderated.

assignment[grader_count] integer

The maximum number of provisional graders who may issue grades for this assignment. Only relevant for moderated assignments. Must be a positive value, and must be set to 1 if the course has fewer than two active instructors. Otherwise, the maximum value is the number of active instructors in the course minus one, or 10 if the course has more than 11 active instructors.

assignment[final_grader_id] integer

The user ID of the grader responsible for choosing final grades for this assignment. Only relevant for moderated assignments.

assignment[grader_comments_visible_to_graders] boolean

Boolean indicating if provisional graders’ comments are visible to other provisional graders. Only relevant for moderated assignments.

assignment[graders_anonymous_to_graders] boolean

Boolean indicating if provisional graders’ identities are hidden from other provisional graders. Only relevant for moderated assignments.

assignment[graders_names_visible_to_final_grader] boolean

Boolean indicating if provisional grader identities are visible to the the final grader. Only relevant for moderated assignments.

assignment[anonymous_grading] boolean

Boolean indicating if the assignment is graded anonymously. If true, graders cannot see student identities.

assignment[allowed_attempts] integer

The number of submission attempts allowed for this assignment. Set to -1 for unlimited attempts.

assignment[annotatable_attachment_id] integer

The Attachment ID of the document being annotated.

Only applies when submission_types includes “student_annotation”.

Edit an assignment AssignmentsApiController#update

Put /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:id.

Modify an existing assignment.

Parameter Type Description
assignment[name] string

The assignment name.

assignment[position] integer

The position of this assignment in the group when displaying assignment lists.

assignment[submission_types][] string

Only applies if the assignment doesn’t have student submissions.

List of supported submission types for the assignment. Unless the assignment is allowing online submissions, the array should only have one element.

If not allowing online submissions, your options are:

online_quiz" "none" "on_paper" "discussion_topic" "external_tool"

If you are allowing online submissions, you can have one or many allowed submission types:

Allowed values: , , , , , , , , ,

assignment[allowed_extensions][] string

Allowed extensions if submission_types includes “online_upload”

Example:

assignment[turnitin_enabled] boolean

Only applies when the Turnitin plugin is enabled for a course and the submission_types array includes “online_upload”. Toggles Turnitin submissions for the assignment. Will be ignored if Turnitin is not available for the course.

assignment[vericite_enabled] boolean

Only applies when the VeriCite plugin is enabled for a course and the submission_types array includes “online_upload”. Toggles VeriCite submissions for the assignment. Will be ignored if VeriCite is not available for the course.

assignment[turnitin_settings] string

Settings to send along to turnitin. See Assignment object definition for format.

assignment[sis_assignment_id] string

The sis id of the Assignment

assignment[integration_data] string

Data used for SIS integrations. Requires admin-level token with the “Manage SIS” permission. JSON string required.

assignment[integration_id] string

Unique ID from third party integrations

assignment[peer_reviews] boolean

If submission_types does not include external_tool,discussion_topic, online_quiz, or on_paper, determines whether or not peer reviews will be turned on for the assignment.

assignment[automatic_peer_reviews] boolean

Whether peer reviews will be assigned automatically by Canvas or if teachers must manually assign peer reviews. Does not apply if peer reviews are not enabled.

assignment[notify_of_update] boolean

If true, Canvas will send a notification to students in the class notifying them that the content has changed.

assignment[group_category_id] integer

If present, the assignment will become a group assignment assigned to the group.

assignment[grade_group_students_individually] integer

If this is a group assignment, teachers have the options to grade students individually. If false, Canvas will apply the assignment’s score to each member of the group. If true, the teacher can manually assign scores to each member of the group.

assignment[external_tool_tag_attributes] string

Hash of external tool parameters if submission_types is [“external_tool”]. See Assignment object definition for format.

assignment[points_possible] number

The maximum points possible on the assignment.

assignment[grading_type] string

The strategy used for grading the assignment. The assignment defaults to “points” if this field is omitted.

Allowed values: , , , , ,

assignment[due_at] DateTime

The day/time the assignment is due. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z.

assignment[lock_at] DateTime

The day/time the assignment is locked after. Must be after the due date if there is a due date. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z.

assignment[unlock_at] DateTime

The day/time the assignment is unlocked. Must be before the due date if there is a due date. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z.

assignment[description] string

The assignment’s description, supports HTML.

assignment[assignment_group_id] integer

The assignment group id to put the assignment in. Defaults to the top assignment group in the course.

assignment[assignment_overrides][] AssignmentOverride

List of overrides for the assignment. If the key is absent, any existing overrides are kept as is. If the key is present, existing overrides are updated or deleted (and new ones created, as necessary) to match the provided list.

assignment[only_visible_to_overrides] boolean

Whether this assignment is only visible to overrides (Only useful if ‘differentiated assignments’ account setting is on)

assignment[published] boolean

Whether this assignment is published. (Only useful if ‘draft state’ account setting is on) Unpublished assignments are not visible to students.

assignment[grading_standard_id] integer

The grading standard id to set for the course. If no value is provided for this argument the current grading_standard will be un-set from this course. This will update the grading_type for the course to ‘letter_grade’ unless it is already ‘gpa_scale’.

assignment[omit_from_final_grade] boolean

Whether this assignment is counted towards a student’s final grade.

assignment[hide_in_gradebook] boolean

Whether this assignment is shown in the gradebook.

assignment[moderated_grading] boolean

Whether this assignment is moderated.

assignment[grader_count] integer

The maximum number of provisional graders who may issue grades for this assignment. Only relevant for moderated assignments. Must be a positive value, and must be set to 1 if the course has fewer than two active instructors. Otherwise, the maximum value is the number of active instructors in the course minus one, or 10 if the course has more than 11 active instructors.

assignment[final_grader_id] integer

The user ID of the grader responsible for choosing final grades for this assignment. Only relevant for moderated assignments.

assignment[grader_comments_visible_to_graders] boolean

Boolean indicating if provisional graders’ comments are visible to other provisional graders. Only relevant for moderated assignments.

assignment[graders_anonymous_to_graders] boolean

Boolean indicating if provisional graders’ identities are hidden from other provisional graders. Only relevant for moderated assignments.

assignment[graders_names_visible_to_final_grader] boolean

Boolean indicating if provisional grader identities are visible to the the final grader. Only relevant for moderated assignments.

assignment[anonymous_grading] boolean

Boolean indicating if the assignment is graded anonymously. If true, graders cannot see student identities.

assignment[allowed_attempts] integer

The number of submission attempts allowed for this assignment. Set to -1 or null for unlimited attempts.

assignment[annotatable_attachment_id] integer

The Attachment ID of the document being annotated.

Only applies when submission_types includes “student_annotation”.

assignment[force_updated_at] boolean

If true, updated_at will be set even if no changes were made.

assignment[submission_types][] string

Only applies if the assignment doesn’t have student submissions.

Bulk update assignment dates AssignmentsApiController#bulk_update

Put /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/bulk_update.

Update due dates and availability dates for multiple assignments in a course.

Accepts a JSON array of objects containing two keys each: id , the assignment id, and all_dates , an array of AssignmentDate structures containing the base and/or override dates for the assignment, as returned from the List assignments endpoint with include[]=all_dates .

This endpoint cannot create or destroy assignment overrides; any existing assignment overrides that are not referenced in the arguments will be left alone. If an override is given, any dates that are not supplied with it will be defaulted. To clear a date, specify null explicitly.

All referenced assignments will be validated before any are saved. A list of errors will be returned if any provided dates are invalid, and no changes will be saved.

The bulk update is performed in a background job, use the Progress API to check its status.

List assignment overrides AssignmentOverridesController#index

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:assignment_id/overrides.

Returns the paginated list of overrides for this assignment that target sections/groups/students visible to the current user.

Get a single assignment override AssignmentOverridesController#show

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:assignment_id/overrides/:id.

Returns details of the the override with the given id.

Redirect to the assignment override for a group AssignmentOverridesController#group_alias

Get /api/v1/groups/:group_id/assignments/:assignment_id/override.

Responds with a redirect to the override for the given group, if any (404 otherwise).

Redirect to the assignment override for a section AssignmentOverridesController#section_alias

Get /api/v1/sections/:course_section_id/assignments/:assignment_id/override.

Responds with a redirect to the override for the given section, if any (404 otherwise).

Create an assignment override AssignmentOverridesController#create

Post /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:assignment_id/overrides.

One of student_ids, group_id, or course_section_id must be present. At most one should be present; if multiple are present only the most specific (student_ids first, then group_id, then course_section_id) is used and any others are ignored.

Parameter Type Description
assignment_override[student_ids][] integer

The IDs of the override’s target students. If present, the IDs must each identify a user with an active student enrollment in the course that is not already targetted by a different adhoc override.

assignment_override[title] string

The title of the adhoc assignment override. Required if student_ids is present, ignored otherwise (the title is set to the name of the targetted group or section instead).

assignment_override[group_id] integer

The ID of the override’s target group. If present, the following conditions must be met for the override to be successful:

See for more info.

assignment_override[course_section_id] integer

The ID of the override’s target section. If present, must identify an active section of the assignment’s course not already targetted by a different override.

assignment_override[due_at] DateTime

The day/time the overridden assignment is due. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z. If absent, this override will not affect due date. May be present but null to indicate the override removes any previous due date.

assignment_override[unlock_at] DateTime

The day/time the overridden assignment becomes unlocked. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z. If absent, this override will not affect the unlock date. May be present but null to indicate the override removes any previous unlock date.

assignment_override[lock_at] DateTime

The day/time the overridden assignment becomes locked. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z. If absent, this override will not affect the lock date. May be present but null to indicate the override removes any previous lock date.

Update an assignment override AssignmentOverridesController#update

Put /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:assignment_id/overrides/:id.

All current overridden values must be supplied if they are to be retained; e.g. if due_at was overridden, but this PUT omits a value for due_at, due_at will no longer be overridden. If the override is adhoc and student_ids is not supplied, the target override set is unchanged. Target override sets cannot be changed for group or section overrides.

Parameter Type Description
assignment_override[student_ids][] integer

The IDs of the override’s target students. If present, the IDs must each identify a user with an active student enrollment in the course that is not already targetted by a different adhoc override. Ignored unless the override being updated is adhoc.

assignment_override[title] string

The title of an adhoc assignment override. Ignored unless the override being updated is adhoc.

assignment_override[due_at] DateTime

The day/time the overridden assignment is due. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z. If absent, this override will not affect due date. May be present but null to indicate the override removes any previous due date.

assignment_override[unlock_at] DateTime

The day/time the overridden assignment becomes unlocked. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z. If absent, this override will not affect the unlock date. May be present but null to indicate the override removes any previous unlock date.

assignment_override[lock_at] DateTime

The day/time the overridden assignment becomes locked. Accepts times in ISO 8601 format, e.g. 2014-10-21T18:48:00Z. If absent, this override will not affect the lock date. May be present but null to indicate the override removes any previous lock date.

Delete an assignment override AssignmentOverridesController#destroy

Delete /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/:assignment_id/overrides/:id.

Deletes an override and returns its former details.

Batch retrieve overrides in a course AssignmentOverridesController#batch_retrieve

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/overrides.

Returns a list of specified overrides in this course, providing they target sections/groups/students visible to the current user. Returns null elements in the list for requests that were not found.

Parameter Type Description
assignment_overrides[][id] Required string

Ids of overrides to retrieve

assignment_overrides[][assignment_id] Required string

Ids of assignments for each override

Batch create overrides in a course AssignmentOverridesController#batch_create

Post /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/overrides.

Creates the specified overrides for each assignment. Handles creation in a transaction, so all records are created or none are.

Errors are reported in an errors attribute, an array of errors corresponding to inputs. Global errors will be reported as a single element errors array

Parameter Type Description
assignment_overrides[] Required AssignmentOverride

Attributes for the new assignment overrides. See for available attributes

Batch update overrides in a course AssignmentOverridesController#batch_update

Put /api/v1/courses/:course_id/assignments/overrides.

Updates a list of specified overrides for each assignment. Handles overrides in a transaction, so either all updates are applied or none. See Update an assignment override for available attributes.

Parameter Type Description
assignment_overrides[] Required AssignmentOverride

Attributes for the updated overrides.

Appendix: Group assignments

The following diagram provides an example to describe the structure of group assignments. It also shows the correspondence between the fields of an assignment override API request and the resources they map to.

Group assignments structure example

The components in yellow are group sets . When creating or updating an assignment override, you will refer to the group set by the group_category_id field.

The components in green are groups . An assignment can become a group assignment iff it has a group_category_id that maps to an active group set, as well as a group_id that maps to an active, valid group. In the API, you will be specifying the group by the group_id field of the assignment_override construct.

Important : an assignment must be assigned to a group set (the group_category_id field) on creation for an override with a group_id to be effective.

  • Creating an assignment override
  • Creating an assignment

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IMAGES

  1. Creating an Assignment in Canvas LMS

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COMMENTS

  1. How do I create an assignment?

    How do I create an assignment? You can create assignments on the Assignments page. You can create an assignment shell, which is a placeholder for an assignment within an assignment group, or you can create an entire assignment with all the assignment details.

  2. Creating Assignments in Canvas LMS

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  11. Assignments

    The components in green are groups. An assignment can become a group assignment iff it has a group_category_id that maps to an active group set, as well as a group_id that maps to an active, valid group. In the API, you will be specifying the group by the group_id field of the assignment_override construct.

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  13. Re: Can i create an assignment with an annotation ...

    Hello, . Thanks for posting on the Instructure Community! With what you are asking your students to do, you will need to create a new assignment, one for each of the three tasks you are requesting for them to complete. While you are able to enable all the submission types under one assignment, st...

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  15. How do I create an online assignment?

    How do I create an online assignment? You can create online assignments for students to submit their assignments through Canvas. Students can submit formatted text using the Rich Content Editor, website URLs, annotated files, or uploaded files. They can also submit audio or video recordings by recording new media or uploading existing media.

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  17. Can i create an assignment with an annotation and

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  18. How do I assign an assignment to an individual student?

    By default, Canvas will assign your assignment for everyone in your course. To assign a different due date to an individual student, click the Add button [1]. Type the name of the student in the Assign to field [2]. Search fields are dynamic, and you can search for students by first or last name. When the full name appears, click the name.

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  21. Re: Can I distribute assignments that are personal...

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