If you used Post'Em in Sakai and want to take a similar approach in Canvas, check out the ability to Export and Import from the Canvas Grades tool. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- If you will be doing your Overall Course Grade calculations in Excel, you will want to:
- Create a "no submission" Assignment that you will use for that Overall Course Grade (do not use 'Final Grade' since Canvas already keeps track of a Final Grade and you can't reuse that term)
- Weight all Assignments/Groups in Canvas at 0% and your "Overall Course Grade" at 100% so that Canvas' Final Grade calculation is correct (If this is done, there is no need to Hide the Final Grade from Students, although you can do that if desired in Course Settings > More Settings)
- If you use a different grading scheme based on Section, you can do that differential calculation in Excel and all will display fine for students in the Canvas Gradebook
- If any Assignments are applicable to only one Section rather than all students, in Canvas you can elect to Assign that assignment by Section
- You can still use Canvas to grade Assignments/Quizzes and display their Grades, but if displaying that Overall Course Grade calculation from Excel, you will need to Import your grades each time you post new grades
- You can create new Assignments in Excel (by adding columns to your grades spreadsheet) and they will be added to the Assignment tool during the Import. You can also create new Assignments/Quizzes within Canvas, but you would then need to do a new Export of your gradebook and restore any calculations you are carrying out in Excel
- When you Import to Grades, you will get a summary of all changes detected so that you can confirm them before committing them to the gradebook
- You may want to wait until your course enrollment has settled before your initial Export and setup of grade calculations. If a student is added to your roster after then, you will need to complete a new Export and either restore your grade calculations in it, or copy the row from it with your new student's information and paste it into your definitive spreadsheet
Important Note: Using this approach to calculate an Overall Course Grade outside of Canvas, will render the "What-If" capability of students within the Gradebook invalid as changes they make will not be reflected in the Overall Course Grade displayed to them. You will want to ensure they are aware of this.