Review the pedagogical and technical information below to inform your progress in Week Six. Have questions about what you learned here or ideas for future tips? Join Coffee & Answers (open support Zoom sessions with the Academic Technology Team) or email the Office of Teaching and Learning.
Pedagogical
How can you foster growth through feedback?
Are your students focused on grades or growth? Traditional grading (summative assessment) simply tells a student where they landed, formative assessment coaches them on how to improve. This week, try breaking a complex assessment into smaller steps so you can guide students with actionable feedback throughout the entire process.
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Concept
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Formative Assessment
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Summative Assessment
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Primary Focus
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Student growth, improvement, and ongoing learning
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Final evaluation, ranking, and compliance
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Timing
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Given during the learning process
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Given at the end of a unit or task
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Instructor’s Tone & Impact
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Encouraging, actionable, and coaches the student
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Final, authoritative, measure master of material
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Student Role
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Active participant who uses feedback to improve
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Passive recipient of final score
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Examples
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In-class polls, short quizzes on key concepts, think-pair-share activities, writing drafts, projects parts, brief written reflections on a lecture
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Final exams, comprehensive projects, writing assignments, or research papers.
Alternative Assessments - E-portfolios, group projects, peer reviews, self-reflections
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Saint Joseph’s University: One Stop Shop for Course Development: Assessment and Feedback Strategies
Technical
What tools allow you to embed rich, formative feedback directly into the learning process?
Canvas offers flexible grading processes, but its real strengths emerge when assignments, feedback, and grading policies are set up intentionally. With a few key tools, instructors can grade more efficiently while providing clearer guidance to students.
Most grading happens in SpeedGrader, where instructors can review submissions, assign scores, and leave feedback in one place. SpeedGrader works with all major submission types and integrates seamlessly with rubrics, which help ensure consistency and transparency. When rubrics are used, Canvas can automatically calculate scores, reducing manual errors and saving time especially in large courses. Instructors can also choose whether grades are posted automatically or held until all submissions are reviewed.
Canvas supports multiple forms of feedback, including written comments, inline annotations, and audio or video responses. Many instructors find that brief recorded feedback feels more personal to students and takes less time than extensive written notes. Because feedback appears in several locations, it’s helpful to show students early on where and how to review it.
If your Syllabus breaks down grades that are weighted between different categories, it’s important to set up those weights in Canvas as well. Weighted grades are managed through Assignment Groups. Ensuring assignments are grouped correctly and weights total 100% is essential for accurate grade reporting.
With thoughtful setup, Canvas can make grading clearer, faster, and more transparent for everyone.
Please join any Coffee & Answers open support session for a live demonstration of any of these tools!
Are these tips helpful? Do you have a topic we should include in future weeks? Please let us know by emailing otl@sju.edu!
Additional Resources