Canvas:

Grade Sync/Passback Directions

What is Grade Passback or Sync?

Passback, or sync, is the ability to send student grades to Infinite Campus overnight OR on an on-demand basis.

Who controls the grade sync/passback?

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You do!

Teachers decide which Assignments, graded Discussions, or Quizzes are synced with IC.

Remember: Grade Sync is OPTIONAL!

Checklist Basics for Grade Sync

• Create Assignment categories that align with Infinite Campus.
• While this isn't a requirement, it will reduce the discrepancy between Canvas and IC grades so that students and parents see basically the same scores. However, if you choose to add assignments directly into IC, the grades will obviously not align.
• Turn on the Nightly Sync by turning on the button located in Grade Sync/Settings.
• Check the sync option for individual Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions.
• Add due dates to each.
• Make sure you follow the information located in the Special Considerations of this presentation.

Must be set up on a course by course basis. New course shells for Quarters and Semesters must also be configured for Grade Sync.

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Course Setup

Part I: Create Weighted Categories

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Set up your categories and the different weights so that they match what is found in Infinite Campus.

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• For example, in the Assignments section, click on +Group to create your categories -- Formative, Summative, etc.
• Set up % of total grade.
• Add additional Groups as needed.

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Categories are dependent on what a school/district has required. It is possible to send over all grades without categories, but most FCPS schools use them. Aligning the categories will also reduce confusion for students and parents by keeping grades more consistent.

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Create Groups and Weight the Categories:

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1. Go to the Assignments section in course navigation.

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2. Select +Group.

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3. Create the Groups -- Formative, Summative, etc.

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4. Add the weighted percentages to the groups by clicking the three dots beside the red Assignment button.

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5. Select, Assignment Groups Weight.

Image 7: Grade sync checkbox in discussion settings

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6. Click on the box to Weight final grade.

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7. Add percentages to the applicable groups.

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Image 7: Grade sync checkbox in discussion settings

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8. Create underneath -- or drag -- the appropriate items into the correct weighted category.

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Image 7: Grade sync checkbox in discussion settings

Part II: Course Sync Settings Setup

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These steps will need to be completed for each of your courses.

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1. Open a course.

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• Select Grade Sync in the course navigation menu located on the left side of the screen.

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Cross-linked courses will only need to be set up in the

"master" course that controls all the sections.

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Image 1: Grade Sync location in Course Navigation

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3. Click on the

Settings tab.

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Image 2: Location of Settings tab

4. Make sure the button for

Nightly Sync is

turned on.

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Image 3: Location of Nightly Sync button

This Sync will only take place if you've set up an Assignment, Quiz, or Discussion to sync in the settings area of those items. Directions are in the next section of this slide deck.

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Item Setup

Sync Assignments, Quizzes, & Discussions

Part I: Assignments

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1. Create an Assignment as normal (limited to 50 characters for IC purposes.)

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• Display grades as Points.

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• If you want the assignment to sync as part of the Infinite Campus grade, make sure the Sync to Infinite Campus

box is checked inside the

Assignment settings area.

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Image 4: Grade sync checkbox in Assignment Settings

4. Check or uncheck

depending on if you want

the assignment to be part of

the nightly sync.

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3. To quickly check which Assignments are set to sync, click on Assignments section in the

course navigation sidebar.

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4. Assignments that are setup to sync will have a green sync symbol with a check mark inside.

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Image 5: Grade sync symbols in Assignments area

5. Assignments that are

not setup to sync will

have a black symbol.

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6. Click on the symbol

to sync or unsync.

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Go to Quizzes or Discussions in the course sidebar to use the same function.

Part II: Quizzes

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Finding the sync option for quizzes is not obvious.

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• Create a Quiz as normal (limited to 50 characters for IC purposes.)

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• To sync, the Quiz setting must be changed to Graded Quiz or Graded Survey before the option to sync appears. Use the dropdown button to select Graded Survey.

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• Check Sync under Options and, Save.

Image 6: Grade sync checkbox in Quiz Settings

Graded Quiz

or

Graded Survey

Part III: Graded Discussions

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Finding Sync in Discussions is similar to Quizzes.

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• Create a Discussion (limited to 50 characters for IC purposes.)

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• If you want the assignment to sync as part of the Infinite Campus grade, it must be Graded. Go to the discussion settings area under Options. Click Graded.

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• Display grades as Points.

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• Once Graded is selected, the Sync to InfiniteCampus option will appear.

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• Complete the Assign to and Date fields.

Image 7: Grade sync checkbox in discussion settings

Don't forget Due Dates!

Grades cannot sync without due dates for Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions.

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Additional Information

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• Items must be assigned to Everyone or to individual cross-listed course sections. Grade sync will not work with individual students. (See suggested workarounds for differentiation.)

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• All items must have a due date. Sections can have different due dates.

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• Only IC courses, with an SIS ID, will work with grade sync/passback. Manual courses do not.

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• If you delete an assignment, etc., in Canvas after it was previously synced or graded, you will also have to go in and manually delete it in Infinite Campus.

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• Creating an Assignment and adding grades directly in IC will create grade differences for students between the two platforms.

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• Differentiated assignments, quizzes, etc. with different due dates do not sync/passback. See suggested workarounds in the Special Considerations section.

Problem with the overnight sync or can't wait?

Sync through Gradebook:

• Open the Gradebook from the course navigation sidebar.
• Click on Actions.
• Select Sync to Fayette County Public Schools-IC GPB.

The Remaster Passback button inside Grade Sync is used when there are differences between Canvas and IC. Use it when the overnight and Gradebook syncs do not work.

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Infinite Campus

Gradebook

Setup

Part I: Grade Book Setup

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Please follow directions on screenshots for this entire section.

Part II: Setup Categories &

Weights

Part III: Assign Categories After a Sync

• Locate the Uncategorized Assignments at the top of the screen.
• You can autofill multiple ones at a time.
• For Standard/Grading Task, the only option is Semester Grade.
• For Category, choose the appropriate category for the assignment
• Click, Save All, when complete.
• Repeat for all sections.
• For those schools with grading periods, you may also need to align (select) the Term as well.

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Please note you will need to do this whenever new assignments are synced so that the grades in Infinite Campus match Canvas.

Full View of Uncategorized in Infinite Campus

Working with

Infinite Campus

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• All Assignment names must be unique, or they cannot be identified by Infinite Campus. If a Canvas assignment has the same name as already exists in IC, Canvas will not push data for that Assignment to Infinite Campus.

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• Recurring Assignments need a different name. (just adding a date at the end works).

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• Assignment names cannot be longer than 50 characters. TIP: If you can think of a word to put FIRST in the assignment that will identify it, and make it all caps, Canvas will sync the first 5 capital letter, preferentially over the initials of all the words in the title of the assignments. Example: SEL lesson entitled - INTERNAL Roadblocks Pros and Cons. Canvas synced "INTER" to IC instead of IRPAC.

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• Once item is synced from Canvas, cannot change name in IC. It will cause a sync failure.

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• If you push a Canvas assignment to Infinite Campus and later delete the assignment from Canvas, you have to manually delete the assignment from Infinite Campus.

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• Adding Assignments directly to Infinite Campus will through off the grades between Canvas and IC.

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Do NOT create an assignment in Canvas for syncing, and then create it again in IC.

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Check or Force that Sync

Syncing is a ONE-WAY process!

Grade Sync

Reporting

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• Most common error for a failed sync is a missing due date.
• Second most common error is trying to do individual students, groups, etc.

Completed with errors doesn't necessarily mean grades didn't transfer. You must check IC. That error can often mean that Missing or Excused was entered in the Canvas Gradebook, etc.

Manually Sync

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In Grade Sync area in course navigation, the Remaster Grade Passback button is used only when the Nightly Sync and Gradebook Sync fail.

In Gradebook under the tab, Actions ...

Recommended

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Special Considerations

Missing Items, Blanks, etc.

There are some special caveats with Grade Sync.

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• Alphabetical Entries -- do not convey from Canvas to IC. That spot will stay blank.
• M for Missing
• E for Excused, etc.
• Some teachers choose to mark Missing as a Zero (0). The 0 transfers over to IC, and it will stay a zero in IC UNTIL the assignment is graded in Canvas and then synced.
• NOTE: Entering an M manually into IC will stay unchanged by syncing UNTIL an actual numerical score is synced from Canvas.
• Blank Spots in the Gradebook
• A blank area in the Gradebook Assignment, etc. will stay blank in Infinite Campus.
• Items Due on Last Day of Grading Period
• A due date of the last day of a grading period or quarter will place the Assignment, etc. on the NEXT grading period.
• Tip -- assign day before and notify students that you'll accept it on the last day as well.

Make sure Parents understand how these grading scenarios work.

• Create an item (Assignment, Quiz, or Discussion) for students.
• Assign either to Everyone or to a separate cross-listed section that contains an Infinite Campus course.
• Due date must always be entered for each section.
• Do not use the +Add to add single students, etc. Infinite Campus cannot identify those grades.

Different Cross-listed Sections

You cannot use Groups.

For course sections only...

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UPDATE: Anecdotal feedback from FCPS teachers now indicates that you can assign to only one course section and not others. Feel free to experiment.

Canvas documentation says only Everyone, but Canvas Support says Sections work. Feedback from FCPS teachers supports that information on Sections. Remove Everyone and use sections.

Since Grade Sync can't handle anything besides Everyone or Sections ...

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• Duplicate an Assignment, New Quiz, or Graded Discussion that has been assigned to Everyone (or to a particular course section).
• Due date must be entered.
• The "Everyone" item will serve as the place where every student's grades will ultimately be entered into the gradebook and synced to IC. Perhaps think of this as the "master assignment," etc.

Differentiation for Students with Special Needs:

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Hacking Grade Sync

• The new differentiated item will now be a separate Assignment, Quiz, or Discussion.
• The new item will be used specifically for students with IEPs, 504s, or anyone with a special situation to accommodate.
• Rename the item. (Possible suggestion: add a number or letter at the end.)
• In the item's settings, either go with Points or make it ungraded.
• Assign to student(s) who need it. Other students will not see it. However, the differentiated students will see both the original assignment and any separate ones assigned to them. You must teach students which one to use for work submissions.

Then What?

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Point Option -- check the Do not count this assignment towards the final grade.

• Write in comments and provide a score inside the Comments/feedback area of the differentiated item.
• Manually enter the differentiated student(s)' final scores into the Canvas gradebook for the Assignment, Quiz, or Graded Discussion that was assigned to Everyone or to the entire course section. That's the "master" assignment that will end up syncing all students to IC.

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Ungraded Option -- students read adapted assignment. Turn in adaptation on regular assignment for Everyone.

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Idea for

Handling Offline Work

with

Grade Sync

Use the Submission Type of "No submission" or "On Paper" to create a place to manually enter scores into the Canvas Gradebook.

REMINDER:

One-Way Sync from Canvas to Infinite Campus

If you change a grade in Infinite Campus, that grade does not sync backwards to Canvas.

• Any change in IC must be manually changed in Canvas. Otherwise, the Canvas item will overwrite the IC score that was entered on the IC platform.

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Parent Messaging About

Grade Sync

Infinite Campus is always the definitive source for grades.

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Consider, though...

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If a teacher chooses to keep all student work inside -- and sync from -- Canvas, then IC will reflect the same information as what a parent sees in Canvas.

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However ... adding items directly into Infinite Campus will cause a discrepancy in grading between the two platforms.

Students & Parents:

Explain how the process works BEFORE starting Grade Sync.

How Adapted items are handled

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EX: Where the grade will display

How Missing, Excused, etc. items are handled

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EX: Missing work as zeros or blank

Timing of the sync

Will Canvas and IC reflect the same scores?

Remind parents/students that teachers are new to Canvas and new to Sync.

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Ask questions!

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Standards-Based Grading

The program used to transfer data between Canvas and Infinite Campus is not set up to handle Standards-Based Grading. As a result, FCPS teachers have created a workaround. Keep in mind that you are not required to use Grade Sync.

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1. Create a grading rubric that aligns the SBG scale to the Points value in Canvas.

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2. Share that rubric with students and communicate the system with them and parents.

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If you another way, let OIT know!

3. The point value of the assignment will say 100 in Canvas. However, the teacher will enter the SBG value.

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4. This value will transfer to Infinite Campus.

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5. Students and Parents must use IC as the definitive Gradebook.

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Why this way?

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Avoids trying to break down questions for tests, etc. into tiny amounts for point values.

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We are constantly learning from our teachers' experiences with Grade Sync. Please let us know if you discover something contrary to these directions. Canvas and Infinite Campus have not produced comprehensive information.

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Sometimes it takes a village!

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• Our Co-Trainers
• Chad Peavler and Kimberly Snodgrass

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• Our pilot groups
• STEAM Academy Staff
• Winburn Gifted team, comprised of Chad Peavler, Adam Brusven, & Tiffany Carson-Givan.

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• Ashley Rosen, STEAM Academy STC
• Created directions specific to the Canvas/FCPS Infinite Campus passback/sync

Thank You!

The efforts and feedback from the people listed below were invaluable in providing FCPS staff with a successful path to integrating Canvas with Infinite Campus.

• Video -- Grade Book Sync (from Canvas to Infinite Campus)

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• Document-How do I sync grades to Infinite Campus in the Gradebook?

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• Document-Instructor Help: Using Infinite Campus in Canvas

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• Chat from Grade Sync Training -- 9/10/20

Additional Documentation

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For additional assistance, please contact the

FCPS Office of Instructional Technology

Website: blogs.fcps.net

This slide deck was originally created by Paula Setser-Kissick, District Digital Learning Coach.

Credits

Slides: SlidesMania

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Image: Unsplash

Fonts Used: Barlow