Discover helpful, easy-to-use tools that Arts ISIT supports for grading exams.
Assessing student learning is one of the most time-consuming parts of teaching. Fortunately, there are several tools to help you streamline grading, reduce manual effort, and improve consistency and transparency for both instructors and students.
Grading in Canvas
For many instructors, the most efficient grading workflow happens directly within Canvas. If exams are delivered or submitted through the LMS, Canvas provides built-in tools that handle both automated and manual grading.
Canvas Quizzes (Classic & New Quizzes)
Best for: Online exams with mixed question types
Why use it: Canvas Quizzes automatically grades objective questions such as multiple choice, matching, and true/false. Written responses and file uploads can be graded manually within the same interface.
Ideal scenario: Online exams that do not require handwritten submissions.
Limitations:
- If multiple people are grading at the same time, marked work is not saved
Advantages:
- Auto-grading for many question types
- Time limits, question banks, and randomization
- Ability to setup comment libraries, use audio/video for feedback
- Organized submission tracking
- Easy to return graded work to students
- Automatic syncing with Gradebook and Course Analytics
Canvas Assignments (File Uploads)
Best for: Exams requiring written work, diagrams, or other type of content
Why use it: Students upload a PDF or media files, which instructors can then mark using SpeedGrader.
Ideal scenario: Math, sciences, languages—any exam involving drawings, equations, or multi-step work.
Limitations:
- If multiple people are grading at the same time, marked work is not saved
Advantages:
- Simple setup supports inline annotations (drawing, highlights, comments) for PDF files
- Rubrics for consistent scoring
- Ability to setup comment libraries, use audio/video for feedback
- Organized submission tracking
- Easy to return graded work to students
- Automatic syncing with Gradebook and Course Analytics
Canvas Gradebook
Best for: Managing and analyzing exam results
Why use it: The Gradebook offers performance insights, easy adjustments, and options to message students based on their progress.
Grade conversion tool
Importing grades from Canvas to Workday is not intuitive. Workday allows for both manual grade input and file uploads. However, the file upload feature must adhere to very specific formatting that unfortunately is not the same as a Canvas Gradebook file export.
Having to format a spreadsheet after spending a lot of time and effort to finalize grades on Canvas can be annoying (especially for larger classes). That is why Arts ISIT has developed a grade conversion tool that can automatically convert your final grades from Canvas to the format required by Workday.
Best for: Populating final grades on Workday
Why use it: Saves time and reduces human error that would occur if grades had to be manually entered for each student.
Request the grade conversion tool
If you would like to use this service, please email us once your grades are finalized and we’ll send you a Workday grades file.
FormScanner
Best for: Pen-and-paper multiple choice exams
Why use it: FormScanner is an open-source tool that simplifies grading multiple-choice exams. Instructors can design their own answer sheets, for students to fill in by hand. After scanning the answer sheets, a customized grading scheme can be applied.
Ideal scenario: Multiple choice exams where you want students to write by hand, using no tech in the exam hall.
Limitations:
- Requires software that can only be used on Windows computers
Key advantages:
- Very low technical overhead, can be administered using common office equipment (printer and scanner)
- Works well even with large classes
- Customizable answer sheet templates
- Can export results for gradebooks or further analysis
- Since forms are scanned, the digital versions of the sheets can be stored instead of physical copies for record keeping purposes
Gradescope
Best for: Complex question types, handwritten responses, code, diagrams, and partial credit
Why use it: Gradescope is a tool for instructors who want to speed up grading while still providing rich, consistent feedback. It supports a wide range of assessment formats: online exams, handwritten work, problem sets, and bubble sheets. You can create and edit shared rubrics and have access to grading analytics.
Ideal scenario: Exams requiring detailed marking: math, sciences, coding, or any discipline where students submit handwritten work or diagrams.
Limitation:
- There is a cost associated per student for using Gradescope at UBC. Funding for Gradescope will need to be discussed with your department.
Advantages:
- AI-assisted grouping of similar answers
- Rubric-based scoring that updates across submissions
- Flexible support for handwritten and open-ended responses
- Integrates with Canvas/LMS gradebook
- Easy to return graded work to students
Scantron
Best for: Traditional multiple-choice exams with bubble sheets
Why use it: Scantron is a well-established solution for grading standardized tests and large-scale multiple-choice exams. Students fill in bubble sheets, and the system automatically scans and scores them.
Ideal scenario: Large courses or standardized assessments where efficiency and consistency are key, and answers are restricted to multiple-choice formats.
Limitations:
- There is a cost associated for the proprietary answer sheets that Scantron devices use
- Physical storage of the completed sheets should be retained for a calendar year in case of grade disputes
- Answer sheets must be completed with an HB pencil
Advantages:
- Extremely fast grading for large classes
- Minimal setup once templates are created
- Can export results for gradebooks or further analysis
- Reliable and widely used
