Gradescope is a tool that instructors can use to assist in grading coursework quickly and efficiently. Instructors or students upload PDFs of the completed assignment directly into Gradescope, and the instructor can apply a custom rubric that allows for uniform grading and feedback. Instructors also receive analytics concerning their assignments to better understand areas where students may be struggling.
Getting Access to Gradescope
Gradescope is available for all courses at Penn. To enable Gradscope for your course, click on Course settings, then the Navigation menu, click Enable next to Gradescope, and then click Save. This will add it to your Canvas navigation menu.
The first time you click on the Gradescope link, you’ll be prompted to set up a new course. Here is where you will add the course name, number of students, and term date.
Adding an Assignment or Exam
There are five different types of assignments you can add in Gradescope:
- Exam/Quiz: use this when students complete work; the instructor uploads the PDF to Gradescope.
- Homework/Problem Set: students upload their own completed work via PDF.
- Bubble Sheets: this is used if your assignment is completely multiple choice.
- Programming Assignment: this is used when students submit coding projects.
- Online Assignment (Beta): not recommended; use Canvas Quizzes instead.
Using Gradescope with Canvas
Gradescope grades are not automatically transferred to the Canvas gradebook but must be linked from Gradescope. To set up grade pass back, you will need to set up a separate Canvas assignment and link it to the assignment in Gradescope.
Setting Up an Outline
Creating an outline is the first step in creating exams, quizzes, or homework/problem set assignments. You can do this by uploading a PDF of your exam and by following the steps listed on the Gradescope help page under Creating an Assignment Outline.
Managing Submissions
For any type of submission, you can choose whether to upload an assignment as either the instructor or the student. If you administer an exam and need to upload a large number of submission, the Gradescope Scanning Tips or Labeled Print Outs option can reduce the workload.
Grading with Gradescope
- To grade student submissions, go to the Grade Submissions tab and click on the question you want to grade. The grading page is broken into three sections: the student submission area, the rubric, and the action bar (located at the bottom of the screen).
Additional Help & Support
For additional help and support, visit the Gradescope help site or email courseware@wharton.upenn.edu.