Course Tools for TAs: Gradescope, Canvas and the Forum

A surprising share of TA time goes to course logistics in software: scanning exams into Gradescope, matching pages to students, posting grades to Canvas, giving one student an extension, excusing an assignment, fixing a roster after add/drop, setting up the forum. Most of it is quick once you know where the buttons are, and most mistakes are avoidable: grades posted before they were checked, an extension recorded in one system and not the other, an autograder that passes a broken solution. This page collects the common tasks with links to each tool's official help, and the habits that prevent the usual mistakes. What you can do depends on the permissions your course gives the TA role, so ask your instructor first.

Defaults that work. If you only take four things from this page:

Spot-check before you post grades: a high score, a zero, a late submission and an extension.
Keep grades hidden until they're checked (manual posting in Canvas, unpublished in Gradescope).
Record every extension and grade change in one staff log, and in every system it affects.
Test an autograder with a solution that should pass and one that should fail.

Gradescope

Paper exams and quizzes

Set up: Create Assignment, choose Exam/Quiz, and upload a blank copy of the exam as the template.
Outline: draw a region for each question, and separate Name and ID boxes that don't overlap. Good regions make automatic matching work.
Scan and upload: upload batch PDFs with many students each; Gradescope splits them using the template. Check the split before you start grading.
Match to students: automatic matching reads the name and ID boxes. Fix the unmatched ones by hand, and re-sync the roster after add/drop first.

Programming assignments

Set up: Create Assignment, choose Programming Assignment, and decide whether it is autograded, hand-graded or both.
Autograders follow Gradescope's specification (linked below). Test with a reference solution that should get full marks and a broken one that should not, every time you change the autograder.

Everyday tasks

One student's extension: open the assignment, choose Extensions, then Add an extension, and pick what changes (release date, due date, late due date, or time limit).
Regrade requests: turn them on and set a window in the assignment's regrade settings. The grader who last graded that question is notified.
Anonymous grading: turn it on when you create the assignment. Turning it off later reveals every name.
Getting grades out: download a CSV from Review Grades, or in a course linked to Canvas, sync the roster and use Post Grades to Canvas.

Canvas

Know your role. The Teacher Assistant role's permissions are set by each institution and course, so ask what yours can do.
Excuse an assignment by setting the submission's status to Excused. Excused work doesn't count toward the total.
A different due date for one student: add the student in the assignment's assign-to settings with their own date.
Keep grades hidden while grading with a manual posting policy, then post all at once when checked. Use Hide Grades only to pull back grades posted by mistake.
Bulk changes by CSV: export the Gradebook first so you can undo, then import. A new column in the file creates a new, published assignment, so check your columns.
Message the class from the Inbox, and see what students see with Student View.
Attendance, if your course uses it, with the Roll Call tool.

The course forum

Anonymity and private posts are set by the instructor in the forum's class settings. Private posts can be made the default.
Answer once for everyone: change a useful private post's audience to the whole class, with the student's OK and without their code.
Endorse good student answers, and pin logistics posts: due dates, office hours, exam rooms.
On Ed Discussion the same settings exist under the course's admin area: private threads are seen only by the author and staff, and anonymous posts hide names from students but not from staff.

Answering Questions Online covers how to answer well.

Habits that prevent mistakes

Spot-check before posting: compare three to five students against the source, including a high score, a zero, a late submission and an extension.
Export before you import, so you can roll back.
Never show grades with names in public: not on the forum, not on slides, not on a shared screen.
Keep a staff log of every grade change and extension: date, who, which student, what changed, why.
Test autograders with a passing and a failing solution after every change.
Re-sync the roster after add/drop, before matching scans or posting grades.
Post grades in one batch after checking, not as each grader finishes.
Record extensions everywhere they matter. Gradescope and Canvas don't always share them.
Check from the student's side after any change.

Help articles

Gradescope

Canvas

Piazza