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Canvas Spotlight

Vary Feedback Methods in Canvas

Last updated on April 2, 2026

Picture having to navigate using a simple paper map on a long road trip. You know your destination and the turns, roundabouts, and exits to get there. What if you could see your destination on this map, but the details of roads, highways, and intersections were removed? This would likely cause confusion, anxiety, and frustration, not to mention being completely lost. Although you’d know where you want to go and have a general idea of where your final stop should be, you wouldn’t have any practical way of getting there or seeing when you were headed in the right direction.

One way to support students in feeling informed and guided in your course is to offer varied forms of feedback to help them along their journey to achieving the objectives laid out in your course. Varying the feedback type throughout your class will add the roads, intersections, roundabouts, and directions to the map students have to navigate your content. 

Offering regular instructor feedback greatly lower D, F or Withdraw (DFW) rates. Research indicates the retention of students in an online course requires unique considerations about the background of learners as well as the nature of online classes. Students new to higher education, for instance, may have a difficult time with decreased interaction with their instructors. The online environment, which has less face-to-face interaction, may cause these students to feel unmotivated or detached from the course. This is only one example of how, especially in an online course, students rely on detailed feedback from their instructors to gauge their own progress and learning. 

Timely feedback allows a student to re-evaluate their work within the context of the course at that time. Feedback delivered weeks later has less impact, especially if the opportunity to test their corrections on another assignment has already passed. The feedback options outlined in this Spotlight all deliver feedback in a timely manner that also supports the learner.

Through the use of rubrics, assignment comments, assignment annotations, and messaging students who meet certain gradebook criteria, you can motivate learners who may be struggling, offer immediate feedback on quizzes, or reinforce exemplary work. We will take a closer look at what each of these situations may look like in your course. 

Best Practices:

How Should I Use Feedback?

  • Feedback must be timely, actionable, consistent, and balanced. As you choose your feedback methods, consider these features critical to effective feedback. Timely feedback allows students to improve and finalize their understanding before moving on to the next topic while actionable feedback lets them know exactly how to proceed. Consistent feedback helps students feel supported and balanced feedback focuses on both areas of growth and areas of mastery. 
  • Feedback must be accessible. Audio-only feedback or video feedback that isn’t captioned are examples of inaccessible feedback. This is why we do not recommend using tools like the audio feedback option in SpeedGrader or the Canvas audio/video recorder. Accessible feedback, in comparison, ensures all feedback is equivalent between students. For more information on this, review the CTLD tutorial on Incorporating Accessible Principles in Your Courses.

When Should I Set This Up?

  • Plan ahead and decide what types of feedback you will use for each assignment or activity in your course. Consider the context, purpose, and audience of each task, and choose the most suitable mode of delivery, level of directness, and frequency of feedback.
  • Communicate your feedback plan to your students. Explain the rationale behind your choices of feedback methods, and how they can benefit from them. Set clear expectations and guidelines for receiving and using feedback.

What Should I Avoid When Giving Feedback?

  • Inaccessible feedback, such as audio-only feedback should be avoided.
  • Using exclusively predetermined feedback throughout your course, such as the comment library in SpeedGrader or immediate feedback in quizzes, should be avoided when possible. Students benefit from your personal input and guidance, so the more you can tailor it to the individual learner’s needs, the better. Automated feedback is useful in many cases, such as courses with high enrollment, but try to augment it with more personalized feedback if possible. See the Comments section below for details on editing a comment from the Comment Library.
  • Avoid giving feedback when it is too late to be actionable by students. No matter how good the quality, relevance, and importance of your feedback might be, if it is provided too late for students to use then the information is easily disregarded. 

Let’s walk through it together

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Comments

Comments can be added to assignment submissions via SpeedGrader. You can add a general set of comments to a library, add them to a student submission, then customize that comment template so it is tailored to the student’s submission. For a full set of steps on adding comments to assignments, see the CTLD Spotlight on Using SpeedGrader Comment Library.

Add Comments to SpeedGrader Library

  1. Click on Grades from the Course Navigation Menu on the left.
  2. Hover your cursor over the Name of the item you want to grade.
  3. Click the More Options Menu (three vertical dots) that appears next to the name.
  4. Select SpeedGrader.
  5. Click on the text bubble icon above the comment box to open the Comment Library.
  6. Type the Comment you wish to submit to the comment library into the textbox at the bottom of the pop-up menu under “Add Comment to Library.”
  7. Click + Add to Library.

Retrieve Comments from SpeedGrader Library 

  1. Click on Grades from the Course Navigation Menu on the left.
  2. Hover your cursor over the Name of the item you want to grade.
  3. Click the More Options Menu (three vertical dots) that appears next to the name.
  4. Select SpeedGrader.
  5. Click on the text bubble icon above the comment box to open the Comment Library.
  6. Click on the Comment you want to add to the submission. 
    • This will automatically paste the comment in the feedback section for the assignment in SpeedGrader.
  7. Edit the comment to personalize the feedback to the student.
  8. Click Submit Comment. 

Rubrics

Rubrics are a fantastic way to offer precise and informative feedback. By using rubrics in SpeedGrader, students will see where they can improve and where they’ve succeeded in specific areas. They also make your grading and feedback process streamlined and quick.

For guidance on how to create a rubric and attach it to assignments or discussions, see our spotlight, Using Rubrics in Canvas.

Use Rubrics to Give Feedback

  1. Click on Grades from the Course Navigation Menu on the left.
  2. Hover your cursor over the Name of the item you want to grade.
  3. Click the More Options Menu (three vertical dots) that appears next to the name.
  4. Select SpeedGrader.
  5. Click the dropdown box under Rubric & Feedback to change the view settings for the rubric.
  6. Click the appropriate rating box for each criterion.
  7. Click on the comment box to provide criterion-specific feedback.
    • For Traditional view, click on the Comment Icon in the far right box.
  8. The Total points will auto-calculate. You can override this by typing a different value in the points box next to the criterion.
  9. Click Submit Assessment.
  10. Type general feedback in the Assignment Comments box.
  11. Click Submit.

Annotations

Annotations are a fantastic way to offer personalized feedback. When annotating, every comment you make on a student’s submission is unique to their work. This method takes longer than others but can be much more meaningful to the student. 

Annotate Student Work

  1. Click on Grades from the Course Navigation Menu on the left.
  2. Hover your cursor over the Name of the item you want to grade.
  3. Click the More Options Menu (three vertical dots) that appears next to the name.
  4. Select SpeedGrader.
    1. Note: Only submissions with File Uploads can be annotated.
  5. Select the type of annotation you would like to add from the menu bar at the top of the page. The different types of annotations are:
    • Point – drop a “pin” in the text and leave a comment to the side (described below).
      • Click the Point annotation icon.
      • Select the color you wish to use.
      • Click where you would like to add an annotation to the document.
      • Type a comment in the “Leave a Comment” box.
    • Highlight – Highlight a portion of the assignment, click the button that appears to the right to also leave a comment.
    • Free text – write text annotations directly on the assignment.
    • Strikeout – strike out text in the assignment, click the button that appears to the right to also leave a comment.
    • Free draw – draw a shape/circle around a piece of the assignment, click the button that appears to the right to also leave a comment.
    • Area (rectangular box) – Draw a rectangular box around a portion of the assignment, click the button that appears to the right to also leave a comment.
  6. Note: you can select the color for these annotation options in the upper left after choosing the annotation type.

Adding Feedback to Quiz Questions

Adding feedback to quiz questions automates feedback based on the answer given. Although this isn’t a very personal method of offering feedback, it is immediate and timely. You can choose what type of feedback is given depending on whether an answer is incorrect, correct, or either. 

Add Feedback in Classic Quizzes

  1. Log in to your Canvas Account.
  2. Select the Course you’d like to work in.
  3. Click Modules on the course navigation menu to the left.
  4. Scroll to the Module where your Quiz is located.
  5. Click the Name of the quiz you wish to edit.
  6. Click Edit.
  7. Click the Questions tab at the top of the page.
  8. Locate the Question you wish to add feedback to.
  9. Hover over the question.
  10. Click the pencil icon that appears to the right of the question.
  11. Scroll down to the Answers section.
  12. Click the Box Containing Three Dots below each possible answer.
  13. Add Feedback in the text box.
    • Note: The feedback input box uses the Rich Content Editor, allowing you to include media, text, links, and other such functions. For more information, visit the “Use the Rich Content Editor” tutorial.
  14. Click Done.
    • Note: This method allows you to add feedback for each possible answer. You can also set feedback for all correct answers, all incorrect answers, or all answers for a given question. To do so, complete the following steps:
      • Scroll to the bottom of the Answers section.
      • Click the Box With a Green Outline to set feedback for correct answers.
      • Click the Box With a Red Outline to set feedback for all incorrect answers.
      • Click the Box With a Blue Outline to set feedback for all answers.
  15. Click Update Question.
  16. Repeat Steps 8-14 for any questions you wish to add feedback to.
  17. Click Save at the bottom of the screen.

Add Feedback in New Quizzes

  1. Log in to your Canvas Account.
  2. Select the Course you’d like to work in.
  3. Click Modules on the course navigation menu to the left.
  4. Scroll to the Module where your Quiz is located.
  5. Click the Name of the quiz you wish to edit.
  6. Click Build at the bottom of the page.
  7. Locate the Question you wish to add feedback to.
  8. Click the pencil icon to the right of the question.
  9. Click the comment icon to the right of each possible answer.
  10. Add Feedback in the text box.
  11. Click Done
  12. Repeat for each answer choice.
    • To set feedback for all correct answers, all incorrect answers, or all answers for a given question, click the comment icon at the bottom of the question.
  13. Click Done at the bottom of the question.
  14. Repeat Steps 7-13 for each question you wish to add feedback to.

“Message Students Who” Feature

Maybe you have students who haven’t turned in an assignment and you’d like to remind them of it, or perhaps you’d like to send some positive reinforcement for students who scored above a certain range. You can do this in a personalized way with the “Message Students Who” feature. For more information on this feature, review our Spotlight on the “Message Students Who…” option. 

Message Students Who

  1. Log in to your Canvas Account.
  2. Select the Course you’d like to work in.
  3. Click on Grades from the Course Navigation Menu on the left.
  4. Hover over the Assignment you wish to message students about.
  5. Click on the More Options Menu (three vertical dots) next to the assignment title in the column heading.
  6. Select Message Students Who.
  7. Choose which Group of Students you wish to send a Canvas message to in the dropdown menu under For Students Who…
    • Note: Options include: Have not yet submitted, Have Submitted, Have not be graded, Scored more than, Scored Less than, and Reassigned.
  8. Type a Cutoff Value if you selected Scored Less Than or Scored More Than.
  9. Click Show all recipients to see the list of students the message will send to.
    • Click the X next to the name of any students you wish to exclude from the Canvas message.
  10. Edit a Subject Line for the message if you wish to change it.
  11. Type a Message for the body of the message.
  12. Click Send.

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