Canvas offers two methods for controlling the visibility of grades and submission comments to students: the Grade Posting Policy and the Hide Grades option. Each functions differently to manage what students can see.
The Grade Posting Policy governs the visibility of future grades and comments. When set to “manual,” Canvas will not automatically post grades or comments. Instead, it will wait for the instructor to manually release them to students. You can set the grade posting policy for the entire course, or for single assignments.
The Hide Grades option, on the other hand, temporarily hides grades and comments that have already been posted. It does not affect grades or comments that have not yet been posted, unless they are updates to grades that are currently hidden.
Understanding Grade Posting Policy vs. Hide Grades in Canvas
Please review the following situations to gain a clearer understanding of the differences between the Grade Posting Policy and the Hide Grades feature in Canvas.
Situation 1
- An Auburn professor is grading assignments for five students in their Canvas course. After entering grades and comments, they realize the grades are visible to the students. The professor quickly clicks “Hide Grades” and continues grading.
- Result: The grades and comments for those first five students are now hidden. However, any grades entered after this action are immediately visible to the students.
Situation 2
- An Auburn professor is grading assignments for five students and notices that the grades and comments are visible to the students. To correct this, the professor changes the assignment's grade posting policy to “Manual” before continuing to grade.
- Result: The grades and comments for the first five students remain visible to them, but all subsequent grades and comments are hidden until the professor manually posts them.
Situation 3
- An Auburn professor begins grading assignments for five students and realizes the grades and comments are visible to the students. The professor then clicks “Hide Grades” and also sets the grade posting policy to “Manual” before proceeding.
- Result: All grades and comments, including those already entered and those yet to be entered, remain hidden until the professor decides to post them manually.