How To See Muted Grades On Canvas Hack: Guide

I will explain how the Canvas gradebook and muted assignments work, and provide some best practices around grading.

How Muted Assignments Work in Canvas

• Instructors can “mute” assignment grades in Canvas so students cannot see their grade for that assignment yet. This is useful if an instructor needs to grade assignments over time and does not want students to see partial grades.
• To mute an assignment column, instructors can go to the assignment column menu and select “Mute Assignment” before entering any grades. This will prevent students from seeing any grades entered in that column.

Other Tips

• If grades have already been entered in the column, instructors can select “Hide Grades” to revoke access to grades already entered. However, this will not prevent students from seeing any new grades entered after that point.
• To completely prevent students from seeing any new grades in a column with existing grades, instructors need to change the grade posting policy for that column to “Manual”. This will hide all new grades entered until the instructor manually releases them.

Best Practices Around Grading in Canvas

• Be transparent with students about when grades will be released. Set expectations upfront.
• Use mute/manual release options to control when students see grades, especially if grading over time.
• Avoid changing grades arbitrarily after releasing them, as students can see the log of changes. Only change grades if a mistake was made.
• Monitor student access to grades by watching out for exploits reported in Canvas release notes and community forums.
• Focus on giving students meaningful feedback, not just grades, to support their learning.

The Canvas gradebook has features to support an effective grading workflow. I hope these tips help explain how to use mute/release options appropriately and maintain grading integrity. Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Citations:

1. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Admin-Discussion/Student-discovered-his-MUTED-GRADE/m-p/96780
2. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/How-do-I-hide-a-rubric-from-the-students/m-p/222052
3. http://blogs.jccc.edu/2021/07/29/tip-canvas-grades-eyecon/

Canvas Your Quiz Has Been Muted

Here are the key points on how to view muted quiz grades in Canvas:

• If a Canvas quiz grade has been muted (hidden), students will see a “Your quiz has been muted” message when they try to view their grade. This prevents students from seeing their scores before the instructor is ready to release them.
• Instructors can mute quiz grades in the Canvas gradebook by changing the grade posting policy to “Manually” and then hiding grades. This prevents students from seeing their scores as the instructor grades.
• To view a muted quiz grade as an instructor, you can enter a “what-if” grade for that student in the gradebook and then remove it. The student’s actual grade will briefly appear before reverting to the muted state. This trick allows instructors to view muted grades.
• Another method is for the student to enter a what-if grade themselves, which will cause their actual grade to display briefly when removed. However, this may have been fixed in Canvas.
• The best practice is to mute assignments and quizzes at the start of the term before publishing them. This prevents students from ever seeing grades before the instructor releases them.
• When ready to release muted quiz grades, instructors simply change the grade posting policy back to “Automatically” in the Canvas gradebook.

In summary, muting quiz grades is an important tool for instructors to control when students can view their scores. While muted, grades are hidden from students but can be previewed with tricks involving what-if grades. Best practice is muting items early before use.

Citations:

1. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/Quiz-has-been-muted/m-p/536786
2. http://tsc.edu/images/Academics/Educational_Technology/canvas/Canvas_Assignments-Quizzes-Grading.pdf
3. https://csueastbay.screenstepslive.com/a/1625401-grading-classic-quizzes-in-canvas

How To Unmute a Quiz in Canvas as a Student

Unfortunately, students do not have the ability to directly unmute a quiz in Canvas. Here are some things you can try as a student if your quiz appears muted:

Check if the instructor has posted an announcement

• The instructor may have posted an announcement or sent a message indicating when muted quizzes will be unmuted.
• Check your course announcements and conversations for any updates from the instructor.

Contact the instructor

• Politely email your instructor or teaching assistant to ask when the quiz will be unmuted.
• Provide details on which quiz appears muted for you.
• Ask if there is an expected date when muted quizzes will be made available.

Check if grades are posted

• Even if a quiz is muted, instructors can choose to post grades while keeping the questions and answers hidden.
• Check if your grade for the quiz has been posted in the Grades section, even if the quiz itself is muted.
• If your grade is posted, you can see your score but won’t see the quiz questions and answers.

Wait for the instructor to unmute

• If the quiz is muted, you’ll need to wait for the instructor to unmute the quiz.
• This is usually done after all students have completed the quiz and submissions are graded.
• Continue checking announcements and your course grades to see if the instructor has unmuted the quiz.
• Once unmuted, you’ll be able to review the quiz questions and answers.

So in summary, students can’t directly unmute quizzes but can communicate with the instructor to find out when a muted quiz will be made available. Be sure to politely ask about muted quiz timelines and check for any updates on when quizzes will be unmuted.

Citations:

1. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/Quiz-has-been-muted/td-p/437075
2. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/Quiz-has-been-muted/m-p/536786
3. https://kb.wisc.edu/luwmad/page.php?id=95543

How to See Hidden Grades on Canvas For Students

Canvas allows instructors to hide grades from students until they are ready to be released.

Using What-If Scores

1. Go to the Grades page in your course.
2. Enter a “what-if” score for the assignment with hidden grades. This will calculate your grade as if you received that score on the assignment. [1]
3. Remove the what-if score. When you do this, your grade average should temporarily change, revealing the hidden score you actually received on the assignment. [1]
4. Use the change in your grade average to calculate your actual score on the hidden assignment.

Checking the Grade Posting Policy

1. Go to the Grades page and click into the hidden assignment column.
2. Click the 3 dots menu at the top and select “Grade Posting Policy”. [2]
3. If it is set to “Manual” posting, that means the grades are hidden until the instructor posts them. [3]

Looking for the Hidden Icon

1. In the Grades page, look for a closed eye icon closed eye in the assignment column header. This indicates grades are hidden.[4]
2. Hover over the icon to confirm grades are hidden.

Asking Your Instructor

Most instructors hide grades until everyone has completed the assignment.

Citations:

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/UTAustin/comments/6bwnpz/viewing_muted_grades_on_canvas/
2. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-hide-grades-that-were-previously-posted-in-the/ta-p/721
3. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-use-the-Gradebook/ta-p/701
4. https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/HOW-TO-UNHIDE-GRADES/td-p/239151

What does it mean when your quiz is muted on canvas?

It means the grades and answers for that quiz are temporarily hidden from students. Some key points:

• Muting a quiz prevents students from seeing their grade and the correct answers until the instructor un-mutes the quiz. This is useful for things like preventing answer sharing during an active quiz.
• Instructors can mute and un-mute quizzes in the Canvas gradebook. There is a “mute” option in the menu for each quiz.
• When a quiz is muted, students will see a message saying their grade is unavailable because the instructor is still working on grades.
• The purpose of muting quizzes is typically to prevent students from seeing grades or answers until the instructor is ready to reveal them, such as after all students have completed the quiz.