Canvas: Why does Canvas create all Savvas items as a Canvas Assignment?

On April 16th 2022 Canvas enhanced the way you add content from a third party (like Savvas) into your Canvas courses. Canvas will automatically create a Canvas Assignment if the tool (Savvas) indicates the item can be graded. Since all Savvas content can be graded, Canvas adds all Savvas items as a Canvas Assignment.

Why are all Savvas items gradable?

All Savvas items are created as an assignment in Savvas Realize, meaning that the students work is recorded, progress is tracked, and a student can receive a grade. Students have the ability to turn in an assignment, even for items that do not require an student responses, such as a video. This allows a teacher to know the student opened and completed the item. The grade is used to give the student credit for completing the assignment.

How do teachers/course designers set a Canvas Assignment to not count towards the overall grade and not show up in the gradebook?

It is up to the individual teacher if they want the grade for the particular item to count towards the student's overall grade. That means the teacher must decide and set if the Canvas Assignment counts towards the overall grade or not. 

You can follow the directions in the tutorial: Step 2: Edit the assignment settings and follow the directions in the section titled "Setting an assignment to not count towards the overall grade and how to filter out non-graded assignments."

My teachers and students will be confused if all items are a Canvas Assignment, what can I do?

Option 1: Add "not graded" to the assignment title

If your teachers and students were used to seeing Savvas items as External Tool Links for items that were not graded, you will need to make it clear to them which Canvas Assignments are not graded moving forward. You can follow the directions in the tutorial referenced above.

Here is an an example of how to make it obvious to your students that the item assigned does not count towards the overall grade and has no due date:

Option 2: Convert the assignment to an External Tool Link

In a few steps you can "convert" an Assignment to an External Tool Link in Canvas using the steps below.

First, import the Savvas item in your Canvas course as an Assignment. Click on the assignment.

Once the assignment opens in Canvas, click on Edit Assignment Settings.

Scroll down to Submission Type and copy the URL in the Enter or find External Tool URL field.

Go back to the course Home or Modules page. Click on the + button in the Module.

Choose External Tool under Add.

Scroll down to the URL and paste the External Tool URL you copied from the assignment. Fill in the link name under Page Name. Click Add Item when you are done.

You will now see the the item in the Module. Make sure your students can see the new External Tool Link.

You can test out the External Tool Link you just created by using Student View.

Open the item to ensure your link works.