Gradescope - Best Practices for Teaching [UW-Madison]

Gradescope is an ideal tool for assessing and providing feedback for student assignments, including written formulas, graphs, calculations, and other kinds of work that cannot be easily performed through Canvas’ SpeedGrader. Students can upload their own hand-written work or other assignments to Gradescope. While Gradescope can assess and provide feedback for high-stakes exams, it is not a tool that can replace exam proctoring software, such as Honorlock.

Important: Sync Gradescope Rosters with Canvas

Gradescope Rosters are not synced with Canvas automatically. If you do not sync your Gradescope course with Canvas you could potentially miss removing students who dropped or miss students who were added to the course. For additional assistance on Gradescope Roster Sync, that can be found here.

   

Prior to start of term, check your settings, assignments, and course roster

  • Before the semester begins, it is recommended that you verify that your Gradescope Settings are aligned with your Canvas course. 

  • If you perform a course copy, check to ensure that your new Gradescope course’s dates match expected due dates in Canvas. 

  • Additionally, ensure that any changes or updates you want to make to your assignments are performed before you link them to Canvas.  

  • Finally, it is advised that you perform a Gradescope Roster Sync prior to the start of the course and then an additional time before you give your first Gradescope Assignment. 

Know Where to Change Assignment Settings

  • Edit most settings in Gradescope, not Canvas: For Gradescope-linked assignments, open the assignment in Gradescope to change most settings. Only edit the following information in Canvas, if you are using Gradescope:
    • the assignment name
    • point value
    • assignment description settings in Canvas. 
  • Some settings must be edited in both Gradescope and Canvas: The assignment release date, due date, late due date, extensions, and any section-specific settings don't sync between Canvas and Gradescope, so you will need to edit these settings in both Gradescope and Canvas.

Link Student-Submitted and Instructor-Submitted Assignments at different times

  • Student Submitted Assignments: If students are uploading their own assignments, link your Gradescope assignment to Canvas before releasing it to students. 

  • Instructor Submitted Assignments: If instructors will upload submissions, only link your assignment when you're ready to publish grades.

What Assignment Types are compatible with Gradescope?

  • Fully paper-based (instructor or student uploaded)

  • Fully online

  • Hybrid online/handwritten

  • Code/programming

  • Essays/reports

Use the Gradescope App to assist with submissions

If you plan to have your students submit their own work to Gradescope, it is strongly recommended that they use the Gradescope app to submit their work. To find out more about the Gradescope app, visit Gradescope's Mobile App page. This page also includes links and guides that you can send to your students to help them download and access the app.

Tips for Scanning

To facilitate the scanning process, departments should have these office supplies available to staff:

  • Stapler and staples

  • staple remover

  • Scissors or paper cutter

  • A high-quality scanner

For a list of scanning best practices, see Scanning Tips from Gradescope Guides.

For tips on managing scans, see Managing Scans for Exam/Quiz Assignments from Gradescope Guides. 

Retain Physical Exams after Scanning

Per UW Policy UWUGS901, physical exam documents must be retained for 5 years after the end of the semester when the exam took place. This is because exam forms are considered confidential source documents for submitted official grades. 


Keywords:
sync rosters scan settings grade scope formulas handwritten hand written 
Doc ID:
153874
Owned by:
Learn@UW Madison in Learn@UW
Created:
2025-07-30
Updated:
2025-08-04
Sites:
DoIT Help Desk, Learn@UW