Grading and providing feedback is a part of teaching and learning; feedback is just as instructional as a lecture or reading assignment. And while it’s crucial for student progress, it’s a time-consuming task for instructors. As courses “scale” (add sections or enroll more students), this challenge only intensifies. Students spend more time waiting on evaluation; instructors spend more time on grading and less on higher-impact interactions with students. What if there was a way to streamline the grading process and give students feedback earlier?
TimelyGrader is an AI-assisted grading platform that simplifies the process from the start. When integrated with Canvas, TimelyGrader offers an easier grading experience that accelerates feedback loops, enhances student learning, and reduces the workload for instructors. Here's how.
Canvas Integration: Simple, direct, and built into your existing workflow
TimelyGrader integrates with Canvas via API and is designed to work within instructors' existing workflows without adding any extra steps. With our integration, instructors can:
- Log in with single sign-on: Access TimelyGrader directly from Canvas with no additional credentials required.
- Instantly import assignments: TimelyGrader pulls assignment details such as descriptions and rubrics directly from Canvas, ensuring AI-assisted grading and feedback remain contextually accurate.
- Student submission sync: Sync student submissions from Canvas to TimelyGrader for process so students use Canvas as usual.
- Pull and push rubrics: Whether instructors create rubrics on Canvas or TimelyGrader, they stay in sync, ensuring consistency in assessment criteria without the need to update both
- Easy grade passback: Once grading has been confirmed by instructors, grades and feedback can be pushed back to Canvas, without any manual copying and pasting.
How does TimelyGrader create a win-win for instructors and students?
Grading can be a hurdle for both sides of the transaction: instructors and students. For instructors, it’s labor and time-intensive to provide meaningful feedback across dozens to hundreds of students (have you ever heard the sentiment, "I teach for free but I get paid to grade"?) For students, they might not get feedback quickly enough to incorporate into their future work. TimelyGrader solves both pains by adding AI-assisted grading and feedback tools that smoothly integrate into the Canvas experience, bringing:
- AI-assisted grading: TimelyGrader uses the assignment description and rubric that instructors import from Canvas to suggest grades based on the assignment context, complete with a rationale for each suggestion. This helps instructors make well-informed final grading decisions in less time.
- ationale for each suggestion. This helps instructors make well-informed final grading decisions in a fraction of the time.
- Faster, better feedback for students: On top of grading suggestions, TimelyGrader enables instructors to provide multiple rounds of personalized feedback earlier in the process so students can actually incorporate them before the next assignment is due. For even faster feedback, students launch TimelyGrader directly from Canvas, upload their drafts, and receive instant feedback based on the criteria set by their instructor. Instructors can review and adjust this feedback as necessary afterwards.
- AI-generated rubrics and fine-tuning: This one is for instructors who aren’t sure where to start with creating rubrics optimized for AI grading. TimelyGrader helps by generating AI-optimized rubrics directly from assignment descriptions imported from Canvas, leaving room for fine-tuning later as needed, and then syncing back to Canvas for consistency across both platforms.
Looking ahead: what's next for our integration
As our partnership continues to evolve, we're focused on providing even more features that reduce instructors' workloads and improve student learning. Some exciting features in the works include:
Administrator view
With Administrator View, admins at the account and sub-account levels will have a central dashboard providing insights into grading trends, AI accuracy, instructor workload, and more. Access control mirrors Canvas' structure, meaning administrators automatically retain their existing permissions to manage who can use TimelyGrader within their institution.
Discussion board grading and feedback
Grading and providing feedback on discussion board responses can become overwhelming, especially as conversations expand with multiple rounds of comments. Tracking each student's contributions and offering thoughtful feedback across hundreds of responses can be very time-consuming. Soon, instructors will be able to pull discussion responses from Canvas and use TimelyGrader to efficiently assess participation and provide meaningful feedback, helping to keep discussions engaging regardless of class size.
Frequently asked questions
How does TimelyGrader integrate with Canvas? It uses an API integration that allows for SSO login, assignment importing, and student submission synchronization without manual copying.
Can AI suggest grades in Canvas? Yes. By using the assignment description and rubrics, TimelyGrader suggests grades and provides a detailed rationale for each, though instructors remain in control of the final decision.
How do students receive feedback faster? Students can launch TimelyGrader from Canvas, upload their drafts, and receive instant feedback based on instructor criteria before the final due date.
What is "Grade Passback"? It's a feature that pushes confirmed grades and feedback from the AI platform back to the Canvas Gradebook, eliminating manual data entry.
Find out more about AI-assisted grading workflows
Check out this video to see the real-world results of TimelyGrader’s impact on grading time, feedback given, and quality of student work.
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