Provisional Mark
This article will explain how the provisional mark column functions in Canvas.
The provisional mark appears in all new Canvas courses during rollover. It is an automatically created assignment that requires no submission by the students and is unpublished.
Marks can be added to this column like all other assignments in Canvas (manually in the gradebook or by spreadsheet upload).
For those unfamiliar with Canvas assignments, see guidelines below on using the Provisional Mark assignment.
How to publish the column
First, publish the Provisional Mark assignment. Do this by navigating to Assignments in the Canvas module and clicking the publish icon.
Populating the column
Once the assignment is published, you can manually add the marks in the Grades area or import a spreadsheet.
It is possible to export the gradebook and use the Total column figures in the provisional mark by copying and pasting the Total column in the Excel spreadsheet to the Provisional column. Then, you would import that edited spreadsheet back into Grades.
For more information on that process, see our guide at this link.
When the column is populated and you wish students to view their mark, be sure to post grades for the assignment to allow students to see them.
For more information on Canvas assignments, see:
How do I add a grading scheme to an assignment?
How do I publish or unpublish an assignment as an instructor?