Using Soft Serv with Canvas

1. Check your connection

1. Sign in to Soft Serv → Teaching with your teacher account. Accept your school's invitation first, if you received one.
2. Open Teaching → Canvas. If your school's connection is listed, continue to step 2. Teachers share the school connection.

No connection? Ask your school administrator to follow the Canvas administrator guide. If you manage a personal connection, that guide explains how to use Add Canvas instance with credentials from your Canvas administrator.

Asked to sign in inside Canvas? Use your existing Soft Serv teacher credentials. Soft Serv can match you by your Canvas email, or link your account after this one-time sign-in.

2. Prepare your simulation in Soft Serv

Use Soft Serv to build the activity and rubric. Use Canvas for assignments, deadlines, and the gradebook. You can assign a freestanding simulation without creating a Soft Serv course.

1. Choose or create a simulation

   In Teaching → Simulations, open a simulation or choose New simulation. For Catalog content, first select Copy to my simulations.

2. Check the instructions and rubric

   Review the student instructions, AI instructions, conversation mode, reflection questions, and grading strictness. Make sure the rubric measures what you asked students to do.

   With multiple rubrics, the first (primary) rubric determines the grade. The others provide separate evaluations; their scores are not averaged. A Canvas submission with no Soft Serv rubric earns 100% completion credit.

3. Save your settings

   Choose whether to enable Show scores to students, then click Save changes. This setting controls numbers in Soft Serv; written feedback stays visible and grades still go to Canvas. See grade visibility before students submit.

The grading rubric belongs in Soft Serv. A rubric added in Canvas does not configure Soft Serv's AI grading.

3. Link the Canvas assignment

1. Create the Canvas assignment

   Open your course → Assignments → + Assignment. Set the name, instructions, points, assignment group, and due and availability dates.

2. Open Soft Serv

   Choose Submission Type → External Tool → Find. Select Soft Serv, which may appear as Soft Serv: Select Assignment.

3. Choose the activity

   Sign in if prompted. Select your simulation or assessment, then click Link to assignment. If Canvas returns to its tool dialog, click Select.

4. Save the assignment

   Check that the tool URL is filled in. Optionally select Load This Tool In A New Tab, then Save to preview before publishing.

Some schools also list tools directly under Submission Type. If Soft Serv is listed there, select it and continue with the activity picker. Otherwise, use External Tool → Find. See Canvas's current assignment instructions.

4. Preview and publish

Open the saved Canvas assignment as the instructor. Check that the intended activity opens, try the conversation, and review any reflection questions. Instructor preview sends no grade to Canvas.

Before publishing, confirm:

• The instructions, rubric, points, and dates are correct.
• The required microphone and camera permissions work.
• Grade visibility is set in both Soft Serv and Canvas.

When ready, publish the assignment and make sure the course is published too.

Testing grade delivery: ask your school for an approved student test account. Canvas's built-in Student View does not support external apps, so it cannot verify this workflow. See Canvas's Student View limitations.

5. Help students submit

Students must begin each graded attempt from the Canvas assignment. Soft Serv creates or links their account automatically; no demo signup or separate password is needed.

1. Launch Soft Serv from the assignment. Review the consent notice and instructions, and allow the requested microphone and camera permissions.
2. Complete the activity and choose End & Submit. With reflection enabled, choose End Conversation and finish the required questions. Oral assessments can submit automatically after the closing message.
3. Keep the page open until submission finishes, then read the feedback.

You can use this text in your Canvas assignment:

Launch Soft Serv from this assignment. Complete the conversation and any reflection questions. Wait for submission confirmation before closing the page. If an error appears, tell me the assignment name, time, and exact message.

For account help, share the student access guide.

6. Review and release grades

Soft Serv grades the transcript and any included reflection, saves the submission, and sends the primary rubric's percentage to Canvas. For example, 80% on a 25-point assignment becomes 20/25. Successful delivery also adds feedback and a full-submission link to SpeedGrader's comments.

A saved submission does not guarantee Canvas received its grade. Check the gradebook, especially for your first assignment or when a student reports a problem.

Review the student's work

Sign in with your Soft Serv teacher account if asked. Review unexpected scores and ungraded work before finalizing grades. For Canvas navigation, use its current SpeedGrader guide.

Choose when students see scores

For immediate results: leave Soft Serv's Show scores to students on and use Canvas's automatic posting policy.

To review scores first, do this before students submit:

1. In Soft Serv, turn off Show scores to students and save. Written feedback remains visible.
2. In Canvas, open Grades, open the assignment column's options menu, and choose Grade Posting Policy → Manually → Save.
3. After reviewing, choose Post grades from that column's menu, select who should receive the results, and click Post. Turn Soft Serv's score setting back on when you want numbers visible there too.

Choose Graded to keep future grades hidden for review. Choosing Everyone also makes future grades post automatically. See Canvas's posting options.

Canvas also offers Schedule Release Dates under the manual policy. If you use it, set the release date and time; grades and comments can have separate schedules. These controls do not change visibility inside Soft Serv. See Canvas's grade posting instructions.

Releasing comments before scores? Keep Soft Serv's score setting off before submissions so its new Canvas feedback comments omit numeric scores. Existing comments are not changed. Changing Canvas to manual also does not hide grades already posted; use its hide-grades controls for those.

Change a rubric or regrade

1. Save any rubric or grading-strictness changes in Soft Serv. Past submissions are not automatically regraded.
2. Open a student's submission, choose Regrade, and confirm. It uses the current rubric and saved transcript, and can replace the score and feedback.
3. Read the result message and check Canvas. Canvas-linked submissions send the grade again. If grading inputs are unchanged, Soft Serv may keep the existing grade while retrying delivery.

Manual Canvas adjustments stay in Canvas. They do not update Soft Serv, and later regrading or simulation submissions can overwrite them. Make final adjustments after planned retries and regrading.

Retakes and reuse

• Simulations: repeat submissions can replace the Canvas grade. Soft Serv does not automatically select the highest attempt. Explain your retry policy to students.
• Assessments: one submission per student. Linking the same assessment to another Canvas assignment does not reset the limit. Create a separate assessment for a new attempt.
• Different sections or terms: duplicate a simulation before changing its instructions or rubric. Editing the original changes future launches from every assignment linked to it.
• Copied Canvas courses: check the linked activity, points, dates, and grade-release settings before publishing. Scheduled feedback settings can copy too; see Canvas's scheduled-feedback guidance.

Troubleshooting

Soft Serv is missing from Canvas

Ask your Canvas administrator to confirm it is installed and enabled for your course. Share the administrator setup guide.

My simulation is missing from the picker

The picker lists activities you own. Check the signed-in Soft Serv account, save the activity in Teaching, and copy Catalog content into your own simulations first. A shared school connection does not make another teacher's content yours.

The assignment opens the wrong activity

Edit the Canvas assignment and repeat the linking steps to choose the correct activity. Save and reopen it to check.

A student submitted, but Canvas has no grade

1. Find the Soft Serv submission. If missing, check that the student finished the reflection and waited for submission to complete after launching from Canvas.
2. If it is Ungraded: review the transcript and rubric, then use Regrade. Grading failures do not award completion credit when a rubric is configured.
3. If it has a score: for Canvas-linked work with a rubric and transcript, use Regrade to retry delivery. This can also recalculate the grade. Read the result message, then refresh Canvas.
4. If only the student cannot see the grade: check Canvas's posting policy and scheduled release dates.

For submissions without a rubric or transcript, work completed outside Canvas, or repeated failures, contact your administrator or Soft Serv support. Include the assignment link, submission link if available, time, and error message. You can enter a reviewed grade manually in Canvas if needed.

The microphone, camera, or embedded page does not work

Check browser and device permissions. Try Canvas's Load This Tool In A New Tab option, save, and relaunch the assignment. For an expired session or sign-in error, reopen the assignment from Canvas.

Documentation checked

Reviewed September 10, 2026 against the Canvas instructor guides linked above and Soft Serv's current behavior. These steps cover Canvas in a web browser; available options depend on your school's settings.

Release review included the July SpeedGrader update, the August assignment-availability update, and the interim change log through September 10.

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