Remove the Dashes from the Score Box in Quizzes and Exams

[Beth_Young]

  This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

  Idea will be open for vote May 5th, 2015 - August 5th, 2015  Learn more about voting...

Currently, the score box for an ungraded question is pre-filled with two dashes: --

Those dashes must be selected and deleted before a score can be entered, which takes extra time/clicks. Sometimes I accidentally leave a dash behind and the student gets a negative score rather than a positive score. You can imagine how well that is received.

Could we just have a blank score box? Or, if the dashes can't be eliminated, please replace them with a character that can't be misread as a minus sign. An asterisk, perhaps? For unanswered questions, pre-filling the box with a 0 would also save time.

  Comments from Instructure...

Greetings all!  We often remind the Community that even archived ideas can become a real feature, and this one is proof of that!

This feature is complete.  You can find more information in the Canvas Production Release Notes (2015-09-19)

Manual Quiz Question Grading

In a manually graded quiz question, instructors no longer have to remove the dashes in the point field. Once an instructor starts typing a score, the dashes are removed automatically. However, if no value is entered and dashes are still present, the question is still considered ungraded.

[Renee_Carney]

Hi  @Beth_Young ​

I can see why this would be frustrating in your workflow.  Your idea will move forward for voting, but until then I might have a tip that will help?  I usually click into the gradebook, remove the dash, add the score and then use my arrow keys to move up/down/left/right.  This way I don't have to remove the dash each time - it is automatically highlighted and replaced.

[Beth_Young]

Thanks. If I'm understanding you correctly, what you're describing is essentially what I do (click into the box, remove the dash, add the score) but clicking in the box doesn't always highlight the two dashes. Sometimes it does, but not always.

I'm not sure what you mean about the arrow keys? When I enter the grade and use an arrow key, I'm still in the same box.

[Renee_Carney]

I read your request wrong.  You are talking about questions in a quiz.  I was thinking about scores in a gradebook.  Sorry for the confusion.

[mhebert]

Agreed - I believe I posted such a request in the old system before. This is especially annoying in the iPad Speedgrader where you don't really have access to the finesse of a mouse used on a laptop.

[barrybrown]

I like seeing the two dashes to let me know I haven't yet assigned a score.

A better approach would be to make the GUI work correctly: upon clicking in the box, the two dashes should be removed automatically. If I don't enter a grade, the dashes are replaced.

[mhebert]

I would think the absence of any score would also work to let you know you haven't graded it?

[lcroney]

In general, I find the process of filling in grades in the gradebook frustrating. Half the time, I think I've entered the grade, then it doesn't show up. I'm sure this is something I'm doing wrong, but it should all work a little more smoothly without us knowing a secret handshake.

[Renee_Carney]

Panda-Cat: A mythical creature that we dreamed up to catch your attention, make you laugh, and encourage you to keep reading the explanation of our archive process for Feature Ideas

Archive: An archived Feature Idea is not dead forever, but it has been taken out of stage progression.  When Community members submit feature ideas they are reviewed by the Community Team and then put to a vote by the community at large.  If the idea does not receive 100 votes within 3 months it will be archived.  Ideas that reach the 100 vote threshold within the first three months remain open for voting. Find more information about this process at How does the voting process work for feature ideas?

Can archived ideas still become a feature?  Yes.  Some feature ideas that do not receive 100 votes are resubmitted by Community members and find more supporters as people's needs change, rising more quickly to the top.  Oftentimes archived feature ideas are evaluated in groups when we are preparing to refactor a particular tool or feature of Canvas and may still influence product direction.

[Beth_Young]

u0438341​ kindly revived this feature idea: ​

If you still like the idea, please vote for it when it opens.

[Renee_Carney]

Greetings all!  We often remind the Community that even archived ideas can become a real feature, and this one is proof of that!

Please take a look at the Canvas Beta Release Notes (2015-09-08)

Manual Quiz Question Grading

In a manually graded quiz question, instructors no longer have to remove the dashes in the point field. Once an instructor starts typing a score, the dashes are removed automatically. However, if no value is entered and dashes are still present, the question is still considered ungraded.

This change resolves a fixed bug in Canvas:

Explanation: When an instructor opened a manually graded quiz in SpeedGrader and clicked the dashes in the points field, any scores typed in the field were inserted around the dashes instead of remove them completely. This behavior occurred because the points field was not focusing correctly on the dashes. Canvas code has been updated to remove the dashes when points are entered in the field.

You can test this feature in your own beta instance.  Find  out more at How do I access the Canvas beta environment?