Module requirements - a third option

[bengaynor]

Currently, there are two-ish options for module requirements: Complete one of the following or complete all of the following. There's also the ability to require students to work in sequence. I'm interested in a third option: Complete X of the following. Let me post five assignments and tell students to complete three or four of them. I've seen similar discussions posted (see below). I'm pretty adept at making quizzes/mastery paths work for me for either/or choice (although it's a hassle), but for truly remote/individualized learning, I'd like students to see all of the options. Also no matter how many times I tell a student their placement quiz won't affect their grade, they still freak out, so it's not a great workaround. Right now I'm not allowed to grade, so I'm incentivizing with badges (Badgr), for which I need to set requirements, but it's either one or all of the week's assignments, with little flexibility.

Related ideas that, unfortunately, did not pick up enough attention:

• https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/12970" modifiedtitle="true" title="Adding "OR" to Module Requi... suggested adding an "or" button, so teachers could say "complete A, B, and C, and X or Y" — this is the closest to what I'm looking for
• https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8772 suggested a "complete all items in module" feature so a teacher doesn't have to add each individual item.
• https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8076 suggested a feature that would consider a module complete completing assignments of different point values (e.g., two 3-pt assignments and one 5-pt assignment).

[awilliams]

Hi,  @bengaynor . Currently, module requirements impact when a student can move on to the next module. Adding this third option as described would impact what assignments a student is supposed to do and factor into their grades. I am curious how this module functionality would work with respect to the total grade and what students see when they look for assignments in places like the syllabus, calendar, to do list, assignments page, etc.

I love that you are thinking about personalized/individualized learning! One thing that I think might work right now is to use assignment groups and a rule to ignore the lowest grades for that group. You could match up your assignment groups to your modules and instruct students to choose a certain number and assure them the others will be graded as 0 but not affect their total grade. Check out https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9880 and let me know if you think that would work for your needs.

[bengaynor]

The issue becomes how many things these assignment groups can do. For example, if I weight groups, I can't just create a new one to be able to set a drop rule. Because I work in secondary ed, I don't have a syllabus with all assignments planned for the year; sometimes things get added, and sometimes they get pushed from one marking period to the next, so I can't ensure proper weights without having assignment groups. I change my grading scheme every year and am never happy; if I go back to straight points, this could work for student choice. However, then I end up less useful data in terms of where a student is struggling (is it on projects? tests? homework/classwork? participation?), and there are so many extra columns when I export my gradebook. I would suggest, then, that there be an option to "drop lowest assignment of these #" within a single category.

I have used modules as you described them, too. I think it depends on what someone is using modules for. For example, an instructor might want to make sure every requirement is done before moving onto the next module, then this feature isn't for them. I see that as being true for an online college course, perhaps. But for a teacher who sees the class in person and posts, say homework assignments on Canvas, the teacher could tell students to complete X homework assignments by the end of the unit (which for me is a module). What do the points matter? Maybe a student wants to practice vocabulary by completing a Canvas quiz, or maybe they want to complete a crossword puzzle using an external tool. And the teacher can excuse the assignments that aren't completed. This starts to bring up the suggestion again about "either/or" (link in original post), which I also think is a good idea, but it didn't get traction, so I'm reshaping it a little. Again, I'm also dealing with badges (Badgr) as a means of assessing students, and badges are assigned for completing module requirements. In this system — and I get that this is a very specific scenario (see more general uses above) — I want them to be rewarded for doing more than one but not necessarily all, but that middle-ground option doesn't exist.

[Steven_S]

awilliams I use module rules to control when the next module opens, and I would like to see the options described here allow more options for those controls. Students must do a, b and c first in order, but then they can do any combination of three from e, f, g, h, i, and j (in order or in any order,) would help us make modules that allow choices without mastery paths deleting due dates and hiding options. (It would be great if all of that could happen in one module, so that we don't have to subdivide modules unnecessarily.)

I see choose __ as working exactly the same way for unlocking modules as the module rules that mark the module complete when only one of the activities is complete.  Once the module is complete according to the rules established, the next modules unlock.  Students could still choose to do more than the set number in order for each activity to be marked complete, but once they meet the minimum requirement the module is complete so they can also move on to the next module.  Giving instructors more options, means we can give students more options. 

[bryan_tayman]

Choice boards are a popular and effective online strategy. 

In Modules, I would like to suggest Canvas add a custom text entry box to the Module Requirements screen so teachers can determine how many module requirements need to be met to complete the Module.  

Here is an example screenshot of a specific application of the idea:

In this use case, I want students to complete any 4 of the following 6 module items to complete the Module. 

At this time, I only have the option to have them complete ALL of the items, or ONE. 

IDEA:  The word one on the requirement option box should be replaced with a text input box (or a drop down box) that would allow teacher to choose how many of the module requirements they need to meet in order to complete the Module.   

In this case, I could input the number 4 so once any four requirements have been met, the Module would be marked as completed.  

Thank you for considering.

[bryan_tayman]

I see my idea was moved to this thread.   Yes, @awilliams 4-10-2020 post...that is exactly how I address the grading situation!  I just make a corresponding Assignment Group in Assignments and have it drop the needed number of assignments based on my choice board.    It works great.  : )   

It would be nice if the unused assignments would then disappeared from student gradebook screen...that is another IDEA!  : )

[JH95]

Currently, there are two options for Modules: 

1. Students must complete all of these requirements
2. Students must complete one of these requirements

Is it possible to create a third option where students must complete certain requirements, while also having optional tasks that are not required to be completed?

For example, the student has to complete three requirements (in non-sequential order), however; they also have optional tasks that students can choose to complete. So it would be a combination of a few requirements with a few non-required tasks within a single module.

[nelsonm8]

agreed, I also want to have students submit on X/Y assignments before moving to the next module.

[maki1]

In the current Module requirement settings, instructors can choose "Students must complete one of these requirements” and allow students to complete one of several module items to trigger module completion.

We are suggesting that this be expanded to "Students must complete x(#) of these requirements" where x(#) can be filled with numbers above one. This is similar to how we can drop any number of assignments in assignment groups based on score where it says "drop the lowest x(#) of scores.

With the current module requirements, we seem to be unable to set up a course design with multiple elective modules that could ask students to "complete 2 of 8 requirements" for example. This is particularly useful in automatically triggering completion certificates, rather than have instructors manually calculate scores from multiple elective modules.

[ProductPanda]

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