[ARCHIVED] Hiding columns

[GideonWilliams]

Any plans to allow teachers to (temporarily) hide columns in gradebook?

I know it was suggested a while ago as an idea - https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/3477-hide-grade-columns-for-teacher-gradebook but I cannot see any mention of it on the Phases unless I missed it

[Renee_Carney · Accepted solution]

 @GideonWilliams ‌

Great question.

In the scope of the listed 2 phases, the option to completely close out a column is not planned.  There is however the option to resize and move columns.  

Collapsing a column is a feature that we do we have on our wish list though - and it may make a future phase.

[jhornbuckle]

Just adding my support for this feature, which I've found multiple requests for going back for a number of years.

Here's one use case we have... We have assignments like "First day attendance" and "Syllabus Quiz" that are only useful at the start of the semester and don't actually count towards grades. I'd love to be able to hide them once the semester is fully underway because they don't matter anymore at that point--they just clutter up my grade book.

And even with regular assignments, 90% of the time they can be hidden once grading is completed--I generally just want to see current and upcoming assignments. I'd love to hide older ones and only make them visible again if I have a specific reason to go back and look at them.

[JohnExtejt]

Hi Renee,

I have a category called "other" that I use for "raw" scores.  It counts 0% toward the final grade.  (I adjust every raw quiz and raw test score.)

I would like the to hide the "Assignment Group Total" that I call "other" since does not count toward the final grade.  It's presence causes some confusion.

I support adding a feature to GradeBook where once could select columns to hide -- including the total columns -- especially if they are items that do not count for grade calculation.

John

[goconnell1]

Same situation here.  During the COVID-19 lockdown, we have introduced weekly quizzes to keep track of student engagement, so some semester-long shells have up to 15 extra columns.  I have also had to add an ungraded column to separate students into their two class groups, and there is a departmental unit review quiz that asks students about their online experiences, the teacher's knowledge and speed of feedback, etc.  None of these are assignments per se, and they clutter the critical area which is obviously the resulting.  Yes, you can reduce the column widths - up to a point - but it still looks messy and I've already had colleagues mistakenly pass students when they have misinterpreted one of these extra columns as a part of the assessment requirements, then missed the fact that the student didn't submit all the assessments themselves!

Over the years, we have migrated from WebCT and Blackboard, both of which had the option to hide columns.  This feature should also be in Canvas ... and sooner rather than later.

[wootenl]

I just wanted to jump in here and say that, especially now with having so many assignments to keep students on task due to COVID making everything online, I have several assignments that are not worth points. They are really just reminders to read. It makes my grade book so large and annoying. If I could hide all of the unnecessary assignments, that would be wonderful. 

[DTMcCartney]

I think it would be helpful to not only hide the columns in the instructor gradebook view, but also to hide them in the student gradebook view.  I know the grade can be hidden until released by the instructor, but by allowing the column to be hidden from the students, they aren't aware that the column exists until it's view is allowed.

[asdfghjk]

This is not only very necessary, but also seems strange that it was not included in the original design considering it is a standard option in any application with data table views.

[PegChecchi]

Another use case is that if a faculty member has ONE item in a grade category and wants to hide the item for now, the students can still see what they got if they look at the Assignment GROUP category all the way to the right (or bottom of their personal grade page...)  Frustrating.  😞

[SusanNiemeyer]

@PegChecchi  I might suggest "hiding" the total grade percentage for the Canvas course. That would hide the percentages shown in all of the Assignment Group categories.

A couple of times throughout the semester, I will show my students their total grade percentages so that they get a sense of how they are doing. Then I hide them again. 

The reason I do this is because I have students who will get fixated on their grades and because, especially at the beginning of the semester, a single assignment can have a disproportionate impact on an Assignment Group category, and the entire overall grade percentage. 

[danstrutt]

I can't even see where that is possible?

[PegChecchi]

@SusanNiemeyer this works for the short term.  The faculty member still would like to be able to hide specific columns at specific times for specific reasons, so the blanket solution isn't ideal, but it's definitely workable in the short term.  Thanks for reminding me about this! peg