Default Grade Question

[JohnnyLail]

I have a question regarding how the Default Grade works for Canvas assignments that are automatically graded.

I have several quizzes in my course, and some students have not completed them on the deadline.  I would like for their overall grade to reflect the zero they are currently earning as a default grade, BUT if they complete the quiz late, it would update the zero with their actual grade according to the late policy I set up.

Is that how Default Grade works?  All I've seen so far in the documentation is that you can manually set and manually update a default grade, but it is not clear if Canvas grading is unaffected.

[mzimmerman · Accepted solution]

Hello Johnny,

An actual grade from an automatically graded quiz will overwrite the default grade for the assignment.

You might also look at the Late Policies options for the course, which would let you automatically award 0% for assignments that are missing, and deduct a percentage for assignments that are late.

[JohnnyLail]

Thanks for the reply.

I did consider using the Late Policy to assign a zero for late work automatically, but that would mean that as soon as it is one day late, the student will see a zero.  No matter how many times I beg and plead with my students, several of them still do not read and understand my syllabus to know that a Late Policy even exists in the course, and I did not want to immediately discourage them from attempting the assignment to receive points.

But knowing this about the default grading now will help when I have to report 5th and 8th week grades so that I can have Canvas calculate a "proper" point-in-time grade at those critical reporting periods.

Thanks!