Grades turning to 0's

[jjordan1]

I have two faculty who reported (different times) that their grades (some grades) are reverting to 0's sometime after entry in the gradebook.  I suspect a palm swipe of a trackpad being able to change a grade on the fly due to the nature of autosaving (ajax code), but to go to a 0 versus a " - ", much less any changes, this should not be happening without explicit clicking into a gradebook cell.  Has anyone else experienced this, if so what do you think is going on here?

[wgargaro]

Are they actually changing to zeros or being factored as zeros?

[jjordan1]

Turning to zero's.  They enter scores for students (assignments, not calculated quizzes by the way) and at some point they get some zero's.  I can't replicate it, other than to turn off their trackpad to prevent their palm from swiping pages in the browser.

[clong · Accepted solution]

This is strange Jason. It hasn't been an issue for us. I'd run a grade log report on those instructors (one at a time) and see if that might help explain things.

It would also be a good idea to submit a Help Case (Help menu --> Report a Problem) so the Instructure Help team can help you further investigate.

[jjordan1]

This is a great tip Chris, thank you.  The lack of group responses is promising, in that there would not be a larger pattern of this out there.  I will keep focusing on the space between the device and the end user.

[joseph_allen]

Jason,

I occasionally get messages from my teachers that grades suddenly change, or worse, disappear after entering them.  It is really one off situations and there seems to be no pattern, nor can I replicate the issue. I do use the admin grade logging feature that Chris mentioned and almost 100% of the time it shows that the grade was never changed or recorded, so that leaves me largely with user error.  Teachers of course don't want to hear that as they do their best and get frustrated when Canvas doesn't behave as it should.  I've put out a little check list that helps ensure that grades "stick" in Canvas.  I know that is a little different than what you are saying that a grade entirely changed, but this may help.  Your track pad observation is interesting and could well be a contributor.  Since I put out this checklist, issues have not been eliminated, but have decreased.  I think teachers are just moving fast through the gradebook and things change or don't always stick.

• Close the SIS before doing grades in Canvas.  The SIS has a time out function which can in rare cases interfere with Canvas.  (We have an SSO)
• Refresh your screen in Canvas just before starting to enter grades to ensure you are still connected and logged in.
• As you enter grades for a given course / student, press enter as you move from student to student instead of clicking to the next student. 
• Do not change sections of a course or change courses completely until you have clicked out of the cells where you are entering grades and have clicked refresh to
       ensure they are there.
• When you are done entering your grades, or at a point during entering grades, refresh your browser gradebook screen to ensure that the connection is still good and the grades have taken.

[holley_collier]

I have had two instructors this semester report the same problem. I'm not able to replicate the problem, and they assure me they entered grades for the students that this occurred for the same way they do all their student's grades. It is very frustrating. Thanks for the comments. 

[erica_hill]

I have also had instructors bringing up this issue. In our case, it was a gradebook upload with a CSV, so it would not be an issue with a trackpad or skipping to other users too fast. 

I have to disagree with a previous comment, that it is most likely user error.  seems like it may be a 'bug' that is very specific and not seen often.