Speed Grader and Teacher Comment Submissions

[TaraBarr]

With the new upgrade to speed grader, a feature that existed in the previous version was modified.

In the old speed grader, if a student submitted multiple versions of an assignment, the teacher could make a comment on each assignment submission. When the teacher looked at speed grader, she/he could see all of her comments on the one page.

In the new speed grader, if a student submits multiple versions of the assignment, the teacher can make comments on each, but ONLY the newest comment submission will display on the page. The comments on older submissions can be accessed, but only by selecting the drop down menu and selecting that submission. 

This is a problem for our ELA teachers that use comments for grading essays to see the progression. To toggle through 150 students essays multiple times on each student is lengthy. Can we get it so the teacher can see all comments on the one page?

[Stef_retired]

Thanks for sharing this observation about SpeedGrader comments, @TaraBarr . We haven't made any design changes, so we'll need to know more about the specifics of the new behavior you're reporting: Are you referencing annotations on students' submissions (each annotated version needs to be accessed through the multiple submissions dropdown) or submission comments teachers enter into the Assignment Comments field (all of which display regardless of which submission is selected)?

[TaraBarr]

@Stef_retired It is the teachers comments on student work. For our English teachers, they allow resubmission after a student corrects writing errors. The student needs to use the comments the teacher makes and resubmit using that feedback. The teacher then gives more feedback. The teacher uses her own comments when giving a final grade to a student, so she needs to access all of her previous comments. Currently the only way to access all of the comments is to individually click on all of the student submissions. This is not the way it was prior to the new roll out. If you look at the images, the first one shows the comment the teacher made on October 29th. The student resubmitted and the teacher can no longer see her comment she made from the October 29th comment unless she selects that version of the student work. That isn't the way that it was prior to the new roll out. For our English teachers this adds a huge step for the 150 essays they have to grade. 

 

[Alexandria_1]

The change Canvas made to the submission comments has also impacted my communication with students. Before the change, the submission comments were essentially free-standing in that submission comments were not explicitly connected to a submission. The change to connecting the submission comments to individual submissions is inconvenient for instructors who have a revision process for assignments where students resubmit an assignment after receiving instructor feedback. The change also breaks up the flow of communication between instructors and students. 

[KristinL]

Hi @TaraBarr and @Alexandria_1 - Are your schools using the Assignments Enhancements with students? What is Assignment Enhancements? 

[TaraBarr]

@KristinL @Alexandria_1 

Yes, our district is using the assignments enhancements. The issue isn't on the student end but its on the instructors end. The sleek assignment enhancements is for the student side. For the teacher it still displays the last submission comment. 

[Alexandria_1]

@KristinL, thanks for sharing the link to Assignment Enhancements. It is good to know the students can see all the comments in one place on their end. I didn't realize this from the student's view. 

Instructor View

• It would be really helpful for the instructor to see all the comments in the submission comments vs. needing to select the dropdown for each submission to view students' comments and the other comments of the instructor.

[KristinL]

Hi @TaraBarr, that's kind of what I suspected. I'm checking with a few friendly people at Instructure to determine the best place for the request/idea. I'll update this thread soon!

Thank you for your quick response!

[imerricks]

Hi @KristinL , would you have an update on this issue? Our teachers need to view comments from previous attempts while marking the latest attempt, so they can check the student has addressed the comments. Having to toggle between attempts creates a split-attention effect which makes marking more onerous. We love Assignment Enhancements otherwise but this aspect might prevent us from rolling it out.

[KristinL]

Hi @imerricks - This post is in the Assignment Enhancement Users group, so Instructure employees and other Canvas users who are familiar with the process can better find your question. While I don't have an update to share, I forwarded the question to one of our Project Managers. Thank you for the follow-up!

[imerricks]

Thanks very much @KristinL , I appreciate you forwarding my query!