[Assignments] Submit an assignment on behalf of a student

[CommunityTeam]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

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As an instructor, I'd like the option to submit assignments on behalf of my students. This feature should enable me to pick a file from my computer and upload it as a submission for a given student. I should then be able to assess the submission just as if the student had submitted it themselves. A note should appear somewhere that indicates I submitted the assignment on behalf of my student. This would help me in cases where, for instance, my students submit an assignment on paper or the submission is a performance (a speech or presentation) that I capture on video.

transferred from the old Community

Originally posted by: Bill Hanna
Special thanks for contributions by: Paul Gibbons, Sydney Cheek-O'Donnell, Kona Jones, Stefanie Sanders

[lindalee]

Another use case for this feature is a situation that just came up this morning: The teaching team for a course did not set up an assignment as a group assignment. With the ability to submit work on behalf of a student, a teaching team could easily create a new assignment (properly configured as a group assignment), and then resubmit what has already been turned in on behalf of students. This would have several advantages: It would eliminate the possibility that students would forget to resubmit, and it would reduce the possibility that students would resubmit a different version of their work. It would also spare the teaching team embarrassment about the improperly configured assignment.

[petern]

We're beginning canvas users at my school and most students are tech savvy but some are not. These following situations (which have all happened) would be fixed if teachers could submit on behalf of students:

- students sometimes submit to the wrong assignment.

- student emails the assignment to teacher.

- parent emails assignment to teacher on behalf of student.

- student attaches assignment to the comment section of an assignment

The last scenario is incredibly common and easy to see why in the mobile app.

[mhamesg]

This would be incredibly valuable. How is it not already available?

[petern]

Deactivated user Any more news on this incredibly useful idea?

[josh_langston]

I believe this DOES solve my problem!!!  Thank you so much!  I will give this a try this 9-week period!

[deanne_hutchiso]

It would also be great if you make it clear that the comment area is not really the submission area. Students get confused by it, and end up attaching the assignment to the comment instead of "browsing" to submit it. Maybe the comment window should not even be available until they have already "browsed" for the paper. If there was no comment window at all in the submission area, it would not bother me. I never read those comments. They really have to email me if they need to tell me something about the assignment.

[cwruck]

It's in the design phase. I've mocked up a possible solution, but it hasn't been tested yet. Now, it's just a matter of figuring out when we can get this feature added to an existing project, or done on it's own. It has to get prioritized with everything else.

[sfrances]

This is a crucial feature to add if the bug between TurnItIn and Canvas can't be fixed.  Some of my students' assignments weren't recognized as recently as July, 2016 (so the bug is definitely not yet fixed).  It's really a time-waste for me and for the students (not to mention the issues a missing submission causes when the next modules won't unlock). 

[Jeff_F]

But what of the declaration the student makes when submitting a file?  Is there a concern should instructors submit for a student thus bypassing this?

[kona]

I think this was added by your specific Institution. I've never seen that before and we don't have that statement on our assignments.