[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

[Steven_S]

That's good to know.  When I tested with the test student I did not see the attachments.  Even so, I would like to have access to those attachments in my own view of the gradebook.

[hardinm]

Please please please. My students are younger and often make mistakes, and no matter what I do, they often submit to the wrong assignment. With students for whom just getting them to turn in something is a challenge, it is frustrating to then have to turn around and be "well actually you turned it in, but to the wrong inbox." It would be nice to just be able to do it myself.

[josh_langston]

Yeah...I still can't believe this hasn't happened yet.  There is a wide swath of teachers that the lack of this feature is enough to use a platform other than Canvas.

[evelyn_kyrk]

Yes please, i could do this in the old system the school had and it was a big help.

[aroyal9]

I agree with you on this, Seth.  Sometimes, students just panic or have real technical difficulties and they e-mail me an assignment that was supposed to be attached to the assignment link in Canvas.  For the sake of handling such cases consistently, I don't accept e-mailed assignments because they're "not gradable" through e-mail (especially since I've made it clear that assignment not attached to the proper link by the deadline will earn a score of 0).  This is in part to discourage students from e-mailing me late work (which I don't accept) after the link in Canvas has closed.  However, if a student legitimately has a problem getting the file to attach and they've contacted me prior to the due date to explain the issue, then I would consider accepting an on-time submission received through e-mail (as long as it didn't become a habit) if I could go in and properly attach the document to the correct link so that I could grade it with the rubric, etc. like everyone else's assignments.

[Kelvin_Dean]

It's going to be available in the New Assignment Workflow for Teachers (https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/assign2-user-group/blog/2020/02/06/first-look-teacher-assignm... > Students > Actions) in the future.

[cathi_miller]

I teach in a very diverse school district and sometimes students do not have access to Internet to upload from home. I would like the opportunity to upload for those rare students who cannot do it on their own.  It makes it easier for me to have all the materials on Canvas.

[smurphy12]

Especially right now with the issues of mass online learning this feature is absolutely a god sent to faculty, TA's and support staff... Thanks

[steve_undy]

I cannot believe this functionality is missing. I had given my students an in-person midterm right before Spring Break with the plan of grading them and returning them in class. The coronavirus response has cause my university to move to on-line only classes. I assumed I'd just be able to scan in the exams and use SpeedGrader. I assumed wrong.

This is huge deficiency in a tool that supposedly supports both in-person and on-line content.

[thompsli]

 @steve_undy ‌, what I do in that sort of situation is to grade my exams on paper, scan the graded tests in, and then attached them to a Canvas assignment (submission type "in person") as file attachment comments. It's definitely not perfect (and I also want them to add proper functionality for it to Canvas), but it's the smoothest way I've found so far to "pass back" something collected in person as a Canvas assignment.