[Assignments] Submit an assignment on behalf of a student

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

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

369 Comments
DavidRice
Community Novice

I vote for having this feature. I agree totally with the description. Also, this feature has been around on Blackboard (eLearning) for awhile.

RebekahSmith
Community Member

This should have already been developed as a feature by now, but I hope commenting on this helps highlight the need for this. 

peter_concannon
Community Participant

So, people have been begging for this obvious feature (that other LMSs have always had) for six years, and still no action.  This isn't just some "wouldn't it be nice" gadget. I literally have this issue every single semester, multiple times. Right now, a student is not seeing a submit button, perhaps because the interface with Turnitin seems to be getting screwy, and I am having to go back and forth in email with him on a Saturday night with finals looming just because I can't take the darn file and throw it in there myself.

 

NateCannon
Community Novice

+1 for this. Kind of shocked that this still isn't implemented. Seems like low-hanging fruit.

Kiddi
Community Member

A much needed feature, something I would use every week. Students miss deadlines and end up sending their assignments as PDF through e-mail. Instead of instructing them to submit properly through Canvas, which takes additional time and makes me have to wait with the grading, it would be much easier for me to simply add that submitted PDF into Canvas on their behalf and keep on grading with the others.

I notice that this feature request has been waiting from 2015, and now it is 2021. Is there some kind of "voting" somewhere that I should participate in?

jamin_hoffman
Community Explorer

I agree with @NateCannon - why hasn't this been done, yet?

s_j_beale
Community Participant

We would like this, too. This thread was started in 2015 - Turnitin has had this option for years but the LTI for Turnitin in Canvas doesn't allow this, seemingly because Canvas isn't sophisticated enough for it. Shame. It would be very helpful.

peter_concannon
Community Participant

@s_j_beale is correct.  I can go outside Canvas and log in to Turnitin and then submit on behalf of a student, but I cannot do so inside Canvas unless a student has already submitted for that assignment and I am resubmitting.  The interface also prohibits a student from replacing a newer version in Turnitin unless I delete the original submission.

But the "submit on behalf of a student" applies to Speedgrader, as well, not only the Turnitin LTI,

ziebarthm
Community Member

This has been an open conversation since 2015. Why hasn't it been developed yet?

knfoust
Community Novice

I would love to see this feature. It is such a hardship and pain in the neck not to be able to do this. I have to keep track of emailed files in addition to the Canvas. Therefore, I cannot use the rubric or the plagiarism check for students who cannot upload files. This disadvantages both students and teachers.