Automatic zero in gradebook after a date

[stephanie_pope]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

I would like to throw this out there...

What if an assignment could automatically be scored as a zero if not completed by a specified date? This would be a huge time saver for everyone:

Student: this would allow their grade to accurately reflect true grade (if teacher is behind)- will encourage/motivate, etc.

Teacher: huge time saver! Helpful for schools/teachers with students who self pace

Academic Adviser: view true and accurate grade for reporting

Currently, a teacher can default an assignment grade (for all or some students) to a zero. But what if on the same prompt (window) it asks for a date. When the date passes, a zero in placed in the grade. This gives the teacher control of when it happens and it's easy to find.

Just an idea.

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13886 .

[Renee_Carney]

This idea was moved from Under Consideration stage (no longer in use) to the Product Radar stage.  

This change was made as part of a feature idea process evolution.  Find more information, and contribute insights, by joining Focus Group: DRAFT Feature Idea Space. 

[cohenf]

This is my second semester using Canvas and I'm just realizing now that zeroes are not automatically given to quizzes completely unanswered by students. I always assumed the "-" (hyphens) were calculated as zeroes. Had no idea I had to "Set Default Grade" to zero for every quiz I made. That means I gave students inflated course grades last semester. This is quite a shocking revelation.  Quizzes with no completed answers must receive an automatic grade of zero after the "open until" date without the instructor having to "Set Default Grade," (and of all places, in a separate location, i.e., Grades," from where the quiz is made) Making this change is urgent. I am now going through and issuing "Default Grade" of zero for all the quizzes so far. Now, I'm going to have students who regularly check their gradebook wondering why their grades suddenly dipped.

[schutt_j]

Yup. Welcome to the Canvas (we don't know how to do math) world.

I have students take 12 quizzes over the semester and I drop the lowest two at the end. But Canvas drops them at the beginning. So my student grades are also inflated.

And then there's the nasty Canvas glitch were they can't add extra credit points to the numerator of a grade without concurrently adding points to the denominator as well (which cancels the effect of extra credit.)

You'd think that someone there would be competent at math.

[cohenf]

 @Renee_Carney ‌, what is the progress on this?

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi  @cohenf ‌...

Here's information on https://community.canvaslms.com/community/ideas/feature-ideas/blog/2016/10/27/new-ideation-stage-pro... that  @Renee_Carney ‌ referenced in her posting.

[cohenf]

 @Chris_Hofer  I read "New Ideation Stage," but there's no indication of progress on the "automatic zero after date" function. How do we find out progress on ideas, such as this one, that have moved to "Product Radar"? From what I've read so far, it seems like delay on this could be indefinite. 

[cohenf]

Absolutely.

[cohenf]

 @curtain   Absolutely. I think this deserves the highest priority. I just learned, to my shock and dismay, that I gave inflated course grades to students last semester, as I assumed that all those hyphens for missing work were equal to zero. Had no idea until now that I had to manually turn them into zeroes (with "Set Default Grade" or by inserting them individually).  @jbuchner ‌, it appears Scott is doing that now, but, as he said, if you do it for future assignments, i.e., ones student have made available to them, then it gives them false zeroes, making their grade look lower than it really is based on their completed work. Besides, it should be unnecessary to take an extra step of giving zeroes to students who don't submit work by a certain date. A teacher can always exercise the prerogative to give the student another chance, but getting that zero automatically gives the student a signal that he or she missed a deadline. Having it be "ungraded" sends no signal at all. So, I don't really see how your suggestion addresses Scott's issue or mine.

[kmeeusen]

Hi schutt.j

Actually, within an assignment group you can set the group to drop one or more lowest scores.  You can learn more at How do I create rules for an assignment group?  Canvas will drop as scores accumulate which can be confusing to students. My suggestion would be to create an assignment group for your quizzes, then set the group to drop the two lowest scores near the end of the term.

As for the Extra Credit thingy, I do this all the time. I create an assignment worth a specified value (even zero), then for extra credit I add extra points to the student's score for the assignment. Canvas Gradebook leaves the denominator as it was, but increases the numerator - or as I like to say to my students, "The total possible points don't change, but your total actual points do change."  You can learn more at https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2874 

I hope this helps,

KLM

[cohenf]

I'm going to add another point here to make this more urgent. Common sense tells you that if a student doesn't submit the work by a designated date, then that student receives zero out of X points. This is completely intuitive. Marking work never submitted as "ungraded," Canvas's default, is completely counter-intuitive. How can you grade what's not there? This current treatment of non-submitted work as not counting towards the grade makes no sense. To have to take an extra step to "Set default grade" at zero or to mark "0" for non-submitted work also makes no sense.

Think of it this way. What if I have a quiz with 5 equal-weighted, multiple-choice questions and a student decides to answer only one? That student will receive a 20%. Correct? But if you treated each question the way Canvas treats whole quizzes, then the student would get a 100% for 1/1 questions with the other 4 being counted as "ungraded" until the instructor addresses the problem. Again, it is completely counter-intuitive.

I think I'm a little frustrated having just discovered that I let many students get by, last semester, with non-weighted zeroes in their course grade because I long assumed the hyphens ("-") meant zero.