Exams for one student

[HollieLeavitt]

Problem statement:

I have a student who needed a makeup exam that was different from the exam their peers took. I created this exam, and excused thru the gradebook all students in the class from it with the exception of the student it was created for. I named it Exam 2 (Version 2) so it couldn't be confused for the original exam. I emailed my students and told them...this exam is NOT for you. However, because the exam still showed in their calendar with a due date, my students went insane. The fact that the students had been excused from the exam so when they went to open it nothing opened made their anxiety WORSE, not better. They figured they both had an exam they didn't know about, and they couldn't access it. I got like 47 crazed emails over the weekend from students losing their minds. Please understand, I teach A&P and these students are neurotic. Another way, (besides retakes) that this causes problems is If I want to give students in the same class different exams--for example, if I want to have 4 versions of Exam 2 and randomly or manually assign students to the different versions. Every single student gets notified of every single version/the versions due date and panics.

Proposed solution:

Please make it possible to create/release an exam to one or more students so that other students that are excused from it do not see it in their calendar, their gradebook, or anywhere else that will make them think they have an exam due they didn't know about. The current settings in the gradebook to "excuse" remaining students from exams not intended for them are insufficient if the remaining students can STILL SEE THE EXAM in their calendar. This causes mass panic. If an exam is still showing as due on X date anywhere that excused students can see it, there is no amount of emails from me telling them the exam isn't for them that can quell their fears. Simply making the exam unopenable--but still showing it in the excused students' calendars--makes them panic even more. Please create a workaround where exams can be deployed to one or more individual students without all students being notified of it and having it appear on their calendar/gradebook.

User role(s):

instructor

[ModeratorPanda]

Hi @HollieLeavitt,

I am happy to share that Canvas does have a pretty easy way to do everything I believe your idea is asking for.  You can use the "assign to" boxes to make something available to just a single student following the individual student section of the  How do I assign an assignment to everyone, individual students, differentiated tags, or sections gui..., ensuring you remove the "everyone else" option.  When you assign something to an individual student (or students, section, etc) only those who are assigned the exam will see it in their gradebook or calendar/to-do list, and you won't even have to excuse every other student in the gradebook.  This method should work for any Canvas assignment, quiz, or discussion.

Please let us know if this meets all of your needs by responding back here.  As we wait for a reply with further information, we’re placing your request in the Seeking Clarity status for two weeks. Please respond by Thursday, November 20 so we can provide your idea the attention it deserves. If you are unable to reply by then, we’ll Archive the thread to allow the Product Team to focus on newer requests.