[Gradebook] Add, Create, or Modify a Calculated or Total Column in the Gradebook

[thomas-rietz]

This was up, but archived.  See Add, Create, or Modify a Calculated or the Total Column in the Gradebook.

Being able to calculate things in the grade book beyond adding things up or weighting and adding seems like an absolutely necessary feature.  It seems like one of those that comes up repeatedly under various guises, but keeps getting archived.  But, I keep reading that there are lots of people who do more than just add things up to calculated grades.

[matthew-stuckwi]

The biggest problem with Canvas is that it assumes that all of our courses and all of our teaching and grading styles and philosophies fit the One True Model™.  As I've used Canvas over the past year now, I've found that hands down, Blackboard is much more powerful, although it has a higher learning curve.  Canvas has a low learning curve, but that enabled because it is far too simple to handle many tasks.  The gradebook is, perhaps, the shining example of that, but sadly it's quite pervasive.

[fkolarz]

We have times when we need to create manual columns in the gradebook.  Everything is not connected to a quiz or an assignment.  We had that option in Blackboard, that is one thing I miss being able to do.  We have a few courses with over 900 students in them and they are assigned to groups.  We used to add a column in the grade center to show which group each student was in.  I know there is the secondary info option in Canvas but it would be nice to have this information in its own column.

[susquehannock]

Canvas needs to give instructors the ability to create columns that calculate scores based on other columns where I can assign each column a different weight. Whomever decided that I should have to waste a ridiculous amount of time creating "assignment groups" has clearly never taught classes before.

In addition, I should also be able to create my own letter grade column wherein I can assign final letter grades to be exported to the registrar. Your grading scheme "feature" is also a colossal waste of time and does not allow instructors to have complete control over final grades. 

[smartin5]

I need to have a text column in the gradebook for grades such as "Honors", "High Pass", etc that are based on percentage average as well as projects completed.

[fkolarz]

@matthew-stuckwiyou are correct.  Blackboard's grade center does a lot more than the Canvas grade book.  Creating columns manually is one if the things faculty our miss the most.  I'm really hoping Canvas will listen and add that to the grade book.

[russtuck]

I get "access denied" on the archived proposal, but I completely agree with the comments.  This is the first thing I've found where Canvas is a huge pain and Blackboard was dramatically better.  It's disappointing to find that users have been saying this for over 4 years, and Canvas hasn't listened.

I want to be able to create calculated grade entries, like a simple spreadsheet, so the calculations can be live and reflected to students. 

In more detail... I want to calculate the midterm and final grades differently, based on what they cover.  (Manually "snapshotting" the midterm grade and then only being able to calculate the final grade is a poor substitute.)  I'd like first-half and second-half subtotals for things like homework, quizzes, and labs, so students can compare their earlier and current performance.  But I'd like the final to be based on the raw assignments, so I don't have to keep track of the precise ratio of points in the two halves.

[Hildi_Pardo]

As we start to near the end of the school year, and more teachers are using Canvas, and using it more heavily, they discover things that need improvement.  Here is an example I received today from a teacher:

Canvas gradebook doesn't have a separate final exam grading period separate from the quarter grades. This presents a challenge -- not an insurmountable one. 

I actually gave a semester exam to my AP Economics students last month and placed the results of the exam in the 4th quarter once students completed the exam. This allowed me to keep the semester grade separate from the 2nd quarter grades. However, once I get to the 4th quarter, I will need to move these grades -- as well as the rest of the final exam grades -- someplace else. 

I suppose that I could recharacterize these virtual exams as "practice exams" and then record the results in the final exam period of Synergy. But this would be messy.

Is there anyway that we can have a final exam grading period added to Canvas gradebook?

[JeffKoplik]

Canvas should provide a way to apply formulas to calculate a column in the gradebook (i.e. from other columns). 

While the calculated gradebook column could be optionally associated with an assignment, it would be best if the user could also create standalone gradebook columns.  The use case for this is the creation of interim calculations.

Ideally, the calculation formula should allow the use of basic mathematics functions (e.g. max(), product(), add(), min(), mean(), sum(), power() .... nothing too elaborate is needed here).

The current process of creating and weighting dummy assignments is too cumbersome for many use cases. Additionally, the process of exporting grades and re-importing calculated grades from a spreadsheet application, while a workaround, is extremely inconvenient.

[iwoods]

I want to be able to set up assignments like this: 

Assignment Group 1 = WORTH 100 total max

Assignment Z = 20 pts

X = 25 pts

V = 25 pts

M = 15 pts

N = 20 pts. 

See how that adds up to 105? There's built-in "extra credit" but it's not actually extra and nothing is worth only 5 points. 

This is simple, straightforward, and not possible in Canvas. If I assign 105 points, Canvas averages from 105 points, and I can't make my own calculation or even hide the percentage from students. 

[Varick_Erickson]

I was surprised to find there is not much flexibility in the grade book.  I was trying to have the following weighting for my class:

• 40% Assignments
• 60% Tests (Final 100 points, Midterm 100 points)
  
  Tests = Max(0.7*Final + 0.3*Midterm, 0.3*Final + 0.7*Midterm)

The idea is if a student scored better on the Final than the Midterm, then the Final will be given more weight than the Midterm.  Similarly, if the student did better on the Midterm than on the Final, then the Midterm will be given more weight.

When I asked about this in the general forum  (original question), the response was to use Excel and override the grades.  I like the idea of having a limited number of functions available (sum, min, max, mean, etc) for custom scoring.