[Gradebook] Hide non-graded assignments from the Grades page

[Estefania]

As the title says, it is becoming more and more essential to have the option as an instructor to select that only graded assignments appear in the grades page (or, even better, choose which assignment groups are displayed to students in the grades page). Having every single assignment on the page is extremely overwhelming and confusing for students, and with New Quizzes all being automatically set as assignments too, this is sure to crowd the page and it defeats the purpose of the page. The grades page should be used just precisely for that, to see grades.

[Stef_retired]

@Estefania 

Thanks for sharing this idea. Would you clarify the meaning of "ungraded assignments" in this context?

If an instructor selects the "Not Graded" option in the Display Grade as setting for the assignment, that assignment will not display in the Gradebook, as it is not graded. However, if the instructor creates an assignment that is graded and selects the checkbox "Do not count this assignment toward the final grade," that assignment will display in the gradebook; that is not an ungraded assignment, however. If an instructor creates the latter type of assignment (graded, but doesn't count toward the course grade), presumably they intend for their students to be able to view their grades on that activity in the Gradebook?

Thanks.

[Estefania]

Thanks for your quick reply, @Stef_retired!

I actually had not realised that there was a difference between selecting "Not Graded" in the Display Grade setting and the "Do not count towards the final grade" checkbox, that's really good to know. This does exactly what I wanted with assignments.

However, my issue still persists. I have just checked and the New Quizzes do not have this option! I can select "Do not count" but the Display Grade setting only allows me to choose the following: percentage, complete/incomplete, points, letter grade and GPA scale. There is no option to select "Not Graded", so I will still have a huge list of non-assignments on the grades page (as well as the Gradebook). 

Is there a reason why this setting is not available when creating a quizz with the New Quizzes?

[Estefania]

Hi again @Stef_retired. In addition to the issue I already mentioned above with the New Quizzes, I have been doing a bit more testing since last week to better understand the behaviour of the "Not Graded" setting, and it is actually more of an issue that I even thought originally. When I set a regular assignment as "Not Graded", the assignment is not displayed in the Gradebook as you mentioned, but students are also prevented from submitting anything! So if I want to create weekly assignments and quizzes for students to submit optional work I need to: hide the course summary in the syllabus, hide the grades page, and deal with an incredible unruly and unmanageble Gradebook (I am talking about at least 5 weekly activities for 24 weeks! And I am aware of the filters in the Gradebook, but for some reason you can only view one assignment group at a time instead of selecting which ones you want to see, and which ones you want to hide - this alone would be a decent temporary workaround). 

Instructors on Canvas should be able to distinguish between pieces of assessment (which would appear in the grades page and gradebook), and assignments (work assigned for students to complete with no bearing on the assessment, and able to be hidden in the grades page and gradebook). By preventing submissions, the "Not Graded" setting is not fit for purpose. "Not Graded" should mean simply that, and it shoud absolutely be an option for the New Quizzes too.

I cannot see how this has not been raised as an issue before, but it is a huge barrier to the scalability of courses on Canvas as we move increasingly online. I find it surprising that confetti after a student submission was seen at some point as more valuable to developers that something so crucial as being able to neatly handle formative assessment via non-graded practice assignments and quizzes. 

[Stef_retired]

@Estefania 

Thanks for taking the time to investigate the various graded/not graded/do not count options in assignment settings. We've moved this idea forward for further discussion.

[BethKeech]

Hello,

I often have my students do warm-up or in-class assignments that I want them to do, but do not necessarily want to assign a grade to them. Is there a way I can hide these assignments in my gradebook? They create unnecessary clutter for both me and my students, but I cannot figure out a way to avoid them showing up. I believe that the only way to do this is to mark them as not for a grade, which posts a banner on the assignment for the students indicating that it is not being graded (I'm not even sure of this, but am guessing that this option would prevent the assignment from showing up in my gradebook). I do not like this option because many students will see this banner and just opt out of the activity. It seems that there should be a way to simply remove the assignment from the gradebook. 

I should mention that I did find a hide grades option in the gradebook, but even that says that students can see that the grade is hidden. The assignment still shows up in my gradebook, but there is now an eye with the line through it to show it is hidden. There does not seem to be a way to "unhide" it. 

[ReneeDenham]

100% agree. It is very common for there to be weekly formative tasks (eg quizzes) that are NOT assessment, that are not worth any marks, and should NOT show up in the assignment section. If there was a way to hide a specific assignment group, then that would make that page a lot more manageable, and less overwhelming for students.