Many writing and composition courses are adopting labor-based grading, an alternative assessment model that emphasizes student effort and time on task rather than traditional measures of quality. In this system, assignments are typically marked as complete/incomplete rather than assigned numerical scores. However, Canvas currently displays "N/A" in the total grade in the gradebook, which can create confusion for students and advisors about a student’s progress or standing in the course.
To better support labor-based grading, Canvas could introduce functionality that allows instructors to define custom progress thresholds. For example, instructors could specify how many completed assignments, journals, peer reviews, or drafts are required for a given final grade (e.g., a “B” requires 10 completed homework assignments, 3 peer reviews, and 3 major projects). The gradebook would then visually track students’ progress toward these benchmarks using a progress bar or tallying the checkmarks in various categories, helping both students and advisors understand course standing at a glance without relying on numerical scores.
