[Gradebook] Set Default Grade - based on value

[cliff_cunningha]

Problem statement:

The current Set Default Grade feature only works on cells where the assignment HAS NEVER RECEIVED A GRADE. That is to say, if an instructor has ever inadvertently entered a grade, but immediately caught the error and erased the grade, the Set Default Grade feature will ignore that student's grade.

This is problematic: For the past six years, instructors at our institution have always used the Set Default Grade feature as a "final step" to assign a zero to any cell that does not currently possess a value. But now (I am 100% convinced this behavior changed over summer 2024) the Set Default Grade feature will only work if a cell has never been altered. The feature no longer operates on "the cell being null"; the feature now assesses whether a value had ever existed in the cell.

Proposed solution:

The Set Default Grade feature should, simply, assess whether a cell currently presents as "null" or "not null". If the cell is "null"... apply the Set Default Grade value. If the cell is "not null"... omit the cell from inclusion in the Set Default Grade; leave the current value in place.

User role(s):

admin,instructor,ta

[cliff_cunningha]

ADDENDUM: This whole topic also touches the Late Policies. I have tested, and will confirm: the "Automatically apply grade for missing submissions" feature is also adversely effected by the same programmatic logic that is employed by the Set Default Grade feature. 

That is to say, if a cell in the gradebook has been given a grade, but the grade has been deleted, that cell will be ignored by the "automatically apply grade" feature.

I did not test the "Automatically apply deduction". But I feel safe assuming it, too, is impacted.

In all cases -- Set Default Grade, Automatically Apply Grade, and Automatically Apply Deduction -- every user in Canvas-land assumes that null-cells will be included in the impending change.

My support team, and several instructors we have consulted, cannot conceive a use case where the current functionality would be preferred. What would it matter if a cell "once possessed a value, but no longer possesses a value"? Why should that cell be treated differently? (Again, this is not the way the features used to work pre-Summer 2024.)