More descriptive statistics (at least, median and mean) for every column in "Grades" (gradebook)

[cohenf]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

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One can see the mean for individual assignments in "Grades" (gradebook) but the median is not provided. Would like to see that as it is a crucial measure of central tendency in performance. For columns in the gradebook, that are an average of category assignments and an average for the course ("Total"), no descriptive statistics are provided at all. I would, at the very least, want mean and median provided, but, like for individual assignments, I'd like a graph of distribution of marks too. Thanks.

P.S. I'm aware of the boxplots in Course Analytics.

[biray]

Thank you for your Feature Idea submission. We wanted to call your attention to the following ideas: " modifiedtitle="true" title="Assignment grade Histograms, ​, ​,     which were all submitted in a different voting periods, but archived due to lack of votes or inadequate response. You may want to reference these ideas for insight.

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[cohenf]

Thank you. I really do try hard to search for similar posts in "Ideas" before creating a new one. Somehow, my search terms did not obtain these "light bulb" links in results. Also, I know I can export to Excel and generate the stats, but it's obviously more seamless to have them right there. Wondering why the choice to stick only with mean for individual assignments when median is additionally informative, as it's not affected by extreme, low scores.

[elekes_8]

I also think basic statistics: mean, median, mode, Min. and Max is necessary information for both students and instructors. The mode is actually the most useful statistic as it represents the most common score. The average is skewed of course by very high or very low scores. Since we are in the business of education and statistics help instructors evaluate the assessments used to assess student progress and also improve a course, complete statistics should be standard in a course management system and not something that should be requested or voted on.

[Renee_Carney]

This idea has moved to the next stage and will be open for voting among the Canvas Community, from Wed. October 5, 2016 - Wed. January 4, 2017.

Check out this doc for additional details about how the voting process works!

[vanderhyde]

I have a problem with Canvas reporting the min and max grades to students. The quartiles, median, and mean are fine, but I think it is not the students' business what the lowest score was. I am less concerned about the highest score. The problem is that the class may have a very good idea who got the lowest grade in the class, and with that knowledge, now they know that person's grade too. That's a FERPA violation. I don't think any individual scores should be visible to all the students. The min and max are very likely individual scores and may be tied to an individual with only a little extra information.

I found the option that allows me to turn off the stats for the course, but I would like the students to see the rest of the stats, just not the minimum score in the class.

[elekes_8]

You are making some assumptions with your statements.  Individual scores are never available to all students at our University. Students can only see their own scores. You are incorrect that the min and max are tied to individual students. There can be more than one person with the min grade and more than one student with the max grade. Reporting the min and max does not in any way violate FERPA.  If you have a class of 200 to 1000 students, the only person who knows who had what score is the student themself and the instructor. Canvas is used in many settings...not just tiny classrooms where every student might know every other student. The best option is to have the ability for canvas to calculate all stats and give the ability to the instructor to report what is appropriate for their setting.

[bwilkins1]

Being able to add the basic statistics:  Mean, Median, Mode, Min, Max and SD is highly requested by our faculty. They also want the ability to turn it on and off in the column itself to show or not show to the students in general.  Even just to see for themselves would be sufficient.

[elekes_8]

Instructors also need statistics to adequately gather data for GENED assessment.

[grandinetti_1]

How can any serious gradebook web app not generate a histogram and statistics for a graded assignment?

[bpuschner]

This is a major flaw of canvas. In addition to each column, we need to be able to assess basic stats for the cumulative grade at any given time point during teaching. It is important to see the grade based on all assignments graded for the cohort, NOT just for an individual student.