Mute assignment as a option at assignment creation

[r_v_jones]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

Please can we have this as it could save a lot of headache for teachers 

When you create an assignment can we have it to either

1. Automatically set the assignment to be muted at point of creation
2. Having muting an assignment as option in the creation list

It is too easy to forget to Mute an assignment and there are no queues at creation.

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-16958-canvas-release-notes-2019-07-13 .

[curtain]

My 2 cents is an option to set a 'Post Grades On date' that went along with Available, Due and Until dates.

You can set the Post Grades On date along with the other dates or leave blank (just like you can with the other dates in Canvas).  Then similar to the Mute option, there would also be an option to toggle the release of grades in Speedgrader, the little arrow menu in the Grades header row labeled Post Grades Now and with the Assignment or Quiz detail page.  That would let people toggle it on demand when they are done grading and it would update that Post Grades On date in the details so it would serve as a record as to when the grades were posted.  This would serve to complement Mute as people can Mute to hold the notifications across the assignment and still post the grades at a specific moment as needed, either scheduled by the date or on demand with the toggle.

[boles]

Great ideas Scott!  Makes so much more sense to make the initial setting in assignments.   For quizzes, this would eliminate the problem of having to go to speed grader or to grades in order to make the results available to students, and with the option of setting the date ahead of time so that one doesn't have to remember to unmute.   And for written assignments, keeping the option to release grades (unmute) in speed grader, if not preset in assignments, is  logical since one would release after evaluating the submissions.

[boles]

But my understanding is that all assignments are already is muted by default, and that's the problem for people like me who don't want that.   If they are not muted by default, then why are all my assignments muted,  requiring me to go to grades, or to speed grader  to unmute after I create an assignment?   In other words, is there a setting that I am unaware of  to mute assignments ( as opposed to unmuting them)?

[Stef_retired]

boles​, I'm intrigued, because my assignments have never been muted by default--one of the reasons I've supported this feature idea is precisely because they're not--and I don't believe it is default (or for that matter, intended) behavior in Canvas. Does your school use a grade integration system (e.g. PowerSchool)? Just wondering if there's an external factor that would cause all your grades to be muted by default.

[boles]

Hi Stefanie -

We don't have a grade integration system. So it's a puzzle as to why yours are not muted and mine are. I suspect that the norm is that they are muted, and that this is the reason people have requested to set the mute option at the point of creating an assignment. Wish we could confirm...

- Elson

- Prof. Boles

Professor, Department of Sociology

Saginaw Valley State University

Gilbertson Hall N266

University Center, 48710

Vice-President, Four-Year Colleges

Michigan Association of Higher Education

[kona]

boles, I'm a Canvas admin that trains faculty and I teach with Canvas and I am 100% sure that Assignments are not muted when they are created. Per this feature idea request the person states, "It is too easy to forget to Mute an assignment and there are no queues at creation."

Could you possibly be confusing "publishing" an assignment with muting? Assignments are not automatically published when you create them and must be published before they are visible to students.

Here are two guides that discuss each option:

How do I use Draft State in Assignments? (this is the publish/unpublished option)

How do I mute an assignment in the Gradebook?

[boles]

Hi Kona -

Thanks for the response. Perhaps they are not muted in your version of Canvas. But all of my assignments are always muted upon creation. I must go to SpeedGrader or Grades to un-mute them. That's the problem. If they were not muted by default, then I wouldn't have to unmute them. Perhaps there is a setting that I'm not aware of. Or is there an campus administrator-level setting?

- Elson

- Prof. Boles

Professor, Department of Sociology

Saginaw Valley State University

Gilbertson Hall N266

University Center, 48710

Vice-President, Four-Year Colleges

Michigan Association of Higher Education

[kona]

I would definitely check with the Canvas Admins at your Institution because this is not normal Canvas behavior. If they did figure out a way to mute assignments when they are created it would be interesting to find out how and why they did this.

[boles]

Hi Kona -

Indeed! I emailed an administrator this morning about it. I wonder if we could get an official response from Canvas?

- Elson

[kona]

Official response about what? Whether this is expected behavior?