Override final grade

[johnpj]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

It would be convenient if instructors could override the calculated final grade. Many faculty use the gradebook export to send grades to the student information system and there are sometimes factors in determining a final grade that are based on the discretion of the instructor.

This idea has been added to our product plan for Q1 2019 and will influence development within Canvas. To find more information about this idea’s related priority, please follow Priority: Gradebook Enhancements‌

:smileyinfo: Adding this idea to our product plan means we will be working on it, but it does not guarantee that it will be developed exactly as defined by the idea, or that it will be added to the production environment.

Read more about the feature idea process:

• Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes
• How does the feature idea process work in the Canvas Community?
• What is the feature development process for Canvas?

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the Canvas Release Notes (2019-02-16) .

[scottdennis]

Thanks, Christi!

[vkg]

Oh, Christi, I'm moving too fast in the wind-up to the new term and not making sense:)  For transparency to students, the "Instructor assigned final grade" column would have to be visible in grades as the Total Score currently is -- and I suppose preferably the instructor would be able to hide it as they can Total Score.  For pushing final grades to SIS, we'd want the "instructor assigned final grade" to be included in CSV and I suspect some folks (not us currently) would want it available via API.

And I see how we could add NG, NR, I, etc. as a custom grading scheme -- but the problem is that grading schemes are still based on %.  There IS no way to determine via math the difference between some of our allowable grades at Michigan.  One student might have a 65% and get an F and another 65% and get an I -- the difference lies in things like whether the student just disappeared halfway through the term or whether was there but received low grades.

Thanks for following up!

[Jeff_F]

I feel it would add unnecessary complexity to the grade center.  I agree with Deactivated user - for this use fudge points or adjust in the SIS prior to approving/ posting.

[Beth_Young]

Maybe this feature idea " modifiedtitle="true" title="Stand Alone Gradebook Column​ could also help meet this need. If we could add additional columns to the gradebook that were not tied to a particular assignment, we could create a column for our final course letter grade (as assigned by instructor).

[jason_paddock]

Christi, everything you say makes sense and I value transparency. However, I'm in a k-12 district where quarter totals must be at least a 60. (With the rationale that if a student's grade is too mathematically low, there's no chance the student can recover later in the year. Don't want to get into debating this! ) In the case of a kid that just bombs a quarter, it would be far more problematic to enter a bunch of fudge points than simply change the period total to 60 with a custom note, like "minimum grade" or something like that.

Perhaps even make it so once a total is changed, assignments can't be added or changed in the grading period until the custom grade is removed.

[eshay]

I teach in a medical school and I STRONGLY agree with this.  We have to grade students on professionalism, in addition to their "assignments," but there really is no way to adjust a score for this.

[eshay]

I'm a little late in joining the conversation, but I must agree that we really absolutely need an "Adjusted Final Grade" column.  I teach at William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine.  We have a fairly complex grading system in our department. We not only have different assignments weighted, but the students must pass certain assignments (lab practical exams and written exams) independently, in addition to having a final passing grade.  A student may have a passing score of >70% overall, but if their written exam average is <70, then their final grade is the written exam score and a failure in the course.  On top of that, 80% attendance for lectures and 100% attendance for lab sessions are required; anything less is a failure of the course, no matter what their earned grade happens to be. For example, a student with 73% attendance fails the course, but I cannot change the final grade to reflect a 69 (failure).

Adding a comment column next to the "Adjusted Final Grade" would allow the professor to explain the reasoning for the adjustment or to direct the student to the course syllabus for an explanation.

Another possibility would be to create an If-Then system and allow us to apply it as needed.  If the final written score average is <70, then the written average (or an arbitrary failing score like 69) becomes the final score on Canvas. The same could be used with the final attendance - if lecture attendance is <80%, then the final course score becomes 69/failure.  This would help eliminate the transparency issue of fudge points with students and they would be reminded every time that they look at their grades in Canvas of what is written about calculating scores and grades in the syllabus.  If this were to be created, then it would be important for the professor to be allowed to make a comment on all of the students' grade page of this grading rubric.

Thank you

Eva Shay, DO

[Stef_retired]

 @eshay ​, your use case has made me reconsider my original downvote. If the feature is implemented as an "if-then" system, I would definitely vote for it, as long as it is a grading system that is readily transparent to students.

[kmeeusen]

 @eshay 

You may be late to the discussion, but you have presented the most compelling arguments yet. I teach lower level courses and have always advocated for simple grading strategies that students can easily understand. In your scenario this feature would be of incredible value, but only if it was explained to the students well enough for them to understand, and if a notes column was included documenting how the final grade determination was made, because this type of system would provide considerable opportunity for abuse - not a nice thing to consider, but it happens.

Thank you for sharing this.

KLM

[eshay]

Thank you Stefanie and Kelley.

Our grading rubric is explained in great detail in our syllabus and is a very similar rubric to where I taught at a previous medical school.  It is vital for our students to understand the didactics as well as be proficient in the hands on diagnosis and treatment of patients, thus, the requirement for them to pass each portion of the course independently.  

EBS