Parental observation in canvas complicated with three children!

[trberta]

  This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

  Idea will be open for vote Wed. September 2, 2015 - Wed. December 2, 2015  Learn more about voting...

We have three children at the same high school.  We have registered as Canvas observers, and added all three children to our watch list. With 8 class periods, that's 24 potential classes to watch, and they appear to be listed ALPHABETICALLY, without an obvious way to filter by student, or clearly identify which student is taking which class.

Our three children have very different learning styles and levels of achievement, which demand three very different levels of observation.  Our temporary workaround will be very "clunky" (an old technical term meaning not user-friendly).  We are going to have to set up three separate parental accounts, using three separate parent email addresses, and observe one student in each account.

I am excited about using your system and at first blush it seems to have a number of advantages over MyBigCampus that we used last year.  However, if we can't look at one student at a time, or somehow sort things differently, it could be a frustrating year.  Can you help us?

  Comments from Instructure

May 2016 Update:

Please find more info at Canvas Studio: Canvas Parent

[cgiraud]

Still leaves those of us NOT enabling the parent app with a hot mess for families with several children. BTW, parent app makes our grade policy impossible to maintain--will not enable it until grade visibility issues are put back into the control of the institution.

[kmeeusen]

Hi Camela:

Could you please elaborate on your grade policy and how it is holding up adoption of the Parent App?

Thanks,

KLM

[cgiraud]

Sure. From what I understand about the new parent app, parents can access grades very easily. In fact, this access to the gradebook is one of the features most enhanced by the app. We don't allow open access to our gradebooks in my school. We are trying to guard against helicoptering and parents making decisions about what assignments are significant in the learning process of the student and as structured in the class. If, for example, a student earns a low grade on a reading check quiz of low numerical consequence, teachers are not interested in email exchanges with parents or setting up meetings. If the student demonstrates a pattern of failure, however, then the teacher reaches out to the student and parent. We have set times (many of them) when teachers deliberately communicate progress. The hope is that the grade discussion will be primarily b/w students and their teachers rather than parents and teachers (though the latter occurs as needed if things get dicey).

Does that anwer you question? Canvas seems to have a hard time understanding why anyone would want controlled access. Nearly all of the progress they've made in the parent communications department favors more open access and removes control from teachers and schools--or makes control cumbersome.

[kmeeusen]

Thanks Camela!

I am not sure I understand or support controlled access in K12 either, but I still appreciate your info to help improve my understanding. From a parent perspective, I don't want to wait until progress report time to learn that my child is having difficulties.

KLM

[cgiraud]

Hi, Kelley,

Thanks for your perspective. Our thinking is also that as a college prep school, getting students to advocate for themselves and weaning parents from hovering is important. We report progress a mid-quarter, quarter, and 3/4 quarter before semester grades. The only grade that is recorded on a permanent record is the yearlong grade. We have a robust advisory program and expectations that students check in with teachers regularly about work and progress. Many systems in place to help support the student in growing some independence. Grades can always be accessed with direct requests which teachers must respond to w/in 24 hours.

As a professional educator, I really value the respect afforded by a closed system for teachers to make judgements about communications and encouraging students in self-advocacy.

The frustrating part about Canvas is that their very open system doesn't allow a school to easily operate w/in this paradigm of trusting a teacher to make these assessments about progress and communicate directly with students. It assumes that open access to a teacher's records and notes and about progress is a given. Frustrating.

[petern]

This is a great idea and I don't think it's been solved.  The website still offers the same functionality it did when this idea was originally posted.   @GideonWilliams  has written this post to explain why this idea is important to schools here Parents Access to Canvas.  I've reopened this idea to make it clear that we want a website solution:

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8649-parents-toggle-view-between-children 

[petern]

bradspencer mikescheid‌  @joseph_allen ‌ and cgiraud‌, I completely agree and have reopened the idea: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8649-parents-toggle-view-between-children 

[petern]

We are also advising parents not to use the parent app, partly because of grades.  The reason we want to withhold grade information is somewhat different cgiraud's.  In the UK, the students get awarded a grade at the very end of schooling based on exams and not GPA which has knock on effects for how important (or unimportant) assignments are.  At my institution we are getting teachers to put assignments into Canvas but not necessarily record marks on Canvas yet.  Parents in the parent app will see 0% next to every course.  Even when we do start recording marks in Canvas, that % has little meaning - you can't reduce a child's understanding to one score.  Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of a child's understanding are greatly important, however the % is front and centre - the dominant mark next to every course.  The prominence of the % next to every course doesn't fit with the ethos of my school and most schools I know.

[GideonWilliams]

Focus in most schools is also very much about formative assessment with comments on improving progress and not a 'grade'. Too often students simply look at grade judgement and nothing else.

When teachers pair grades with comments, common sense would tell us that this is a richer form of feedback. But our work in schools has shown us that most students focus entirely on the grade and fail to read or process teacher comments. Anyone who has been a teacher knows how many hours of work it takes to provide meaningful comments. That most students virtually ignore that painstaking correction, advice, and praise is one of public education’s best-kept secrets. (Is the Feedback You’re Giving Students Helping or Hindering? | Learning Sciences Dylan Wiliam Center )

Many of our staff use assignments with Complete/Incomplete option and then use free comments for WWW (what went well) and EBI (even better if).

This is also why we are pressing for points free rubric! Got to move beyond the 'score' - https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/4350-rubric-without-points 

[petern]

Thanks Gideon - what I was trying to say but much clearer