[SpeedGrader] Change functionality of Eye Icon in SpeedGrader

[Tasha_Biesinger]

Faculty expect the Eye Icon in SpeedGrader to work the same as the old Mute/Unmute feature, but it does not.

We recently discovered that if an assignment has the Automatic Post Policy applied and you hide grades, it is only hiding the grades that exist at the time you click Hide Grades. Grades you enter after hiding grades are still ‘honoring’ the Automatic Post policy applied and are visible to those students. We had been working under the assumption that clicking Hide Grades on an assignment with an Automatic Post Policy would hide all (current and future) grades, until grades are posted.

We would like to propose that the Eye Icon in SpeedGrader be changed so that it toggles between the following two states:

• State 1: The assignment Post Policy is set to Automatic and all grades are Posted (same state as the old 'Unmute' function)
• State 2: The assignment Post Policy is set to Manual and all grades are Hidden (same state as the old 'Mute' function)

Fancy differential Post/Hide functionality would/could be achieved in Grades.

This feature request is a companion request to https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/15168-identify-hidden-grades-in-grades-and-speedgrader 

[Nancy_Webb_CCSF]

I can't figure out a use case for the way hide/show grades currently works.  When would one want to hide already graded items, but not hide new scores? I think you'd only use it if you forgot to change the policy to manual, went and made the change in the gradebook, and then returned to speedgrader and wanted to hide those few already scored.

If you see a grades hidden icon (eye with slash through it) you would assume that the grade you are currently posting would be hidden, otherwise I'm not sure what it tells you.

[Steven_S]

I think the motivation for splitting the hide already graded from hide new must have come from a desire to temporarily hide new scores when grading late submissions without hiding the grades that have already been posted for on time submissions, rather than the reverse you asked about.  However, as it is, that specific action is very difficult to do effectively. 

You need to set up the manual posting policy, not the late/missing policy, and whenever you post grades only select "post graded."  If you have late/missing enter zeros when assignments are not turned in, and manual posting is turned on the zeros will start out hidden and "post" when the other grades post.  Once that zero is posted the manual posting policy will not hide any replacement grades.  If you mistakenly chose "post everyone" even ungraded students will be marked posted and no future grades can be hidden by the manual posting policy.  Instead hide/post is restored to hiding and posting everything. 

If you are not aware of where you are in all of those steps before every time you start grading an assignment, it is far too easy to make a mistake and end up with grades posted that should not be while the eye symbol and manual grading label create an illusion that you are doing it correctly.  It may be possible to bypass the new posting policy by entering a zero for the test student, and then selecting "post everyone." From that point selecting hide grades should work just like the old mute policy.  However, to affect the entire class it has to be done after all drop/add changes to enrollment, which means the course will already be published and all students will receive notices about grades being published.

[milesl]

Currently, instructors can hide and post grades from the speedgrader, but this functionality is limited, and out of line with the ways that most instructors grade assignments:

• Instructors cannot view or set a grade posting policy from the speedgrader
• Instructors cannot hide grades until they have been posted, which is messy and confusing as students would receive notifications about posted grades that are later hidden

Instructors may not know about or properly understand grade posting policies. Integrating them into the speedgrader would increase awareness and use, make the platform more consistent, and produce a better experience for instructors and students.

Here is one potential way to surface this information that aims to alert instructors to the outcome of submitting a grade, and how it ties to the posting policy:

Image 1: New lock button representing post policy next to the submit button

Image 2: hovering over the new lock button to view descriptive menu to modify post policy for the assignment

[milesl]

I posted that comment as a separate feature idea, but it was merged ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

For the record, I don't have a problem with the eye icon as it currently stands. I agree with previous commenters that it's use case is confusing (who would want to hide previously-entered grades, but not hide grades they are about to enter & who would only want to be able to hide grades AFTER they have been posted and temporarily visible to students)

That said, at least the functionality is consistent with the options in the gradebook. My goal is to make the functionality more consistent by making grade posting policies visible in the speedgrader so that instructors can use the much more common and sensible workflow of

1. set a manual policy
2. enter all grades
3. post all grades at once

At present, they are forced to go to multiple places to achieve this.

[IML32]

Per this post: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/Hiding-written-markings-using-Canvas-Speedg...

It is unclear to instructors whether grading comments are visible to students or not, before grades are released/made visible. I myself have had circumstances where the students are able to see the comments before grades are released, which is very unhelpful. Sometimes I have to mark assignments that I haven't created myself, so I am unsure whether the instructor who made the assignment has set it up appropriately to hide grader comments before grades are released.

Therefore, I would like to suggest that this be shown clearly in SpeedGrader. As an example, there can be an icon of an eye with a line through it (the same icon to show that grades are still hidden) by the comments, to reassure the instructor that the comments will not yet be visible to students until the grades are released, and an icon with no line through it show that the comments will be visible immediately if posted.

Ideally this should be a functionality that each grader can toggle for themselves at the time of grading & commenting.