Any way to drop oldest score in an assignment group? (last score counts)

[WayneXYZ]

I know Canvas can drop the lowest/highest score in an assignment group. Is there any way to have it drop the OLDEST score?

At our institution, all students are allowed two attempts for assignments. The second attempt is voluntary: students can resubmit if they didn't pass on the first time, or if they want to improve their grade. Only the last score counts for their grade, even if it ends up being lower than the initial one.

Ideally, if two or more scores are present within an assignment group, I'd like Canvas to automatically drop the oldest one and calculate grade totals accordingly, based on the latest submission. I know this option doesn't exist, but is anyone aware of a good, uncomplicated way of emulating it?

[Ron_Bowman]

@WayneXYZ -

Is this for an actual assignment?  Or is it for a quiz?  With Quizzes you can select to keep the latest score.  There is nothing like that in an assignment.  However, you confused me with talking about an assignment group.  It sounds like students get 2 attempts on an assignment, in which case you only see the latest attempt which you would have to grade.  However, the way you phrased made me think you had 2 separate single attempt assignments and you wanted to keep only the latest submission of the two - if this is the case, there is not  a way to do it as far as I know.  Allowing multiple attempts on an assignment would be the way to go.  Or if it is quizzes, it is a simple selection in the settings when multiple attempts are being used.

[WayneXYZ]

Thanks for your response and suggestions. This is indeed about assignments, not quizzes. And yes, you understood correctly: I want to have 2 separate, single-attempt assignments and keep only the latest submission of the two. Allowing multiple attempts achieves something related to what I want, but it causes issues with deadlines. The first attempt and the re-sit should each have their own due dates and availability periods. If I allow multiple attempts on a single assignment, I am limited to setting only one deadline on that assignment, which is not correct. 

[Ron_Bowman · Accepted solution]

@WayneXYZ -

Thanks for the clarification.  I understand now exactly what you want, and unfortunately the capability you want is not available.  If it were, each assignment would have to have its own assignment group (the two assignments in each group) so that you could accept the latest submission.

As a possible work around - turn off the late penalty aspect of grading and make the due date for the assignment the first due date and the until date as the time for the second due date.  You would have to clarify to the students what the procedure is with the dates and to ignore the late submission indication.  Then you could have 2 submissions possible for a single assignment and the last submission when graded would be what counts.  Not ideal, but it may work for you - it also depends on the age of the students you are dealing with (and possibly parents if k-12).  

good luck

[WayneXYZ]

Thanks for this suggestion! This is in fact exactly how I have it set up at the moment, using a combination of due date and visible-until date. It works, but it's indeed not ideal and it still ends up being confusing to some students, especially because the second date won't be popping up on their calendars and to-do lists. (I've found that when it comes to following easy instructions and understanding simple workarounds like this, there's often little difference between an undergrad and a kindergartner... 😉)

In any case, thanks. Would be nice if dropping scores based on date gets implemented in the future.