Batch upload student submissions

[OscarLevin]

Since AI has made it so easy for students to complete assignments without doing the work themselves, I have started using a lot for in-person "on paper" assessments.  I would love to keep a record of these in Canvas attached to each student, so they can see feedback sooner and I can still see their work even after I hand back their paper assignments.

It is easy for me to scan all the papers and even split them up into individual PDFs.  I was really hoping to be able to upload a zip file of these pdfs and have Canvas load those for each student (I would name the pdfs lastfirst_1_1_something.pdf or similar).  Unfortunately, this doesn't work, even if the assignments were "downloaded" first (that only seems to update current files).

I know that I could upload a file on behalf of a student, but this seems to require doing so for each of my 40-50 students individually and I just can't justify that amount of time for this.

Does anyone have any ideas?  I have searched a bit to see if there is a current way to accomplish this, but so far haven't found anything, so perhaps this is a feature request.  Seems like it would be very useful and not too difficult to implement.

[James]

@OscarLevin 

I'm a little confused as what you're describing is not consistent with my experience. For my "on paper" assignments, I don't have the ability to download or upload submissions because Canvas doesn't have a submission file associated with it. For some types of online submissions, I can download or re-upload submissions, but I'm not sure how you're able to submit work on behalf of a student for an "on paper" assignment. When I reupload submissions, it doesn't replace the original upload, it adds a submission comment, so I'm not following you there, either. When I download the files, make changes, and reupload them, they don't see my changes in SpeedGrader. They see a comment that says "See attached file" and then they can download it.

It seems that the most straight-forward way to handle this would be for you to make it an online submission and then make the student take a photo of their paper and upload that into Canvas as well as turning the paper in to you. I don't have a cell phone (I have an old one that I use for multifactor authentication but it doesn't actually work as a phone), but I'm in the minority. Almost all of my students had smart phones where they could take a picture, convert it to a PDF [if that's what you wanted], and then upload it into Canvas. For the very few who couldn't do that, you could do that for them.

Then Canvas has an electronic copy and you have a paper copy to make sure that they actually did the work. You can download their submissions so that you have the properly named files. Then you either (1) grade the paper, scan, split, rename them using the existing names, and then reupload them, (2) grade the electronic submissions to save the scanning, splitting, and renaming, or (3) grade the electronic version using SpeedGrader.

When I did on paper assignments, I either provided feedback in Canvas as a submission comment along with a note that "this will make sense when you get your paper back" or "more information is provided when you get your paper back." I was basically leaving a comment about why they got the grade they got. I based subsequent due dates on having enough time to get the feedback back to them in class the next class period and then letting them have time to react to it.

I rarely took the time to scan the paper and go through all the extra steps you describe, it really was just too much work. But more power to you for wanting to get the feedback to them right away. You care more than most of them do -- especially those who are using AI to do their work.

There is an API call to do the bulk update of submissions. Uploading files into Canvas is not trivial. It's a three-step process (although step 3 is sometimes optional) and then you have to keep track of those file IDs for each student before you can do the bulk update of submissions. The built-in reupload of files provides a much smoother integration.

[Jeff_F]

@James and I thought I was the last one on the planet to use a flip phone. I retired mine when the kids 'had to have' an iPhone. I now use their old phones so they can stay up to date with the tech.

While I like the photo idea, I thought I'd point out a flaw. What is to stop students from using AI to generate the content and then just write it out on paper?

For me, I've tried implementing stages of writing with the title and thesis statement being the first phase, then a review of references with notes taken, an outline of three major ideas and supporting information. Then a draft and final essay. Even with all the steps I am certain a number of students continue to use GenAI for each element. But I'd say far fewer than if we were to just be drafting the essay to file in a single step.  Just thought I'd share what I've attempted.

[James]

@Jeff_F. I figured that @OscarLevin had solved the AI problem in whatever he was doing to make them put it on paper so I didn't focus on that aspect. Believe me, it was on my mind. Every time I think about assignments, my mind gets clouded with AI.

I was focused on trying to help him figure out how to get it into Canvas when he wanted it on paper but still have the benefits of an online submission.

[OscarLevin · Accepted solution]

Hi @James and @Jeff_F,

Thanks for your replies.  Alas, I have not solved the problems AI poses; having students complete master quizzes on paper, in class, is my attempt to have assessments that they won't just use AI to do for them.  I'm using mastery grading so students will  have multiple attempts at each quiz.  I have been tracking these in Canvas as "on paper" assignments, but of course I could set up the assignments as "file upload" and just tell students not to upload any files.  Ideally I would be able to upload the files for them, but that is what I can't figure out what to do.

I would rather not ask students to pull out their smartphones at the end of class right before they turn in their quiz.  Feels like I'm just asking for them to also text the picture of their work to their friend in the class who is still working.  

A little more background: the whole reason I went down this path was because after grading 50 papers by hand, I needed to record the results in the learning mastery gradebook, and flipping through the pages and trying to match them to the people in the speed grader list was a big pain.  I started scanning the batch of papers so at least I could flip through the pdf document quickly, go select the name in speed grader, and hit the right element of the rubric.  But it would be so much faster to see the student's work in speed grader itself.

Anyway, sounds like I'm not just missing something about the possibility of uploading.  I'll have to keep thinking of ways to speed up my workflow.

[oneilllj]

Hi @OscarLevin 

I think this is going to be a work in progress to find the balance to achieve your preferred outcome. Until then, a method we use for physical examination papers is as follows:

• College (through a system we have established) create an assignment shell and rubric in Canvas
• Students complete exam in examination conditions
• Teachers connect assignment and rubric
• Teachers mark paper exams and enter results into Canvas (they don’t upload the exam paper)
• on results release day, the whole class complete an examination feedback review
• Students complete a feedback sheet where there is a space for every question, they record their result, add any comments especially if they got something wrong etc
• Students upload this feedback sheet with the relevant Canvas assignment, it aligns with the results of the rubrics and also clearly shows which question they got correct/incorrect. 

In this method you don’t have to upload anything, just return the marked papers, ask students to record their results and upload the feedback sheet with that info.

I’m not sure of the frequency of your exams, so this may or may not be efficient for you.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks

Jen

Teachers mark exams and enter results in Can