Disable/disallow students from being able to submit an attachment through graded comments

[GloriaGuerra]

Disable/disallow students from being able to submit an attachment through graded comments

Has a feature been requested by faculty to have Canvas disable/disallow students from being able to submit an attachment through graded comments?

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

I have occasionally had students do this. I just tell them that they must submit the assignment correctly in order for me to grade it.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Good afternoon, @GloriaGuerra ...

I think I have found an existing Feature Idea here in the Canvas Community that might be similar to what you are asking for.  You can find it at:

Disable file attachments in comments for assignment submissions

If you feel that this Feature Idea is similar to something you'd like to see implemented in Canvas, you can leave a comment on that Feature Idea as well as give it a star rating.  (More about the star rating system at How do idea conversations work in the Instructure Community?.)  Please know that this isn't the only way that Instructure gets feedback from us as end users of the LMS on what things should be developed in Canvas.  That is covered in the section called "Discover" on What is the feature development process for Instructure products?.

Hopefully these resources will be of some help to you.  In the meantime, I agree with the suggestion from @SusanNiemeyer.

Let us know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

I have occasionally had students do this. I just tell them that they must submit the assignment correctly in order for me to grade it.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Good afternoon, @GloriaGuerra ...

I think I have found an existing Feature Idea here in the Canvas Community that might be similar to what you are asking for.  You can find it at:

Disable file attachments in comments for assignment submissions

If you feel that this Feature Idea is similar to something you'd like to see implemented in Canvas, you can leave a comment on that Feature Idea as well as give it a star rating.  (More about the star rating system at How do idea conversations work in the Instructure Community?.)  Please know that this isn't the only way that Instructure gets feedback from us as end users of the LMS on what things should be developed in Canvas.  That is covered in the section called "Discover" on What is the feature development process for Instructure products?.

Hopefully these resources will be of some help to you.  In the meantime, I agree with the suggestion from @SusanNiemeyer.

Let us know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

[Gregory_Putman]

Hi,

The idea you linked seems to be locked so we can read but not comment and/or vote.  Is there a similar idea that we can vote on and discuss further? 

This is very important - I'm having so many students avoid specified file types and avoid deadlines on assignments by simply attaching files to comment sections.  Then I have the be the bad guy instead of just being able to turn off the ability to attach files to places I don't want students putting them.  Many students attach files to comment sections instead of the actual assignment and then get mad that they get a 0 grade when the assignment is missing - or don't understand why Canvas is calling it missing when they clearly submitted their work - but didn't actually submit, just attached to a comment.  I've put this in my syllabi, have mentioned it in several class wide announcements, have it specified in the instructions on the assignments themselves, etc...   PLEASE HELP!

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @Gregory_Putman ...

Re: the Idea that I had linked to in my earlier response...  I am not sure if that will open up again for commenting.  The re-vamped Ideas and Themes space here in the Community is a little different than what it used to be, so I would direct your attention to:

Canvas Ideas and Themes - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

As of right now, that Idea I linked to doesn't appear to be part of any identified theme...but that may change in the future...who knows.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things to let your students know how they should be attaching their submissions to you (compared to what they are actually doing).  Are you also giving them links to Canvas Guides?  For example:

• How do I submit an online assignment? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)
• Assignments Overview (Students)
• Assignment Submissions (Students)

I hope this will help a bit.  Sing out if you have any questions...thanks!

[Brave_Hamster · Accepted solution]

I have also come across this "loophole" allowing students to submit files outside the process and time frame set by the instructor.  The Feature Idea originally linked by @Chris_Hofer, which can be seen here, has been closed, as @Gregory_Putman said.  I also found this similar Feature Idea, also closed, asking for the ability to at least disable student comments on closed assignments.  The feature idea seen here, which has been created more recently and is actually still open, is requesting to be able to disable student file attachments in Speed Grader comments.  I am not sure if that is the exact same problem described here, but if not, it is very similar.

This is obviously of concern to many Canvas users, has been brought up multiple times, yet has still not been fixed.  As I learn about Canvas, this is becoming a troubling pattern.

[Gregory_Putman]

Still no action taken that I can see.  I'm left getting inundated with comments like this "This was pretty fun to do. A nice break." along with comments including questions, request to grade easily because "I really struggled with this" and files being attached to comments.  Too many un-actionable comments to sort through to find the students that are trying to ask for help.  I post instructions in my syllabi and in the instructions on each assignment to use my official university email to contact me if questions or problems arise while working and not to ask for help in comment sections and also that no work is accepted for grading via comment section posts... students don't read or don't understand what that means.  

This may only affect large enrollment courses that have limited staffing, but this is a huge issue for me.  I spend the majority of my work time searching through hundreds of comments to find legitimate questions/pleas for help every day or replying to angry emails from students that feel they are being ignored because they posted comments that didn't get replied to even though I've specified that I won't so they need to email me.   I would love to be able to devote this time to developing course materials and interacting with students or to helping TAs develop their abilities.

We've had settings to disable comments on announcement for a long time.  Please add the same option for comments on quizzes and on assignments.