Gradebook Sync with Multiple Due Dates for Assignment

[ZACHARYYINDRA]

I have created different groups for my class to easily extend due dates to students with extended time. While testing how grades would be displayed on my school's gradebook (Focus) I created an assignment, created different due dates using the aforementioned groups, and attempted to sync the grades. I am unable to post grades as I'm getting a message stating "Assignments without due dates or duplicate assignments cannot be synced". The groups are displayed:

I have verified that there are no duplicate assignments, and there is a due date (multiple, techinically). I removed the groups and assigned the assignment to "everyone" which allowed me to post grades. I have seen guides from Canvas recommending the use of groups to assign content to students with accomodations such as extra time, so I imagine this has to be something that can be done (Canvas guide on doing just that. Note it says nothing about syncing grades). I've also assigned tests to students in the past and had to add a student to a separate assignment to extend the time available without issue. Below you can see the assignment details.

Below you can see the message I am getting when I try to sync my gradebook. Again, if I switch the assignment so that it is assigned to "everyone", I can post grades just fine.

 Does anyone have any suggestions or advice to fix this issue? I've included screenshots of my groups, the assignment details, and the grade sync message. Thank you in advance!

[VPundir]

@ZACHARYYINDRA Can you please confirm that:

1. The assignment is set to post grades automatically? (This is default Canvas behaviour, but worth checking).
2. The assignment is NOT set to be anonymous - as you may imagine, if the assignment is set to be anonymous, then posting of grades as they come in will compromise the anonymity, so Gradebook will not show the grades.

If you find that the problem is that the assignment is set as anonymous, then you can release the grades of all marked groups (or sections) by doing a manual release. BUT this will unmask (remove anonymity) any future submissions.

[ZACHARYYINDRA]

1. The assignment is indeed set to post grades automatically. I was able to post it to my gradebook when I changed it from a group assignment to "everyone".

2. Anonymous settings for individual assignments does not seem to be enabled for my district as I am unable to find that option anywhere.  It is not set as anonymous in speedgrader either.

I see that james_whalley has recommended not using groups as students can see who else is in a group.  I thought if I selected to "Assign Grades to Each Student Individually" they wouldn't be able to see each other.  They recommended using differentiation tags instead which sounds like exactly what I want. I'm working with my IT department to enable differentiation tags and hopefully that will allow me to circumvent this issue.

[VPundir]

Hi @ZACHARYYINDRA 

@james_whalley is correct: Groups are for groupwork. And naturally, students need to know who else is in their group. So this should generally not be used to differentiate submission date based on things like disability-related standing extensions, extensions due to extenuating circumstances, etc.

However, I do not see a problem with using sections for setting different dates, esp. if the sections have benign names. Technically, students can see who else is in their section - but this is much less prominent than, say, groups. Also, when you assign an assignment to a section, the students in the section just see that the assignment is available to them, not that it is assigned to a particular section.

[james_whalley · Accepted solution]

@ZACHARYYINDRA While I cannot assist with the syncing issue, I want to call out where you wrote, "I have seen guides from Canvas recommending the use of groups to assign content to students with accomodations". I would warn that you should never create a Canvas group or section to differentiate students who need accommodations, as students can see who else is in a group or section. This is part of the reason Instructure has created differentiation tags.

[ZACHARYYINDRA]

This sounds like exactly what I'm looking for.  It seems that my district has not enabled this as an option.  I've sent an email to our IT department requesting it be enabled as I see no reason not to do so. Thank you very much for bringing this useful feature to my attention!

[ZACHARYYINDRA]

My IT sent this to me in response to my asking about Differentiation Tags.

"Hey Zach, I talked to our Canvas admin about this. Seems like a better solution than creating groups based on accommodations regarding student privacy concerns. However, we think it will still cause sync issues with Focus as it creates a separate assignment for each differentiation and since those don’t exist as matching sections in Focus, grades wont sync."

Do you know if this would cause an issue with syncing grades and, if so, a workaround for the problem?

[james_whalley]

@ZACHARYYINDRA I know nothing about Focus, but it seems absurd if it cannot account for the differentiation of assignments in Canvas. I don't know any courses that is devoid of assignment differentiation.

I found documentation at How do I set up an assignment to be sent to Focus for grade passback? that reads:

"

Notes: 

• If you use differentiated assignments to allow different sections different due dates, you must also include a due date for the remaining students using the Everyone Else option in the Assign to field [3]. However, only the specified sections are included in the grade sync.
• When an individual section is added to an assignment, the Everyone option changes to Everyone Else."

I would think that means you can differentiate assignments and it should work correctly.

[ANGELASTEIN032]

If we can no longer utilize multiple due dates for students in the same section, the differentiation tags is now useless. If our teachers were going to use differentiation tags to assign students with accommodations with additional time, it will no longer sync that assignment to Focus. So, I see this "upgrade" that Instructure has done with Focus as doing more harm than good. I see that all of the time we invested in differentiation tags, to teach them to our teachers, is wasted.

[james_whalley]

@ANGELASTEIN032 Ahhh...is it not syncing the Everyone Else section of the students?

[ANGELASTEIN032]

That is correct. I have spent over a week going back and forth with Instructure techs sending us help guides as if we are just uneducated on how to assign and sync. Today, I finally got her to tell me that it is "due to the Focus upgrade." We can no longer accommodate students individually and assign to "everyone else." The only way to accommodate is to extend the date for all or for a section at a time. OR they have to change it to assign the same date to all students after the students complete, as an option, in order to sync.

[ZACHARYYINDRA]

@ANGELASTEIN032 Am I understanding correctly that your school uses Focus and Canvas sync isn't working at all for you? I'm using Focus and I haven't had any problems with syncing grades. I have two differentiation tags that I use in each assignment and assign "everyone else" to the reminder of students.  

[ANGELASTEIN032]

You are understanding correctly. I put in a ticket with Instructure and the tech stated that it's due to the Focus upgrade. Did you allow Focus to upgrade this summer, as we did? I have heard that a few districts refused the upgrade and they have not had all of the issues we have had. We have had missing teachers in courses that we had to add manually to give them access, grade syncing completely non-functioning, and now this issue with not being able to sync if there are any students given additional time in the "assigned to" on an assignment. The tech claims that a section of students must all have the same due date to sync now.

[ZACHARYYINDRA]

I'm unaware of a new Focus update that occurred this summer. Focus had a large update last school year for us. Do you know of a way to check what version of Focus you have?  The most visible change in our big update last year changed the menu from the top of the browser to the side. I'm in Pinellas county, if it helps.