Optional assignment

[raviv201]

I'm relatively new to Canvas and wanted to make an assignment that was optional—something that people could submit if they wanted (not for credit). In case this is helpful, I wanted to give them the option to submit a paper proposal to me, but won't require them to do so. It looks like I can't make an assignment optional in Canvas; the best I can do is to make it worth 0 points and exempt everyone who didn't submit on the back end. I contacted Canvas support about this, and they confirmed that there is no way to create an optional assignment. I think it'd be great if the developers would come up with a way to do this, since it's frustrating to have to manually exempt folks who don't submit retroactively. Thanks for your consideration! 

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @raviv201 ...

Interesting idea!  Unfortunately, the space where you've posted this idea is not where you should be posting.  There's a separate space here on the Canvas Community website where you can submit your ideas for consideration so that they can be evaluated later on.  Take a look at this page:

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

...and then click on the "View and Submit Ideas" button.  From there, click on the blue "Submit an Idea" button.  I'd also encourage you to look at the links under the heading "Ideas and Themes" on this page:

Instructure Community Guide - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

...because those Guides will help you learn about the development process...as well as how to create/submit your Ideas.

I hope this helps!

[TrishaMeyer1]

Hi @raviv201 ,

Another thing to consider for a submission that is not an assignment and has no point value is to post it as a Discussion and let students respond via the Reply option. If you want/need submissions to be private, you can use Groups and create single-student groups so that students can't see each others' replies (because each student will have a private "Discussion" with you).

Discussions provide a great way to share content from student to instructor without having to create an Assignment.