Point "ranges" for rubrics

[eoverton70]

The options that are allowed for point ranges don't make any sense. If I want the top values to be 5-4 points, then the next box down should be 3-2 points, not 4-2 points. Unfortunately, it automatically fills in the "4" for the lower value. So "4 points" falls under two different categories (highest and middle), rather than just one. This is confusing and should be changed. Not logical.

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @eoverton70 ,

What you say would make sense if whole numbers were the only things allowed for point ranges, but Canvas allows for decimals so it need to take that into Consideration (like, what if the teacher enters 3.01...  Canvas does not do any sort of grade rounding).  I'm including a screenshot here of a rubric set up with ranges.

Essentially what Canvas is saying for "Full Marks" here is that anything from 5 points to anything greater than 3 points will be in the "Full Marks" category.  Anything form exactly 3 points to more than 2 points would be on the "Okay" category, and then the rest in the Needs Improvement category.  This is the same way grade scales work in Canvas too.  Everything needs to be explicitly defined for every possible option, including decimals.

I hope this may add a bit of clarity as to why the system displays in the way that it does.

-Chris

 

[CDW2]

Thank you for providing the above solution.  However, this is flawed as the instructor/course director should determine the point range, not Canvas.   There should be some flexibility in entering the range we believe best assess student performance.   There should be no auto-adjust feature for this component.

[chriscas]

Hi @CDW2,

I guess in my opinion at least, instructors DO get to determine the ranges.  The only thing Canvas does is ensure that there is a range for every numeric option. So if you have a 5 point row, You could have "Great" be from 5 to greater than 4.5, "Good" be from 4.5 to greater than 3, "Okay" be from 3 to greater than 1, and "Bleh" be from 1 to 0.  The point values are totally up to the instructor, Canvas just makes sure there are no gaps in the numeric range.

-Chris

[CraigJ]

Even with non-whole points for marking it is a problem that Canvas uses the upper category as threshold. In above example by @chriscas let's say it is a total of 10 points, and you want to tell students that 50% is "okay", i.e. 5 out of 10. In Canvas you would have to make the top mark for "Needs Improvement" to be 4.5 or 4.9 or whatever number, so that 5 is in the "okay" category. And it will display as "to >4.9" etc, where I would want it to say "5 to <" or "5+" or something. Having non-whole numbers ends up with a messy looking rubric if you want whole numbers as bottom limits of a category or achievement standard. As a teacher I usually want to say something like, "If you get 50% or more you get an 'okay'" rather than "if you get more than 50% you get an 'okay'". Maybe its different in other countries, but I think it is more common in Australia to use "N or more" rather than "more than N" as bottom thresholds. This should be changed in Canvas so at least you have an option of a way to do it, perhaps having an option to use top or bottom limit for ranges.