Quiz grade not based on points?

[thompsli]

I'm looking for a way to create a quiz where it's not graded based on points or the answers to individual questions. I want to use the quiz as basically an interactive coversheet listing the various parts of the weekly packet that they need to turn in and then apply an overall grade to the packet based on a rubric that looks at overall traits within the work from that packet (completeness, correctness, etc.) rather than scoring each question.

So, the quiz is structured as:

Upload your work for question #3 here: (file upload question)

Upload your notes from video number 5 here: (file upload question)

and so on.

I want to then assign an overall letter grade to their weekly packet, like I did when I collected these things in person with a paper coversheet. I have a rubric for "Week xx formative work" (A-B-C-D-F) that I want to apply to the various items holistically (completeness, correctness, etc.).

I've got the rubric added, but it's still trying to grade question by question and not applying my rubric score.

[stimme · Accepted solution]

Hi @thompsli ! This is an interesting use case. The existing features of quizzes & rubrics won't allow you implement it straightforwardly. A note in the preamble to the guide about adding rubrics to quizzes states:

You cannot use a rubric for grading in quizzes, since quiz scores are calculated based on the number of points assigned to each quiz question.

Some workaround will be necessary if you use quizzes to receive these file uploads. One approach would be:

1. Set the points possible for most questions to 0.
2. Set the points possible for one question to the total possible for the rubric (perhaps a final essay question with a prompt that also mentions that all points earned according to the rubric will be assigned to this question).
3. When grading, complete the rubric for the quiz, then manually put the points earned in the field for the question that is worth all the points.

Using letter grades only would also complicate things. Canvas needs percentage or point equivalences for letters in order to complete calculations across assignments in the gradebook. Classic quizzes also cannot display grades as letters.

One other approach to consider would be using assignments instead of quizzes. Students can submit multiple attachments in one submission, and a clear prompt plus some practice should get reasonably good results. It's also easy to tell students to resubmit assignments. Assignments would also have the benefits of displaying grades as letters and using rubrics for grading.