Text entry box submissions do not show properly in SpeedGarder

[SimonUnique]

I want student to submit assignments using the Text Entry Box option to simplify formatting and reduce technical issues. However, when making them in SpeedGrader, it does not show properly.

The line length is too long meaning that some text is hidden behind the marking window. This even happens if the marking window is minimised. To view the hidden text I need to use the horizontal scroll bar. This is very inefficient. How do I change the formatting/viewing options so that I can see the whole text without needing to use the scroll bar at the bottom?

[james_whalley]

@SimonUnique What browser and operating system are you using? I am on a Mac using Chrome and cannot replicate this behavior. Is this for every text entry assignment you've run?

[SimonUnique]

Hi James, I am on Windows using Chrome. This is the first time I have used text entry boxes. So I cannot say if it happens every time. It has been generated in a master course and sent to 4 other courses which all have the same problem.

[james_whalley]

@SimonUnique Can you try it in another browser on your device and see if it comes out differently? Also, what version of Chrome are you running?

[SimonUnique]

Tried in Microsoft Edge and got the same problem

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @SimonUnique ...

Do you know how the text is being placed into the text box for the assignment?  Are students typing text and then submitting?  Are they pasting in text from a word processor software such as Microsoft Word?  I ask because I wonder if there is some kind of "behind the scenes" code that is being carried over into the submission that you're not seeing which is causing the text to be partially hidden.  As a test, I had an assignment in my own sandbox course that only accepted text box submissions.  Then, I went to one of my favorite Lorem Ipsum websites, Cupcake Ipsum, and I generated five rather long paragraphs of text.  I went into the Student View of the assignment, and then I pasted in the five paragraphs to the text box.  Next, after I existed the Student View, I went into SpeedGrader for the assignment.  Unfortunately, I was not able to replicate the same kind of display of text that you are seeing.  For me, I have a drop-down menu at the top right corner of the submission, and there are two views: Paper View and Plain Text View.  Here are examples of how they look on my screen (Windows 11, Microsoft Edge browser):

Paper ViewPlain Text View

Also, I tried using the zoom in/out options within the browser to see if that might have made a difference, but the text was never hidden like you show in your screenshots.

Have you tried reaching out to Canvas Tech Support?  They might be able to dive deeper into the assignment to see what might be going on.  How do I get help with Canvas?

Please keep us posted...thanks!

[Chris_Hofer]

@SimonUnique ...

I'm also just noticing that you have a green percentage label above the text assignment submission.  I'm not sure if this matters or not, but I believe those percentages usually indicate some kind of plagiarism checker for the assignment.  Are you using something like Turnitin to check for plagiarism?  I wouldn't think that checking for plagiarism would have an effect on how text is displayed on the screen.  It was just something I had noticed...and wanted to mention it...for what it's worth.

[SimonUnique]

The students are definitely pasting in work. Thankfully we have the plagarism software and I am getting quite good at spotting it. I have tried the different view setting but they seem to only change the font. Thanks for sharing the How to get help page. I will ask them 🙂