Releases Q&A: 2022-01-15 Gradebook Split Name Columns

[erinhmcmillan]

Looking to discuss this feature from the 2022-01-15 Release Notes? Post a reply and start a conversation!

POSTING GUIDELINES

• This topic is for feature discussion only—please share use cases, best practices, etc. regarding this feature
• Please thread replies as much as possible to keep posts organized

WHERE SHOULD I POST...?

• Idea enhancement feedback to product managers should be submitted in ideas.canvaslms.com (though linking to the idea here so others can find it is welcome)
• Bug reports should be submitted to Canvas Support—bugs will not be triaged in this thread

[dbrace]

I am logged into our institution's "beta" environment as an administrator and I am in the "Grades" area of a course in an upcoming semester.  To the best of my knowledge, the instructor of the course has not been in the course (whether in "production", or "beta", or "test").

When in the "Grades" area of the course, I have clicked on the "View" menu (in-between "Gradebook" and "Actions) and I do not see "Split Student Names" in the "Columns" portion of the dropdown menu as depicted in the release notes at https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Releases/Canvas-Release-Notes-2022-01-15/ta-p/502450#toc-h....

I have also masqueraded as the instructor of the course and there is no difference.

Am I doing something wrong or am I looking in the wrong location?

If I am not doing something wrong or looking in the wrong location, when will this enhancement be available in "beta"?

[Stef_retired]

@dbrace Have you first enabled this feature in Account Settings in the beta instance? 

[dbrace]

Thank you for replying so quickly, @Stef_retired.

I guess I glanced over the ...

Feature Workflow

Canvas admins have the option to allow the Gradebook to display split student name columns in Account Settings.

When this feature is enabled for the institution, the Gradebook View menu in individual courses displays the Split Student Names option, which displays student names as last name first.

... part of the release notes.

I was able to use the enhancement after following those two steps (the first step as an admin and the second from within the course itself).

Thank you!

[audra_agnelly]

Our teachers don't do a ton of exporting, so not a lot gained for my users with this update. What I am really hoping this paves the groundwork for is functionality to sort rows by first name, which is a frequent request from my teachers. (pretty please, Canvas?)

In Beta, when split, the columns are always Last Name, First Name. In this split view, I can't find a way to display the columns in the order First Name, Last Name which is an option for teachers when the names are combined in one column. 

[audra_agnelly]

Ahhh, never mind, you can drag the First Name column in front of the Last Name column. You cannot however drag the Last Name column behind the First Name column. I still can't sort by first name though...

[dsweeney2]

We would also like the option to sort by first name. It would also be helpful to be able to have the option to view Split Name columns be switched on by default across the institution (not just switching on the option in the course, but also toggling the option for each instructor's view).

[jhough]

Does this affect grade book syncing (pass back) in any way?

[Brandon_Brown]

Following - We are getting ready to test GPB to Banner because we had the same question. 

[jhough]

Awesome! I did contact our CSM and he did say that it is cosmetic and shouldn't affect syncing. Fingers crossed.

[Brandon_Brown]

@jhough We ended up testing this last week and didn't run into any issues. As we suspected (and our data team confirmed), it only uses SIS ID to pass the information, so the first/last name fields are not affected. I can't speak to other SIS GPB integrations, but Banner was not impacted in our testing. 

[jhough]

Great news! Makes sense. Thanks for letting me know!