[Assignments] Assign to everyone except selected students

There are some assignments that go out to the majority of my students except one or two per class. It would be great to be able to assign to "everyone" and then have a button to select which students are exempt from the assignment.

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166 Comments
Steven_S
Community Champion

Maybe that could work as an option to expand "everyone" or "everyone else," the same way it is possible to expand an email mailing list. (At least on my computer pop-up warns that once the expansion is a one way change.)  That would let "everyone" and "everyone else" continue working as they do until expanded in response to a need to exclude a student

dbudzyns
Community Novice

I just wasted a huge amount of time with a work around, because this feature does not exist! I have two sections combined into one course. I am giving a different version of the exam on Monday and Tuesday, one to each of the sections. A few of the Monday students need to take it on Tuesday, so I want to give them the Tuesday section exam. I did not want to select individual students for each exam, because these are large sections. So I had to set an availability for them that was already over for the Monday exam, so they can't access it, then go to gradebook and EX their Monday exam, then assign them the Tuesday exam, then send them a message so they understand what is going on. So frustrating.

awedwards
Community Explorer

I have just had to type in 120+ names so that a single student can be removed. Ridiculous. 

dbudzyns
Community Novice

It might not work for everyone, but the way I got around that was to make the due date for the one student be yesterday, and then go into the gradebook and mark that quiz EX for excused.

Donna Budzynski, Ph.D.

Chemistry Professor

Department Chair

San Diego Mesa College

(619) 388-2887

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not" Dr. Seuss

lshulman
Community Participant

Apparently, after more than 5 years, it is STILL open for voting with no action yet taken.

It seems there is little point in creating new ideas for Canvas to act on because they hardly ever seem to act on them and, if they do, it takes years!

At least we know we are not alone in our desires and can sometimes share creative work-arounds.

lshulman
Community Participant

I wonder if you could use the prerequisite settings to limit access to the extra credit assignment only to students who did the required paper.

The paper would have to be in a prior module or you put both assignments in the same module setting "requirements" and including "complete in sequential order". That way they can't access the second/extra credit assignment until they submit the paper.

lshulman
Community Participant

Steven, thank you for the idea to set availability date in the past for the student(s) we do not want to do the assignment/quiz. Seems that should work to keep them from seeing the assignment they need not do.

lshulman
Community Participant

<we are not able to simply copy exams or questions when making a modified version of an assessment.>

Maybe this changed in the four years since you posted about this issue, but it is possible "copy" any assignment or quiz. Once copied, it is simple enough to edit the copy to adjust questions as needed for a select student(s) who might be the only ones to be assigned to the alternative assessment. 

However, the issue still exists about getting those few students' names OFF the original version of the assessment.

Steven made what seems to be a good work around: "add" a rule to the original assessment that places an availability date for the differentiated students, a date the pre-dates the current date should be all that is needed to block their access to the assessment.

lshulman
Community Participant

If you are going to make a second copy (modified or not), I might suggest entering "ex" to "excuse" the original exam for the selected student(s). I believe an excused assignment, unlike a zero, will NOT be counted as graded and thus will simply be ignored as one to be dropped.

lshulman
Community Participant

BINGO!