Automatic zero in gradebook after a date

[stephanie_pope]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

I would like to throw this out there...

What if an assignment could automatically be scored as a zero if not completed by a specified date? This would be a huge time saver for everyone:

Student: this would allow their grade to accurately reflect true grade (if teacher is behind)- will encourage/motivate, etc.

Teacher: huge time saver! Helpful for schools/teachers with students who self pace

Academic Adviser: view true and accurate grade for reporting

Currently, a teacher can default an assignment grade (for all or some students) to a zero. But what if on the same prompt (window) it asks for a date. When the date passes, a zero in placed in the grade. This gives the teacher control of when it happens and it's easy to find.

Just an idea.

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13886 .

[kona]

What I manually do myself is that for certain types of assignments I take off 20% per day. This isn't the case for all assignments though, so it would be nice to customize which assignments were graded this way. For those that I don't accept late, it would be great to have the option to have a zero automatically added to the gradebook.

It would also be pretty awesome if at the due date the student was given a zero if they haven't turned anything in and then if they did - say a quiz that is automatically graded - Canvas would automatically change the grade from a zero to whatever their grade was minus the 20% off per day.

[bowmanr]

Deactivated user​

This post and some of the responses I have seen have finally pointed out an obvious fact: K-12 is going to have different issues/requirements than at a higher education institution.  I enforce my late policy by using the until date to shut off submissions, and my time frame is 2 hours (this is for online submissions) with a 10% penalty.  In class submissions I handle differently.

I agree with  @kona  It would be nice if Canvas would automatically assess a late penalty - either by points or percentage for a late assignment.

Ron

[jbuchner]

Missing assignments aught to be the exception, not the rule, so assigning a "0" is a flag to the student, saying 'Hey! better see if you can fix this!" As far as penalties in my class go, it's usually some value (-5 points off per day) until the value of the assignment is truly 0. I wouldn't want the grade book auto-filled in with -5, or 95/100 for a late assignment. The first looks like a penalty added on to missing an assignment, and the 2nd looks like I've given the student a grade.

[millerjm]

Hi Deactivated user​, I actually do something that I learned from another instructor: 

• If assignment or quiz is early (turned in before the actual due date), they get 5% bonus
• If the assignment is turned on ON the actual due date, then no bonus
• If they assignment is late, they can turn it in up to 5 days late and I take 15% off, in addition to any other deductions

I'm not teaching this term, but in Sakai I had to manually adjust the scores on all of the tests based on when they were turned in.

[stephanie_pope]

Hello Deactivated user,

Our policy is assignments can be up to 2 weeks late (grace). After 2 weeks a student can only earn up to 80%. If an assignment is not completed by the third week, a zero is entered for the assignment. This time frame is extremely gracious to our students, but makes it horrendous for our advisers and teachers to track real-time progress. This gap of time leave a lot of gray area.

I'm exciting and looking forward to the development of this idea. Thank you to everyone for their amazing ideas to make this feature even better!

Stephanie

[cwruck]

I love this feature request. We are working on some gradebook enhancements this fall that will lay the foundation to accommodate setting up late rules. I would love it if you and everyone you know would join this group Grading Late Rules to help us fully scope the potential for this feature. That’s the good news. The less good news is, we won’t actually get to implementing this feature in the next 6 months… which by our community rules means we have to archive the idea. But please don’t think that that means we’re not going to do this. This feature is literally on the top of my list of things to tackle as soon as we’ve finished our first round gradebook enhancements… which as I mentioned, lays the foundation for setting these rules up in the gradebook settings. I can’t wait to learn more about all your policies.

[Renee_Carney]

This idea is now Under Consideration.  Find out more about the idea stages at What is the feature development process for Canvas?

[stephanie_pope]

This is awesome! A great feature for teachers! Thanks everyone!

Stephanie

[cwruck]

Hey Folks!

I hope you noticed our new status. "Under Consideration". It means, we think this is a good idea and despite the fact that we can't get this done in the next 6 months, we're looking for ways to squeeze it in sometime in the future. We'll be working on some designs, are still collecting feedback here: What are your late rules? and will be hoping some of you on this chain will want to participate in some user testing to make sure we're on the right track to solving this problem. Stay tuned!

[schutt_j]

ABSOLUTELY. I was just searching how this could be done. I hope that this feature is added soon.

To recap... I have deadlines by which students need to take a quiz. I want a grade of "0" added automatically for those students who have not taken the quiz. This way students will see their proper course grade/percent. I do NOT want all grades to automatically start at 0. This records their current grades incorrectly... and they shouldn't have a grade of 0 for something that they've not done yet. (Nor, for that matter, should their grade start at 100%.) It should start as _blank_.

Please? Soon?

[jlg65]

Looking forward to hearing when this is designed and ready for implementation!

[Jeff_F]

Re: a default comment for late / missing assignment:

I am thinking of a new field for class policies that links to the Speedgrader.  In this new field an instructor can enter their policies pertaining to late/ missing work and when students miss the due date or receive a 0 grade for not submitting, then the text is somehow easily or automatically appended to the Comments section.  This will save instructors time as they then will not be required to copy/ paste text from the syllabus class policies.  It will also improve communication of expectations as it will then be much easier for policy reminders to be given.

[curtain]

I would like an option that would automatically set a score/grade to zero for an assignment whose "Available Until" date & time has expired.  Since the student can no longer access the assignment after that date and time it makes sense for Canvas to allow instructors to request that the score automatically become a zero.  Note that this is different than setting a "default" score of zero.  If I set a default score of zero for all assignments, then the student will have a false low grade for the class as the semester progresses.  As it is now, students have a false high grade for the class as the semester progresses.

Justification
Students are skipping assignments, apparently unaware of what this is doing to their grade even though Canvas and the syllabus tells them the value of the assignment groups.  When they look at their semester grade it appears that they are making an A for the course.

I just spent the last 15 minutes manually changing scores for 2 students who have skipped assignments to zero.  One student's semester grade changed to a C and another student's semester grade changed to an F.

With close to 100 assignments for this course and 20 students, it would be so much nicer if Canvas would allow instructors to request that "overdue" assignments automatically get a zero score.

[Jeff_F]

  

Was # 101. 

[janna_ellis]

I can't wait to see this happen!

[jkeohane]

I suggested this without knowing about this suggestion being so similar.   That said, I think the best way to answer the student's question of:  "How am I doing in your class professor?"  is the following.

My idea is for Canvas to make a choice about whether to ignore, or zero, an ungraded assignment based on the following criteria:

1. If an assignment is not due yet, it is ignored.
2. If an assignment has been submitted and the instructor has yet to grade it, then ignore it.
3. If an assignment is past-due and the student has not submitted it, then calculate it as a zero.
4. If an assignment is to be handed in on paper or not handed in and any other student has a grade for the same assignment, then calculate the it as a zero.  If nobody in the class has a grade for it, then ignore the grade because the teacher has yet to grade it.

[kona]

It seems like #4 wouldn't really work.

What if I'm in the process of entering grades? How would the system know that it should be a zero or that I just haven't gotten that far down in my grading? OR, what if the student was sick that day and just hasn't turned in the assignment? For me I only put a zero if it really is a zero. If a student is allowed to submit late then I would leave it blank and not want it to show up as a zero.

Seems like it could really freak some students out if they see a zero when I just haven't gotten a chance to enter their grade or if I'm letting them turn in the assignment late.

For me if you are manually grading something (especially something on paper) then what's the big deal with just putting the zero in or leaving it blank - depending on what is needed for that situation?

[jkeohane]

Yes I thought of that, that is why it is only for stuff collected via paper.

When I collect something on paper, I grade it on paper and then type the grades in all at once.

It would make sense to have a default of say 50% having been graded for it to assume that it was not handed in.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

[jbuchner]

Why not go to the grade columns where you've entered scores, use the set default grade to 0? I don't think it will overwrite the grades you've put in, but fill in 0's for those with no entry.

[rebecca_theim]

I just queried our Adjunct Faculty Coordinator about whether this very functionality was available within Canvas. It would be both a time-saver and provide that instant motivator students needs without waiting for me to go in and zero out those who didn't complete the assignment or take a quiz by the deadline.