[Gradebook] Can't a letter grade just be a letter grade?

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

I gave a tough exam where a score of 73/100 was an A-. In Canvas's grading section, I report to students what score they got (like a 73) and what grade that translates into. Then this appears to the students as a score of "73", and as "93 (A-)", with both of these numbers seemingly going into the aggregate score average reported at the bottom. Needless to say, this causes a great deal of confusion.

Is there a way that I can get Canvas to simply report a grade of A- as a grade of A-, rather than as some fictitious number that I won't be using in computing their cumulative course grade? Thanks for any insights on this.

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61 Comments
jbruschke
Community Explorer

"Why is the Canvas crew so resistant?" -- this is the typical non-response I've come to expect from canvas.

jbruschke
Community Explorer

Seriously?

jbruschke
Community Explorer

Amen.

lucindagibbons3
Community Novice

I totally feel the letter grade situation all them different types of numbering and  I still cant get it. I feel like Ashford need to make it much easier for you and others to understand. Oh and that canvas support have some downfalls also. I am the type of person that if  I am asking for help I would love for you to help me even if it is not in your lane. I would like for you to just kindly take me to where I am suppose to be. I feel like you barely get the help when it comes down to Canvas Support.

Elvis_Presley
Community Member

I would love to be able to use letter grades everywhere, even in rubrics. Students can relate to them better and it would require less math on my part. Plus, when teaching something like Art, it makes more sense to give a letter grade than a percentage.

 Example:  Say I want to give a B- on a part of an assignment other 3 points in a rubric. Instead of simply typing in a B-, I have to figure that it's equivalent to 82%, and multiply by 3, to get 2.46.  I do that with the other criteria and it totals to a larger number with decimals, say 7.46 out of 8. Because this doesn't mean much to students, they or I have to do the math, come up with 93.25%, which is a B+ at my university.  If I just did the easy thing and took away a point, they'd end up with only 66%, which amounts to a D+

Why can't I plug in a B- and let canvas figure out how many points that equals? How hard can that be to program?

Elvis_Presley
Community Member

Oops, I meant "worth 3 points," not "other 3 points."

tim_osullivan
Community Member

Is there any response from Canvas to this request?

The ability to display a letter grade while hiding the numerical grade from students is straightforward in Blackboard.  Why does it appear to be so difficult to implement in Canvas?

lawspric
Community Member

Would it be possible to enable "letter grades" to be posted when results are released to students without them being able to see their numeric mark? There are occasions when it is good for students to focus on their broad performance, rather than the precise mark they have been given.

I have raised this with your helpline, as I had thought that setting up a letter grade would mean that students would not be able to see the numeric mark, but they told me this was not the case. It was suggested that I put this forward as a "new idea".

 

tim_osullivan
Community Member

Still no reply from Canvas?

What purpose does "Ideas Conversations" serve, if there is zero input or feedback from Canvas?

EWaxenbaum
Community Novice

It would be great if faculty could manually post a letter grade and doesn't have an associated numeric value so we could fudge values as needed without changing any of their numeric grades.