Default Score on Rubric in SpeedGrader

(5)

To minimize the amount of clicks our faculty has to do, they would like the ability to have a default score populate on the rubric in SpeedGrader, and then they would only have to change those values as needed. This would allow for faster grading and minimize clicks, such as clicking to enlarge the rubric, clicking to score, clicking to save the rubric, etc.

22 Comments
Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

 @mpaben ‌, could you elaborate on how this would differ from current functionality? As depicted in How do I add a rubric in a course? , the default rubric starts out with a single row and two criteria (Full Marks and No Marks) with Total Points of 5. In other words, a default score of 5 populates and the attendant cells correspond to that.

We've placed this idea into Moderating status as we look forward to your response. Thanks!

mpaben
Community Participant

Stefanie,

What I mean is after the rubric is already created. It is attached to an assignment. When the faculty goes into the Speedgrader, they want a score to automatically populate to a certain value on the rubric for scoring. For example, say the scale is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The Speedgrader would come up and automatically populate a score of 4 for each of the criteria. Then staff would only have to change the values they want to change. Does that make sense? Thanks for asking for clarification!

Martha

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

Yes,  @mpaben ‌, thank you. That explanation is very helpful. I've made a slight edit to the idea description to indicate that the goal is to have a default value automatically populate in the rubric in SpeedGrader.

pxo4
Community Participant

Until now, this lack of functionality wasn't too much of a concern, because I was able to use Chrome iMacro to populate SpeedGrader with the default settings.

But it seems Canvas has recently changed some underlying functionality, so that SpeedGrader ignores values unless physically entered from the keyboard.  

Entering the default values by hand is tedious, time-consuming, and prone to typos.

So, adding this functionality would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

 @pxo4 , from this comment--" SpeedGrader ignores values unless physically entered from the keyboard"--I suspect you are referring to something different, and this functionality has not changed. Please navigate to the assignment, click on the Edit pencil of the rubric, and verify that you have enabled the "Use this rubric for assignment grading" checkbox. When that box is enabled, the grade field of SpeedGrader will autopopulate with the values from the rubric.

pxo4
Community Participant

Hello, Stefanie:

Thank you for replying.  Smiley Happy

RE: verify that you have enabled the "Use this rubric for assignment grading"

Yes, I have that.  And in SpeedGrader, I populate the grades via a macro, then hit "Save".  All the grades turn into "--" with "Invalid score" beneath them.

RE: the grade field of SpeedGrader will autopopulate with the values from the rubric

But isn't that the goal that Martha is asking for with this Canvas idea?  That functionality already exists?

Because I've used Canvas for 3 years, and when using SpeedGrader, the grades have always default to just empty.

Thank you again for reviewing this.  Much appreciated!

Phil

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

 @pxo4 ‌, the way I interpreted this feature idea,  @mpaben ‌ seeks to have the assignment submission launch in SpeedGrader with a prepopulated score--before any action has been taken--so that instructors only need to perform clicks if they want the grade to be something other than the predetermined default.

Have you investigated the "invalid score" issue with Canvas Support? A member of the support team can have a look at your brower, assignment settings, and macro, to see what might have changed.

pxo4
Community Participant

Hi, Stefanie:

RE:  have the assignment submission launch in SpeedGrader with a prepopulated score--before any action has been taken

I agree that's what Martha is requesting.  But are you seeing a difference between that, and your mentioning that this functionality already exists:  "the grade field of SpeedGrader will autopopulate with the values from the rubric"  ?

Because I'm reading those as the same thing.

RE: Have you investigated the "invalid score" issue with Canvas Support?

No, because that's just a side effect of the macro-entered grades being ignored.  But I guess I could give that a try too.  

Thanks again for your help!

Phil

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

 @pxo4 , yes, here's the difference between current functionality and the idea: Currently, when "Use this rubric for assignment grading" is enabled in the rubric, the grade field in SpeedGrader will auto-populate based on what the instructor/grader has clicked/entered in the rubric. The requested functionality is to have a predetermined default value (perhaps the maximum value for the rubric?) populate the grade field first—so that the instructor only has to make changes to the grade field if the grade to be assigned is other than the default. 

And yes, if your macro used to work, but doesn't any longer, that would warrant a support ticket! It is a special use case, to be sure.

mpaben
Community Participant

Stafanie is correct with what she has said. I would like the assignment submission to launch in SpeedGrader with a prepopulated score before any action has been taken. Our instructors would only need to perform clicks to change those areas that would be different than the predetermined default.

Martha Paben | Professional Development Faculty

ronmarx
Community Contributor

Just made sure that I voted up for this great idea.

On a seemingly different but parallel track, please refer to the idea, https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/12350-simplify-rubrics-look-and-operation , that suggests a non-scored Rating Header that includes rating levels and descriptions. As suggested here, these labels and descriptions are not required, but would be available as options for the K-12 teacher. Rubrics for assignments at these grades usually present students with Lexile-leveled descriptions to enable them to understand expectations.

bdust
Community Novice

I spent several hours yesterday grading 25 students with a 20 item rubric. That is a minimum of 500 clicks of which about 450 of those were the same item. Allowing us to click a default value is a much needed function for the rubric feature to be useful for complex grading. Then we can focus on the student rubric exceptions.

Do the designers of Canvas ever spend time using the product before it is released? I suggest that they read the chapter on Usability Testing from the excellent book on software design called, "Don't Make Me Think".

jackiehughes
Community Novice

We need this setting to be checked by default.  This will eliminate this problem altogether.

Use This Rubric For Assignment Grading

2grh
Community Novice

The ability to have the rubric auto populate the grades would be a real time saver.  Huge time saver!

ValNick
Community Novice

Our nursing program would greatly appreciate this capability as we have so many accreditation requirements tied to our rubrics. 

RaynaGill
Community Member
  • I would love to be able to auto populate a rubric I create.
     
  • I have a reading rubric that goes with a weekly assignment-- 50 points per week, two 5-point criteria per day-- and it's a pain to click full credit for each student each week. It'd be easier if it started out as 50/50 and then I could change it if the students lost points.
srandall3
Community Explorer

Yeah, the reward for building a detailed rubric is death by a 1000 mouse-clicks.

When I grade assignments, most of my students do it all correctly, and so I'm almost always clicking the high score for each item, with a few exceptions.

If there was one little button on top that said "auto-click all highest scores", that would auto-fill all the fields with the highest score, and then give me the option to scroll through and score down the one or two items that were missed, it would save me SO much time and energy and my extensor indicis proprius tendon would thank you too.

It would also be really great if that feature appeared before I retired and had to wear a permanent splint on my right arm at the old folks home.

srandall3
Community Explorer

OR ... ya know what else would be good would be a way to select rubric items with the keyboard ALSO, and then add functionality for a simplistic script/macro for US to automate this ourselves.

"Set item_14 = 5 points"

that would be so cool.

James
Community Champion

@srandall3 

Phil ( @pxo4 ) and I tackled this issue in November 2018 in When SpeedGrading an assignment, initialize points to rubric's max pts. I came up with some code (Canvas has changed things a little so it needs the .criterion class removed from the selector) that will go through and take the maximum points for each criteria and type it in the textbox. When you do that, Canvas automatically selects the appropriate rubric rating. It was indiscriminate in that it would override any ratings you had already selected. What I didn't do was to add the button to automate it, but I think Phil did for his own use.

I took a couple of hours this morning to look at the problem again and converted it into a userscript that runs inside a program like Tampermonkey so that it automatically runs within SpeedGrader.

It adds a "Max" button after the "Pts" in the rubric header. I had to widen the rubric pane to see it, but I thought that was the best place for the button since it applied to the points.

When you click the "Max" button, it will go through any rubric criteria that does not have a point value and assign it the maximum point value. This honors any ratings that you have already clicked on instead of setting them to the maximum value.

The two common uses I see are:

  • clicking the Max button at the very beginning and then changing the criteria that do not have the maximum ratings
  • clicking a few ratings and then clicking the Max button to fill in the rest.

I would recommend using it with QuizWiz, which is a script I wrote that adds a button that will save the rubric, advance to the next user, and re-open the rubric

I haven't written a blog post in the Community about it yet, but the code and installation instructions are on the Max Ratings GitHub page.

srandall3
Community Explorer

James -

OMG! You are my new super-hero!!!

That code has single-handedly saved my index extensor tendon, and death by a 1000 mouse clicks!

I hope the Canvas people build your tool into their system permanently!

(It's the little things ...)