Gradebook History for Final Grade Override

Currently, with the new Gradebook, there is the Final Grade Override option.  For all columns, other than Final Grade Override in Grades that receive a score (Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions), there is an entry in Gradebook History which indicates who and when the entry/change was made.  The Final Grade Override column does not create an entry in history when a value is entered or changed.

 

Having an audit trail for all changes made to any grades in the Grades tool is important not only for accountability, but also to track down an potential errors in grade entry - especially when a course may have multiple individuals capable of  making grade changes for a student.

 

Adding the Final Grade Override column as an entry in Gradebook History will bring consistency and needed auditing to the new grade book.

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For more information, please read through the Canvas Deploy Notes (2020-10-21)

13 Comments
vanzandt
Community Champion

Yes, we need this! Our faculty need to be able to have access to an audit log for grade changes. If it's important for assignments, it should be even more important for Final Grades!

brett_g_dalton
Community Novice

Changes made to the Final grade override also are not captured in Canvas Data request logs or Canvas Live events so it is impossible to audit this in the case of a change. At best we can say someone looked at the grade book but not if they did anything.  This is a serious auditing issues for any institution.

gthornley
Community Novice

I don't see this as a feature request, more of a MUST DO item.  Please consider this important to us Instructure.

faith
Community Participant

Absolutely correct, Gary.  There should always be accountability and the capability to audit, if necessary, any and all grading by all individuals authorized to do so.  The New Gradebook with Final Grade Override fails in this respect and ABSOLUTELY has to be corrected before we will begin using it.

vanzandt
Community Champion

YES!  Well said,  @gthornley .

stoddartp
Community Member

I actually can't fathom how this could have been designed this way? Arguably the most important column in the grade book is the only one without audit capabilities and coverage?

atreadwell
Community Member

+1 Upvote from me.

Please address this. We just finished with grade submission for our first semester using the Canvas system, and the lack of history on this value is a pretty glaring hole in our audits when trying to track down the sources of possible grade discrepancies!

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
Status changed to: In Development
 
Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
Status changed to: On Beta
 
Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
Comments from Instructure

 

The Gradebook History documents final grades overridden in the Gradebook. This change notes when the Final Grade Override feature has been enabled in the Gradebook and a grade has been overridden by a user with grading permissions.

For more information, please read through the Canvas Deploy Notes (2020-10-21)