Option to mute assignments by default

[jthoms]

  Idea will be open for vote May 5 - August 5 Learn more about voting...

Institutions or instructors who wish to always mute an assignment before providing feedback must 1) remember to do so, and 2) perform multiple clicks to mute each assignment.

An option to default every newly created assignment to a muted state would make them happy.

  Comments from Instructure...

July 22 response from Jason Sparks

At previously mentioned, muting of assignments by default is not something we would actively pursue as new functionality; however, we can make the process easier if we added the option as a tic box in the assignment creation process.  Would an enhancement like this be sufficient to meet most of your needs?

Response from the Community Team

This idea is not planned and will be archived.  Please do continue the conversation as needed.

Response from the OP

If you voted for this, and are still interested in this functionality PLEASE vote on Mute assignment as a option at assignment creation!

[curtain]

And you have to Publish before you have the option to Mute which means students get at least 1 notification that the assignment is out there before you have a chance to use Mute for it's intended purpose of stopping notifications to students.

[kbesaw]

Here is a link to Scott's Idea that he references above: " modifiedtitle="true" title="Need the option to Mute the assignment before it is Published

I think a lot of those interested in this idea will be interested in that idea as well.

[curtain]

Thanks for the crosspost Deactivated user​.  This kind of moderation work will go a long way in keeping the community on track for feature and enhancement disucssions.  Liking how the new community is working out in this regard  @scottdennis ​

[curtain]

The option to mute assignments by default would be an easy way to provide a way around this issue of needing to publish an assignment just to mute it.  Having a way to do it during creation and/or on the right sidebar or gear menu and not only in the Grades tool is the key here.

[rgo877]

So how the heck do I vote?  I can't find anything to click on here.

[jthoms]

Voting doesn't open until May 5th. For now, I've been bookmarking features I plan to vote on. Though, I don't know exactly how the mechanics of voting will work.

[kbesaw]

Here is the page for how testing goes: How does the voting process work for feature ideas?

[Ron_Bowman]

I was glad to see this feature request.  The current mute method is frustrating to me. If I could I would vote more than once.

[jordan]

FYI all, there is another feature idea that relates to muting assignments that will be open for vote on June 3rd... be sure to check out, chime in, and bookmark this so you can come back to vote it up if you think it would be a valuable feature as well.

​:

It would be useful to include the Mute option in the quiz settings, so instructors do not need to co...

Comment from an instructor: Using Mute Assignment in the Grade Book is necessary for many higher-sta...

[r_v_jones]

Great idea @jthoms​

Please, please, please all vote for this.

It would make life for Teachers and Course Administrators so much easier. I've lost count of the number of times people forget to do this.

The normal problem occurs when the assignment is not muted and some submissions are marked.

Students mention this to one another and the poor teacher then gets bombarded by emails, phone messages or by students knocking on the office door asking why they haven’t had feedback.

[Beth_Young]

Yes, and sometimes the marks change when the grading is still going on. e.g., I realize partway through a class that I should/shouldn't give partial credit for an answer. Or I accidentally put the wrong comment on a student's quiz. That problem is compounded if students can see what is going on. So far I don't think I have done these things in view of students, but it's only a matter of time . . . .

[hilary]

In my former life as an instructor, I often rushed through creating content in that other LMS I had to use.  If we had a default mute for all assignments (course specific or not,) I would worry that it'd be too easy for me to mute everything and not pay attention to whether or not I needed muting.  Students have remarked that muting can be confusing, especially with the message they see on their grades page--instructors are working on grades. 

The bottom line for me is it's clear all the clicks are a hardship for some faculty and we shouldn't forget about the student experience and whether they can see the grades they've earned.  Maybe there's a good compromise in there somewhere?

Hilary

[kona]

I think this is why I liked the option some have suggested of making it an optional check box when creating/editing an assignment - . Not checked by default, but easily available from the assignment settings as you are creating the assignment. If you want to use it, great, it's right there to click. If you don't, it's no hardship since it's already un-checked.

[scottdennis]

Maybe another option would be to make the 'mute by default' option be a course level setting?  That might be better for people who have differing work styles or priorities.

[curtain]

Muting all by default would also worry me due to the issue of muted assignments not being reported out via the SIS process.  Right now we already have an issue where instructors who forget to unmute and assignment or two at the end of the term have grades reported that don't match what they saw in the Grades tool and they are confused and angry.   If they didn't deliberately set the muting but had it happen by default, it would be even easier to forgot to Unmute.  We already have to warn them about the Muting issue before they report the grades and a global default would exacerbate the issue I think.

[Ron_Bowman]

 @curtain ​

That is a perspective I had not thought of as a faculty user.  I have no problems using muted assignments, but I could see it possibly being an issue in some instances.  For me I enter most of my grades from the grade book view, so I see the mute symbol on the column and know to unmute once I am done with the grades.  I think as mentioned by previous posters a mute by default may not be the best way.  having the option to mute the assignment as a check box when creating it would ensure that the instructor knows that they have muted the assignment( by the way, if incorporated, that option should be on the quick assignment create box and not just the advanced view)

[r_v_jones]

I'm surprised this hasn't scored higher. At a recent support meeting with other elearning professionals most thought this was a gret idea.

[scottdennis]

I just made the following comment on ​;

Hey Robert Jones​,  After reading and re-reading the comments on Option to mute assignments by default, I think I made an error in judgement in archiving your idea here.  In the comments on the other post people point out a concern with muting all assignments globally, suggesting that this might lead to an increase in teachers inadvertently forgetting to un-mute assignments that they never explicitly had to mute in the first place.  I now see that this idea you suggested would get around that concern while still providing a solution for the current problem where a teacher has to publish an assignment before they can mute it.    I'll go ahead and move this idea to the queue for the next voting period.

[r_v_jones]

Thank  @scottdennis ​ for the feedback on this

[hallmans]

We have large classes with multiple sections- 300+ students. Some of the grading is done by TA's and there are often different TA's for each section. The core instructors need to review all grades to be sure that there is consistency among graders before releasing the grades. To have this as the default would save some headaches each year for the people who forget this step when setting up the assignments