Override final grade

[johnpj]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

It would be convenient if instructors could override the calculated final grade. Many faculty use the gradebook export to send grades to the student information system and there are sometimes factors in determining a final grade that are based on the discretion of the instructor.

This idea has been added to our product plan for Q1 2019 and will influence development within Canvas. To find more information about this idea’s related priority, please follow Priority: Gradebook Enhancements‌

:smileyinfo: Adding this idea to our product plan means we will be working on it, but it does not guarantee that it will be developed exactly as defined by the idea, or that it will be added to the production environment.

Read more about the feature idea process:

• Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes
• How does the feature idea process work in the Canvas Community?
• What is the feature development process for Canvas?

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the Canvas Release Notes (2019-02-16) .

[eshay]

Wow, this is a HUGE setback for us at our medical school. The is THE NUMBER ONE complaint about Canvas for us. Not being able to override the final grade nullifies almost ALL of our final scores in Canvas and creates a huge time burden for faculty and administrative staff as we have to constantly create alternative forms with the corrected grades. The administrative staff, Promotions and Matriculation Committee and the Academic Dean's office and registrar's office are constantly having to double check with course directors to know if the scores/grades in Canvas or "real" or not. The goal of being able to find all of the ACCURATE grades for our medical students in one central location has continued to be thwarted.

If we were not tied to Canvas due our undergraduate programs, I would recommend to our Dean that it is time to find a new platform, based on the major productivity losses and mixups with students' grades and transposition of grades to other necessary platforms for student advising, etc., that have occurred due to this issue.

To say that I am extremely disappointed is putting it very politely. Obviously, your priorities do not lie with supporting the collegiate and graduate level programs whose grading mechanisms are complex and not simplistic like primary and secondary schools.

[ewest]

Just voted this up. I wanted to share with everyone an awesome work around for this that  @garth ‌ posted.

https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/admins/blog/2016/12/19/override-adjust-the-final-grade 

Super helpful! Thanks Garth.

-Evan

[victoria_richar]

Any headway on this feature?

[vanzandt]

I don't have an official answer, but we do ask about, and advocate for, this regularly on our calls with our CSM. The most recent we heard is that it is close to completion and likely to be in a upcoming release in January. We were really hoping to have it in time for this Fall term's grading cycle.

[Renee_Carney]

 @eshay  

I do hope that you are following Priority: Gradebook Enhancements.  You'll see that this feature is in the works.  The faux pas I was apologizing for was marking it complete too soon.  

[jmerola]

I am very confused.  I will admit I don't know much about the insides of coding Canvas, but I cannot believe that it would be that difficult to allow the addition of a text column or two that would fit most of the needs expressed here.  Every other LMS that I have worked with allowed that feature.  As good as the Canvas gradebook may seem, it does not allow for the functionality of Excel (IF,AND for example) when it comes to calculating grades, so I prefer to do my calculations there and pretty much only use Canvas to display individual assignment and test scores (University Courses).  At the moment, I have no easy way to show the student the final letter grade before I upload it to the university system which they won't be able to see right away.

[jmerola]

Well, after posting this, I figured out that if I created a new assignment valued at 0 points and then indicated not to include in final grade, I could do just what I wanted - add a letter grade.  

[Stef_retired]

 @jmerola ‌, I'm glad you found that solution! If all you're wanting to do is display a letter grade to the final grade column, a custom grading scheme will also do that for you. You can create one at the course level (How do I use grading schemes in a course?), or your school might want to have that scheme available at the account level for all instructors to use.

[jmerola]

Thank you, Stefanie.  There is still a very troublesome lack in Canvas Gradebook with respect to assigning other than A-F grades.  It doesn’t allow one to enter  I (incomplete), NG (no grade) and W (withdrawal).  It changes all of those to “-“.

Also, the gradebook does not allow me to do the equivalent of IF(AND) statements in Excel that allows me to be to assign pts based on a different point range. 

Joe

[vanzandt]

Our faculty would resoundingly love the ability to override/toggle and display an "I" as a final grade in Canvas. I was going through our tickets for this grading period, and that is clearly a significant item that is creating frustration in our faculty. I realize you can't cover every institution's unique set ups, such as our "Y" for judicial review, but Incomplete seems like a standard enough situation that it could/should be accommodated.