Restrict Student Comments Box

[michael_farmer]

In Assignments, the submission type can be restricted, which is very useful. However, one issue we have found is that students will leave their submission in the Comment box, which does not trigger as a submission. The assignment remains unmarked, and so appears "Missing" after the due date, and does not trigger the late penalty, if submitted late.

Idea 1: make a setting that prevents students from using the Comment box until after they have submitted using the Submission tool.

OR

Idea 2: Have the Comment field count as a submission, so that the grade item can be recognized, even if submitted in the comment field.

Role: Instructor

[petern]

Great idea. We have encountered this issue in the past. I think the assignment enhancements -student feature does a good job of addressing this. However, we still have a few students using the comments area incorrectly.

I'd like to suggest an idea 3 to add to your list: students can only comment after a teacher/instructor comment.

[michael_farmer]

@petern

I do like that as a suggestion - thank you for adding it to the "list"!

Could you tell me a bit more about the assignment enhancements? Our organization only relatively recently moved over the Canvas, so I'm not as familiar with every feature (I'll also take a moment to look around for documentation about this - but you sound like you've taken advantage of this feature, so I'd be interested in your input).

One note on your suggestion, and this is a very anecdotal response: my assignments have a built in feature where we ask students to comment on their submission as part of turning it in. The comments are designed to generate self-assessment and open conversations (so, basic: what went well? what do you still want to know more about? type questions). Having that comment box is useful for students to post a response to these self-assessment questions, before I've seen their work.

[petern]

Hi @michael_farmer 

That's a good use case for keeping comments open for students.

The assignment enhancements is a feature that has to be enabled before it will run.  It means that students will see a different layout when they submit work.  Lots of information about it is on this page: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/New-Student-Enhancements-Users/Canvas-Release-Student-Assignment-...

[michael_farmer]

Thanks, @petern !

I now have some reading to do 😀

Coming back after going through that info, this is the new submission type we are using now (and it is a big improvement). The documentation says that a student can comment after the file is submitted, but this is clearly not an enforced situation (student must submit, then comment) as we have students using this format who are able to go directly to comments and post without ever submitting.

Perhaps there could be a checkbox setting to enforce submission before allowing a comment, since that is the suggested flow.

[susanficken]

I would really like to see idea 1 implemented so that they can only comment if they have actually submitted.

I have had the issue repeatedly with students submitting closed assignments as attachments to comments. While, yes, of course they are informed that this doesn't meet the requirements and won't be graded, they often don't check the instructions.

[JessicaShumake]

@michael_farmer @susanficken I too would like to see idea 1 implemented so that students can comment only when they have submitted an assignment. 

Several of my students are routinely going into the 'grade' item for an assignment and then clicking on "add a comment," which enables them to upload assignment files after a published deadline has closed in Canvas.

The loophole means that when I assign a zero for a missing assignment, students will then tell me during class that they accidentally uploaded the work as a comment rather than using the required assignment submission area. The student's assignment files are technically there—that is visible to me and the student—in Canvas as a comment.

What this means, in practice, is that there is no technical way for me to lock an assignment once a submission deadline has passed. I would like to prevent the loophole of students uploading assignments, as comments, after deadlines because it is not fair that some students are exploiting the comment feature by routinely uploading files after deadlines and then feigning that it was an accident.

In my humble opinion, it should not be technically possible for students to upload assignment files as comments in the gradebook, after a deadline.

I understand that I can refuse to accept work submitted as a comment; however, I do not want to engage in heated debates about grades or to write syllabus policies that forbid exploiting this Canvas loophole. There has to be a technical solution to this human problem: disable the upload of files as comments in the gradebook after a submission deadline has passed.

[josephl]

Problem statement:

The gradebook (red flag) should not be the area to go back and forth updating comments nor should students submit assignments as comments. Submitting assignments as comments is just a way to circumvent, the proper submission process and defeats the purpose of the Canvas assignment process, for grading not to mention it creates more record keeping and work arounds. When the assignment expires the student needs to discuss with their instructor the reasoning and if appropriate reopen the assignment. Also, I only use my University email (outlook) client for safe and proper communications between students and my University to avoid issues. I have had several cases where students took liberties to submit their assignments as comments without good reason.

Proposed solution:

1. Stop Red Flags or give the instructor the ability to turn it off to avoid extra record keeping and sometimes back and forth with students comments which is never a good thing. Most of us are hard working and we don't need extra information clouding the gradebook. If necessary face-to-face contact with the student is still the best communication process to settle any issues. 2. Instructors need the ability if necessary to turn-off comments before an assessment is completed. The whole purpose of Canvas and or other LMS systems is to have assignments submitted to be properly graded and provide access for our dept. chair, dean etc. in the event of challenges. Documentation should be a priroity for both instructors and students. 3. Finally, the gr

User role(s):

instructor

[ProductPanda]

Comments from Instructure

As part of the new Ideas & Themes process, all ideas in Idea Conversations were reviewed by the Product Team. Any Idea that was associated with an identified theme was moved to the new Idea & Themes space. Any Idea that was not part of the move is being marked as Archived. This will preserve the history of the conversations while also letting Community members know that Instructure will not explore the request at this time.