Running Total of Weighted Categories in Gradebook

[dav57]

Students should be allowed to see a running total of all points from their assignments when a Professor uses weighted categories in the gradebook.  When a Professor has a course out of 1000 points to help students keep track of their grades, this missing running total feature in the gradebook seems to take away from the easy 1000 point system. Students at the end of the semester should see that they have a running total of 850 points that would guarantee them a B in the course no matter what assignments are left, etc. 

[dav57]

Hi Stefanie, 

I was told last semester that Texas State did not have the ability to show percentage and points when using weighted totals. I am not sure if that is true. Looks like you can see both with the information you provided. How can I turn on the function that allows students to see both percentages and points?

[Stef_retired]

@dav57 After doing some checking in a live course, I don't believe you can; I am fairly certain the documentation is displaying how the grade totals display to a student when the weighted option is not checked. So we've moved this idea forward for further conversation, and in the meantime I've asked our documentation team to confirm. 

Thanks!

[dav57]

Thank you! This was something students were able to see in the "TRACS" LMS, so it is frustrating that this isn't something immediately offered with Canvas. Seems like a no brainer, but I seem to always push the limits with most LMS packages. 

[dswalker]

How can we request this to be a new feature for the gradebook?

The majority of Higher Ed courses (at least here at TAMU) use running totals and not percentages which can cause incorrect grades for students depending n the grading schema used.

[Stef_retired]

@dswalker This is the request, so make sure you've added your rating to it. You can also raise visibility on it by bringing it up with your school's Customer Success Manager (CSM). What is the feature development process for Instructure products? describes how requested features become prioritized and developed.

[James]

I'm going to write from a mathematics perspective.

The total number of points in the course is meaningless when using a weighted gradebook.

If you are going to use a points-based system, then don't weight the gradebook and you can get the total points. This is what the teacher is doing if they say there are 1000 points and you need 850 for a B.

If you are going to use a weighted gradebook, then it doesn't matter how many points are inside an assignment group because you're using the percentage of the points scored in calculating the grade. I can have 1000 points of homework but only count it for 10% of the grade while having 50 points for exams and have it count 70% of the grade. I don't recommend that, but that's how a weighted gradebook works.

How to set up the gradebook was a concern when we first started using Canvas. Faculty would say "I have a weighted gradebook, exams are worth 700 points, quizzes 200 points, and homework 100 points." When you listen to them, you heard the word "points" three times. They're confusing points with weighted gradebooks. What they want is 70% exams, 20% quizzes, and 10% homework, but they've already accomplished that because they have their points set up that way. This scenario is a points-based gradebook, not a weighted gradebook.

The students can see their points in each of the assignment groups from their grades page (unless the summary is hidden) and quickly add them up to get the total points in the course. Displaying the total points in a weighted gradebook is going to provide more confusion as it has no bearing on the grade calculations.

[ProductPanda]

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