[Assignments] Submit an assignment on behalf of a student

[CommunityTeam]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

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As an instructor, I'd like the option to submit assignments on behalf of my students. This feature should enable me to pick a file from my computer and upload it as a submission for a given student. I should then be able to assess the submission just as if the student had submitted it themselves. A note should appear somewhere that indicates I submitted the assignment on behalf of my student. This would help me in cases where, for instance, my students submit an assignment on paper or the submission is a performance (a speech or presentation) that I capture on video.

transferred from the old Community

Originally posted by: Bill Hanna
Special thanks for contributions by: Paul Gibbons, Sydney Cheek-O'Donnell, Kona Jones, Stefanie Sanders

[lauren_sayer]

If we wanted to use Canvas for exam moderation we would have to scan and upload the exams ourselves – a student wouldn’t be in a position to do this. I’m not sure if we would want to go down that route as a school but it might be something we want to investigate as it could help moderate across campuses.

[08768119]

Yes! Definitely want this one. I have a few students who don't have internet at home so give me a printed copy of an assignment or a handwritten one. I need to scan and upload this into Canvas and then comment on it using SpeedGrader for them to access at school.

[nstrecker1]

Well, everyone agrees this would be a wonderful feature for many incredibly valid reasons. It's supported by 204 of 215 voters.  And it's been under consideration now for more almost two years- what else can users do to see this need answered in the next release?

[thompsli]

I've suggested another feature: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8290-teacher-should-be-able-to-bulk-upload-scans-of-submitted-... that could be argued to be sub-set of this depending on implementation of the upload on a student's behalf feature. I don't "trust" that all possible/likely implementations of submitting an assignment on a student's behalf would do what I wanted, but some proposed implementations would so I wanted to link to it to keep related ideas "near" each other.

[rcammarata]

I really wish they would do this, as it would help out A LOT.  

[rcammarata]

There are times when this requested feature would be very helpful.  One example is when I use the external tool of TurnItIn, more often than not lately, students go to upload the file to Canvas and they cannot do so because TurnItIn rejects it.  The College's internal IT people say it's a Canvas or TurnItIn problem.  Canvas people say it's a TurnItIn problem, and TurnItIn's people say it's a Canvas problem.  End result - students' paper is not uploaded, and I have them email them to me instead.  It would be great to be able then to upload their papers to Canvas - so that they are available for grading in SpeedGrader. This way, there will remain an historical record in Canvas of the paper, as well as using the instructor editing tools available in SpeedGrader to write comments/provide feedback. 

From what I can see, this request has nearly 200 votes.  Perhaps it's time for Canvas to move on it?  I hope so.

It does say at the top of this page, 

Idea is currently in Product Radar Learn more about this stage...

However, if you click on that, it's a broken link, and tells us nothing.

[dwarf1223]

How has this not become available yet? If we have Turn It In accounts, this is a feature, but when it is supposedly "easier" through Canvas, it is actually more difficult.  I don't understand. 

[fitstade]

The LTI Turnitin still says,"can not upload on the behalf of the student". It would be great and would be user friendly if instructors can direct submit with in Canvas instead of going to the Turnitin website. Is this feature in the prototype stage? It looks like some institutions have this function already (Attached is a screenshot). I hope we all will have this function soon.

Thanks! 

[josh_burnwatt]

This is the same use case that led me to this feature request! Our faculty have decided to do paper exams, but grading/markup using SpeedGrader. It seems like the easiest way to do this would be to allow us to scan in the paper responses on the behalf of the students once we have collected them at the end of the exam period.

[josh_burnwatt]

I'd like to add our use case to the discussion for this feature request as well. Our faculty and students have asked to complete their written exams on paper rather than submit them online. As a Canvas admin, I get that it would be a lot easier to submit them online, but here we are. The problem comes to grading, however. The students are submitting all of their assignments (minus the exam) through the online submission tool, so our faculty have been using SpeedGrader.  The faculty would like to continue to use SpeedGrader to mark up the exam submissions as well, but we can't do that unless they are submitted online. Allowing us to "upload all submissions" either by assignment or by student would allow us to accommodate both requirements.

Has anyone come up with any decent workarounds? The only thing I can think of is to masquerade as each individual student and upload them on their behalf once we collect the responses after the exam. Its easy for us to do when we only have a dozen students, but the idea of submitting an assignment on the behalf of a student makes me feel uneasy and this would not be feasible for the majority of Canvas clients with much larger student bases.