How to calculate averages based on displayed percentages

[julaine_rosner]

I have many assignments in one category (homework, classes, and quizzes).  These assignments vary in the amount of points that they are worth.  I like to display the grades as percentages so that it's clear to students what grade they are getting.  Unfortunately, Canvas calculates the averages in a category using the point value of an assignment and not the displayed percentage.  I used to do my grades in Excel and in Excel, the averages were calculated based on the displayed average (not the underlying point value)

I asked Canvas for help, and the representative told me to make sure that all assignments had the same point value.  That is not a good fix.  An assignment with fewer points should not be valued less than an assignments with a greater number of points.  There are so many assignments throughout the semester and if each assignment in a category should have equal weight.  

Please tell me how I can re-configure my Canvas gradebook so that averages are calculated based on displayed averages and not the underlying denominators.

[James · Accepted solution]

 @julaine_rosner  

You already have the correct answer -- make all points in an assignment group worth the same number of points. The functionality to make all of the assignments count the same no matter what their point values does not exist within Canvas.

There is an open feature idea to allow what you're asking for; you are encouraged to go there and leave comments, vote for the idea, or provide a use case.

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/4174-assignments-within-weighted-groups-treated-with-equal-val... 

[julaine_rosner]

Hi James,

Thanks for your reply and the link to the discussion that teachers have already initiated on this topic.

I may have stated the right work-around, but this is not a good option! Some assignments (which I want to be equal in value) can have 6 points and others can have 36 pr 70, and they both could count the same. It's not right that the teacher has to plan the points just so that the assignment will have 100 points and fit into the Canvas Gradebook schema. It is easy to do this in an Excel spreadsheet. Just calculate the average of the displayed percentages. I can't show my Excel spreadsheet to my students, but I can show the Canvas gradebook, and that's why I want Canvas to fix this.

The other problem is that Canvas misleads the user by saying that the grade is based on a percentage. It's really based on total points across multiple assignments in a particular category.

Thanks for your reply, James.

Julaine

[James]

I did have a much longer response written, but deleted most of it because I realized that this isn't the place to have the discussion. The feature idea is the proper place to have this conversation. Canvas is more likely to see comments left there than in questions like this one. There's no voting attached to a question to let them know how important a feature is and I don't think there's a systematic review of questions like there are for feature ideas.

[julaine_rosner]

Thanks, James, I am a newbie to this Feature Request Community discussion.  Thank you for pointing out where I should go to ask for this feature.