Replacing lowest test grade with final exam grade

[eunice_kallarac]

I want to give the option of dropping the lowest exam grade and replacing it with the final exam grade if the final exam grade is better. Final exam grade is 25% of the grade. Each exam is 15%. How do I add final exam grade to exam grades category without manually entering it. Is there a way to do it

[nwilson7]

Hello  @eunice_kallarac ‌, you can setup assignment groups and have Canvas drop a lowest grade but I am not sure how you would pull it off when the weights are different.   Canvas does not have the ability of sub-weights and all the assessments would need to be in the same assignment group to have Canvas do a drop which would mean all the assessments would also need to have the same weight.

Here is the Canvas documentation for dropping an assignment.  

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9880-4152232976 

Hope this helps!

Nick

[James]

 @eunice_kallarac  

I just explained how I would do this two days ago. I would normally link to it, but it was in a feature idea and the content from feature ideas can get archived if there is a lack of support. Instead I will provide the content here (questions aren't archived like feature ideas).

You didn't say whether the grades were based off weighted assignment groups or they're weighted by points. Either way, I think we can pull it off as long as the exams are in a different assignment group than everything else. Ideally, you would be using a weighted gradebook with the regular exams in one group and the final in another assignment group.

1. Create a fake assignment in with the other exams. Call it "Final Exam Option" or something similar but with a different name than what you're calling your final exam. Make it have no submission and make it worth as many points as a regular exam.
2. Add an assignment rule to drop the lowest grade for the exam assignment group.
3. Go through and set the default grade for the "Final Exam Option" to be 0. You can skip this step if you have already given the final.
4. Once the students have completed the final exam, duplicate their final exam score in the "Final Exam Option." You may need to scale the final so that it's worth as much as a regular exam if you're not making everything be the same number of points.

Make sure you explain to the students what you're doing.

Forcing the "final exam option" to 0 ahead of time means that it will be dropped until the final exam score is entered. This means that the students will be able to see where they are without dropping an exam that shouldn't be dropped.

If the student does better on their final, the lowest exam grade is dropped and the final is used. If the student does worse on the final, then the final is dropped (from the exam group) and all of the regular exams are still used.

The final is still entered into it's own assignment group, so it will still count the 25%.

If they want to play "what if" with their grades, you should inform them to enter the same score for both the "final exam" and the "final exam option".

If you have all of the exams, including the final, in one assignment group and you're not weighting the assignment points but weighting the point values on the exams, it becomes more challenging. If each regular exam is worth 150 points and the final is worth 250, then the "final exam option" would need to be worth 150 and you would need to scale the final exam to 150 points before entering it into the "final exam option." You would also want to make sure that the final is marked "do not drop."

If you don't have your exams in an assignment group, you will need to move them into one, otherwise the drop rule will apply to more than just exams.

If you have a large class, you could export the grades, bring them into Excel, copy them (possibly scale them) into the final exam option, and then import it back into Canvas.  If you have small classes, it's probably quicker to just retype them, especially if the point values are the same.

[eunice_kallarac]

James,

Thank you for the quick response. I was doing exactly what you are saying keeping the final exam grade as 0 under exams category. What I really wanted to know was whether I can get the final exam grade entered under final exam in exams category without manually putting them in.

Now I am manually entering the gradee once I see the grades under final exams category.

Thanks again,

Eunice

Eunice Kallarackal

Professor, Mathematics,

Houston Community College

10141 Cash Road

Stafford, TX 77477

(713) 718 5578

[James]

 @eunice_kallarac  

You will have to do some action, there is nothing automatic in Canvas that allows you to do this.

The closest thing to automatic is what I mentioned in the last paragraph: Export the gradebook from Canvas, open it into Excel, copy/paste the values to the secondary assignment, and then reimport the content into Canvas.

If your students are taking their exams over several days or it's not a huge class, it's probably quicker to type them in manually because you would have to repeat the process multiple times the other way.