Community

aroyal9 · ‎01-20-2022

Yes, this would be brilliant! This would simplify a lot of the grading for quizzes that have this question type. If it's blank, it's worth zero--the extra step of having to scroll and place the zero is tedious when a default zero for an unanswered question would solve that problem.

aroyal9 · ‎04-30-2021

Lately, my institution's administration has been increasingly more insistent in their campaign for faculty and students to use Canvas Conversations for within-course communication--instead of campus e-mail accounts-- solely because the Conversations tool exists. But of course those people don't teach, so they have no clue how unreasonable their mandate is for teachers and students of mathematics . I really want and need to communicate with my students using real math language because I would rather my students not rely on "pidgin math" that includes awkward phrasing, ALT codes, and extra symbols that create more confusion. I'm not going as far as requiring my students to learn LaTeX, but if they can learn to use a basic equation editor, that would be helpful for improving their communication about mathematics. If I'm demonstrating how to work through a problem step-by-step, I want to display the work naturally, in-line with my text communication surrounding it. That process won't work if the math is in an attachment that could be summarily removed by overzealous security software or if it is pasted in as static pictures that might not render correctly. If I can have this everywhere else I need it (pages, quizzes, announcements, assignments, discussion boards, syllabus), then it's vexing to resort to the insanity of [ (1/a) + (1/b) ] / { (1/ab) + [ 1 / (a+b) ] } when I need to use the Conversations tool (so I end up responding to my students using campus e-mail anyway). Moreover, even here, in this forum, there is no math tool availability in the RCE, so I had to create my math expression elsewhere, then take a picture of it, upload the picture, and--finally!--painstakingly resize the picture to make my point. The irony? I can easily choose from hundreds of superfluous emojis (I mean, seriously?!) to drop into my post. So, for me (and probably for many other math teachers as well), having an RCE with an equation editor in the Canvas Conversations tool would go a long way in supporting my teaching practice. Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎02-08-2021

At my institution, administration requires all faculty to publish all course assignments with all dates/times set in Canvas prior to the start of the term. Publishing assessments set to be available/due in the past or in the too-distant future is unacceptable and defeats the purpose. The only permissible workaround for this is to leave certain assignments unpublished until needed, but even this practice is frowned upon, as it prevents students from seeing "everything" that they'll be responsible for throughout the term. Unfortunately, there are problematic unintended consequences that cause frustration for instructors and students when an assignment is required to be published but the availability/due time is ambiguous because it will be released and/or concluded live during a synchronous class meeting. As an instructor, there is no way to avoid the confusion created by the inability to provide clarity for a situation that arises solely due to the fact that Canvas demands precise date and time information for all assessment circumstances, regardless of whether or not the assessment is electronic or paper-based, irrespective of whether or not the assessment is due during a live class session or outside of a live class session. I need a digital solution to an analog problem. It seems that only way to appease everyone is to have a way to publish assignments with dates but be able to specify a times of "TBD" so that the assignment shows up on the calendar (so there would also need to be a way to specify the range of time when the TBD assignment is expected to become available), with the idea that the instructor would manually adjust the times when appropriate. The admins get their compliance, students can "see" the assignment link on their calendar/to-do list in a timely manner, and instructors have the flexibility to release and close assignments on demand as needed.

aroyal9 · ‎01-29-2021

Yes, @laureneissler, I have had the same thing happen to me. I really like the bulk date editor, but it would be even better with the ability to edit times right then and there so I don't forget to do it later. Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎10-25-2020

Thanks for the information about this. Unfortunately, this is not a solution--it is a workaround (and it is quite elegant and straightforward). I wish that there was some way in the Canvas community to distinguish various responses as answers, workarounds, and solutions. I came to this page thinking that I was somehow missing a piece of the puzzle, but as far as I'm concerned, this "bug" isn't squashed. The original question from @GideonWilliams was (and I'm paraphrasing), "Is there direct access to the Item Banks area for New Quizzes?" The answer is "No, there is not direct access to the Item Banks area for New Quizzes." That would be the end of it, but the question seems to imply that there is an expectation of direct access, and the responses from @deborah_oakley1 and @GideonWilliams indicate a desire for direct access (and I want it, too). Because there are no other posts to the contrary thus far, we are operating under the assumption that only indirect access currently exists. The workaround--the indirect access to the Item Banks area for New Quizzes--is included in your post. This codifies the method of getting there so that we don't have to wander around aimlessly hoping to stumble upon the Item Banks area by happenstance. The solution--the direct access to the Item Banks area for New Quizzes--does not yet exist (at the time of this post). The old quizzes option has a "Manage Question Banks" link that is accessible independently, with no need to have any existing quizzes or banks, so it's reasonable that we would want the analogous Item Bank access for the New Quizzes option. I'm new to the community, and the layout has changed a lot, so I don't know where to make a feature update request, but perhaps someone with that knowledge will read my post and help me/us ask for direct access to Item Banks in New Quizzes. Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎10-18-2020

I would definitely like to see a time option added to the bulk assignment date feature; it's the next logical step.

aroyal9 · ‎09-10-2020

I think that the option to fully delete any student work from the Canvas environment is not available for reasons of security, liability, and academic integrity: while most faculty would use extreme caution and exercise great care to ensure that this corrective measure is enacted properly, equitably, and only under certain conditions, it still leaves open the possibility that something could go wrong that could be tantamount to, lead to, or construed as academic misconduct. For example, suppose an instructor accidentally deletes a submission for the wrong student--now that student is still responsible for resubmitting (and, of course, the resubmission might be altered, intentionally or not). If I was the student whose results were deleted accidentally and my initial score was replaced, the new score might have an undeserved substantial impact on my overall course grade. If my grade goes down with the re-take, I'm not going to be happy about that, and I'll feel that the resolution was unfair to me. If my grade improves dramatically, I reap the benefit of the second chance that my classmates did not get, which is not fair to the rest of the class. Now, suppose that an instructor's account is hacked and some or all student assessment attempts are permanently deleted--do all the students have to re-test or just the ones whose results were "conveniently" deleted? If there's no time for a major whole-class do-over, does everyone now get a 0 or full credit for the deleted assessment scores? If it's a minor quiz in a grade category with many other quizzes, then the loss of one quiz might not make much difference, but if it's the midterm exam that counts for 30% of the overall course grade, then whatever becomes of it will be a really big deal that has profound implications moving forward. With great power comes even greater responsibility, so the ability to delete student attempts/submissions is a huge request, even if we would agree to be forthright and conscientious about safeguarding its use. Perhaps the idea of a "don't count this attempt" option is a good compromise because that's what instructors really want (my guess is that we just don't want the impact on the grade and that we really don't care if it's still present, especially if an option to hide null attempts is available)--and it maintains the paper trail for all attempts/submissions for security and academic integrity purposes. This also relieves Canvas of the liability for assessments that go missing--whether the deletion is accidental or intentional. Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎06-10-2020

Thanks for the reply, Ken. I really don't have any social media accounts to work with (I had to look up the word tumblr to find out!), but I'm glad you told me about it because it's something I can consider in the future. At the time that I made my original comment, we did not yet have access to multi-course tools; we now have Qwickly at our institution, but I'm fairly certain that it's a subscription LTI add-on. It does allow posting announcements to multiple courses simultaneously, which solves my problem, but it doesn't directly address the issue that this capability is not yet native to Canvas (so I think it's still worth pursuing for those who are teaching at institutions that don't have Qwickly). I appreciate your taking the time to fill me in about using RSS feeds: it makes sense to use that for content-specific blogs (for me, it would be about math). I'm willing to learn about new technology, but I'm slow to bring things into my courses until I'm sure how it works and how to keep it under control. :+) Have a great summer; stay safe, and be well. Best, Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎05-16-2020

I'm with you on this, Patrick. With the increased need to communicate electronically due to the pandemic, it is beyond maddening to have to post to individual courses. Over the last few weeks, I found your adjectives, but I can't share them here. We need a built-in solution that is SIMPLE: if it involves external apps, scripts, batch files, or "1337" programming skills, then I'm out. Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎04-07-2020

Thomas, Your comments are especially on point right now with so many students having to learn how to submit assignments and quizzes in Canvas virtually as opposed to being in a face-to-face environment where instructors can walk them through things and be there in person to assist with the technology. For many years, I have had the ability to delete a student's assignment attempt in a particular online homework management system, so it really feels like Canvas is back in the stone age. Accidents happen: students hit the submit button instead of cancel, students forget to attach or attach the wrong documents, students have intermittent internet access issues that happen at the worst possible times. Sometimes, we just need to be able to reset--not pile on extra attempts. Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎03-25-2020

Yes, being able to name replies (like we could in BB) would be tremendously helpful, especially if there are lots of posts and responses. Additionally, the ability to name replies is critical if the instructor doesn't allow students to edit or delete their own posts and replies. I took online graduate level math courses that were set up that way (ridiculously locked down), and it was the most horrible experience being required to do discussion boards with equations, mistakes, and corrections spread all over the place. The insanity went up exponentially whenever someone accidentally posted "problem number 5" in the similarly-named thread for "problem number 3" and the mistake couldn't be undone (and created a torrent of attempted corrections and apologies that everyone had to read through). Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎03-04-2020

Rick, I'm with you on this one, but the major problem is the whole rigmarole about having to be so excruciatingly detailed about "everything" imaginable so that we've done our due diligence in ensuring that students understand our expectations. There should never be a need for me to explicitly state on my syllabus that I will not accept assignments turned in by carrier pigeon, assignments written on a used cocktail napkin, assignments written on legal tender, assignments written on a stolen traffic sign, assignments done in skywriting, assignments written in Klingon, assignments written in "wingdings" font, assignments written in ink derived from body fluids, etc. I think that Ben was looking for a way to prevent the insanity before it takes hold, which should be a major component of course management best practices. It would be much easier to just turn off the "attachments in the comments area" feature if/when it's not needed/wanted rather than manage the frustration and confusion that ensues when the system is, inevitably, intentionally or unintentionally abused. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Gwinn

aroyal9 · ‎02-15-2020

I agree with you on this, Seth. Sometimes, students just panic or have real technical difficulties and they e-mail me an assignment that was supposed to be attached to the assignment link in Canvas. For the sake of handling such cases consistently, I don't accept e-mailed assignments because they're "not gradable" through e-mail (especially since I've made it clear that assignment not attached to the proper link by the deadline will earn a score of 0). This is in part to discourage students from e-mailing me late work (which I don't accept) after the link in Canvas has closed. However, if a student legitimately has a problem getting the file to attach and they've contacted me prior to the due date to explain the issue, then I would consider accepting an on-time submission received through e-mail (as long as it didn't become a habit) if I could go in and properly attach the document to the correct link so that I could grade it with the rubric, etc. like everyone else's assignments.

aroyal9 · ‎02-15-2020

You're right, Kissler; the new system--which just got dropped on us randomly in the middle of the freakin' semester with no way to return to the old one!--has different/missing functionality, and this is not cool at all. I've wasted so much time trying to figure out what all the icons mean and whether or not I can still do what I need to do. We instructors need the mandatory interfaces we have to deal with to be easy to use and intuitive, and we should have the option to turn certain features on or off according to our individual course needs.

aroyal9 · ‎03-05-2019

Thank you for sharing, Ben. When we made the switch, I was not happy about the endless submission scenario, either. You are right; the workaround is less than ideal (though doable because there is no other way), but I'm hoping that this uproar we're all making will turn into something practical! :+) I'm agreeing with what you're saying, and I'm just adding my thoughts to the conversation in hopes that my words will persuade others to up-vote. Without the power to delete or limit erroneous attempts, they just pile up. And what if a student asks the instructor to grade "attachment 1 of the second submission" and "attachment 2 of the third submission" because those are the so-called correct versions? Why can't the student just submit both correct documents on the fourth submission then, since that's what should have been done in the first place? If the assignment is now closed, then there can be no fourth submission, which leaves the instructor to wade through and find what the student is referring to. Having only one chance to get it right encourages students to take responsibility for being organized and purposeful in their school work; they don't get to just drop their mess on someone else's desk and expect someone else to figure it out. At a job interview, I wouldn't literally just dump my briefcase out on the desk and ask the interviewer to find the latest final draft of my dossier amongst a bunch of miscellaneous paperwork and assorted odds and ends, so our LMS shouldn't be teaching students to do this virtually. Waiting until after the deadline to start grading is a real hassle when I have a large number of items to grade, especially if they're all due around major grading periods (such as midterms and finals) or if I'm going to be otherwise encumbered (e.g. attending meetings and conferences). For this reason, I sometimes end up setting ridiculously early due dates to build grading time into the schedule, and I'd rather not have to game the system in that manner. It would be nice to start grading earlier (when reasonable) so that my work doesn't pile up on me, especially if I can anticipate backlog or if I suddenly recover some "free time" that could be spent making progress toward the massive grading. As our institution moves toward offering more courses in 8-week terms, this idea of staying ahead of grading is going to become even more necessary with the decrease in turnaround time. Occasionally, I would need to allow a student an extra submission if they accidentally attached the wrong document, but it was controlled chaos, and the student was responsible for contacting me before the due date to make that kind of arrangement. The communication made the student's accountability transparent (having to ask for a re-do is documented officially, rather than sneaked in under the radar as multiple submissions that essentially "don't count"), and it allowed me the opportunity to practice being benevolent (strategically yielding to a student's desire to improve is usually well received). The current system bypasses this opportunity for instructor and student to build the rapport that mimics the workplace interaction between employees and supervisors. Sometime, I have difficulty, as do many instructors, with getting students (and mine are adults!) to do as I say or abide by the criteria you mentioned. If something is available, it can be redone until all submissions are "used up," even if I said no. The unintentional policy of automatic do-overs doesn't teach students to do their best work and submit their assignments correctly, on time, and on the first try. This inadvertently encourages the assumption of infinite opportunities, which is unrealistic in most real-world situations (such as job interviews, delivery services, catering, grand openings, live events, etc.). I'm supposed to be grooming most of my students to go out into the workforce soon after graduation, so one-shot assignments are kind of a necessary evil that get thwarted by a rigid, insensitive LMS. Having the assignments behave more like quizzes, with regard to submission restrictions, would be an improvement I could appreciate. Gwinn

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