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mcmaguire · ‎09-23-2022

I set up a Discussion with Groups I make it an Assignment, and categorize it as a Group Assignment Canvas STILL does not allow me to apply the same Assignment grade for this Group Discussion Assignment, to all Group members - in the same way I can set up grading for other Group Assignments (that are not Discussions), with the same grade being applied to all Group members. At this point, I'd be satisfied if anyone could (at least) provide a good rationale for why this quirk with Canvas Assignment grades still exists (I've run into this issue for years).

mcmaguire · ‎09-16-2022

this needs to happen ......... I teach four-to-five Canvas courses per-semester and our primary campus email is a standard at my school ..... i.e., I rarely check the Canvas Inbox and have to remind/re-direct my students to use our campus email system.

mcmaguire · ‎01-30-2022

I’ve set up my current semester course in Canvas, which is a recurring course each semester. I imported course components from an earlier semester (a.k.a., Existing Content), including some Assignments. Then, I updated some Assignments for the current semester’s dates [I’ve learned not to trust the Canvas import function of adjusting dates, as it can’t account for holidays, school breaks, etc.]. Re: Notifications....since I am publishing the current Assignments for the first time in the current semester, I check the box to Notify students of changes/updates, because, for this new course, they haven't seen the assignment before. My Instructor’s Canvas account is set to receive notifications (weekly). I just received a notification that indicates, “Assignment Due Date Changed.” Hmmm. Technically, yes, the due date changed, because I just imported the assignment and updated the dates for the current semester. However, it’ll be the first time students will see this assignment this semester. For any of my students in this class, if they’ve set their Canvas accounts to receive notifications, will they receive a similar message? It’s not a big issue, and I can clear it up when we meet for class. However, it seems that I should be able to import components of prior semesters’ Canvas courses without having this particular, confusing (for students in this new course, early in the semester) notification triggered as (again, technically), for the CURRENT semester, the due date has NOT been changed - it’s the first time I’m publishing the assignment. thanks for any insights Michael Maguire, mcmaguire@wisc.edu Teaching Faculty UW-Madison

mcmaguire · ‎09-13-2021

While I have always had the same issue/concern re: disabling Inbox since my first days with Canvas, your well-meaning reply characterizes another significant foible (my opinion) with Canvas Help.....Instructure, Inc. has an inflexible, algorithm-based "Help" community, and related "Help" functions. Voting up and down, submitting ideas, even things to, "keep in mind as (we) have discussions (about troubleshooting)." I find Instructure, Inc.'s entrenched approach to "Help" untenable for my regular use. Most efficient for me is to figure out my own work-arounds, and avoid Canvas "Help" altogether. With five courses per-semester and 150-200 students per-semester, I do not have the luxury of time to vote issues up & down, propose ideas for improvement, and hope that my issue/question will make its way into Instructure, Inc.'s "Help" algorithms.

mcmaguire · ‎05-06-2021

Glad to know I'm not alone with this quirk in the Canvas Rubrics tool!

mcmaguire · ‎04-07-2021

I have a course with 11 Discussion Groups. Students post responses to Discussions for that week - i.e., over a 14-week semester, they are posting to (at least) 14 Group Discussions. Each week, I review their posts. I'd like to account for that review by making sure that all of their posts are noted via the, "Mark All as Read" feature. This is where I'm a bit confused, and will concede that I may be missing something. After students have posted to a Discussion: I visit the 'home page' of that week's Discussion I see a list of all of the Groups on the left Across from each Group, on the right, there are two small #'s adjacent to each other: the # highlighted in blue represents the # of posts I have not marked as read, the # highlighted in black represents the total # of posts from that Group At this same "home page" of that week's Discussion, there is a 3-dot drop-down menu, with the first option of "Mark All as Read." While it would be great if I could simply choose that option, "Mark All as Read," to indicate that I have read all Groups' Discussion posts, choosing that option at this "home page" of that week's Discussion seems to result in .... nothing. The numbers representing posts that I've read do not change. I've figured out that I have to go into each of the 11 weekly Groups' Discussions, choose the same, "Mark All as Read" for only one Group at-a-time for that Discussion, in order for Canvas to change the indication that the posts were read. My questions: When I choose, "Mark All as Read" for a Groups' posts to a Discussion, what do students see? Is there a way that Canvas will display "All as Read," if I choose, "Mark All as Read" from each Discussion's "home page?"

mcmaguire · ‎03-04-2021

I posted this to comments/questions, and had a colleague suggest that I share the idea in this forum: With assessment, we know that Rubrics are not grades. I appreciate the opportunity to use the Canvas Rubrics tool, as it can be a good guide for students to know about how I assess components (criteria) of an assignment for determining that assignment's overall grade. I find it helpful for papers, especially. An issue/question comes up for students and me. When I am creating a Rubric via Canvas, "Course Rubrics," I use the option of: Criteria/Description of Criterion/and I check the box for, "Range." Next, I enter the values for the "Range," of the criterion via "Ratings." When students and I go to the "Assignment," the Rubric appears with each Criterion and the Range I entered. The confusion comes in with the Canvas Gradebook. While I take the time to complete a Rubric for each student's paper submitted, choosing the Ranges that best apply to the student's abilities to meet each criterion, those same criterion are represented by a single point total, and not a Range - as I had intended. Understandably, students are confused when the Canvas default single point total for each criterion appears to be different than the final grade they earn for the assignment. Perhaps I am not creating the Rubric to function in the way I intend it to: providing a range of criterion assessment that will help me to determine an assignment's overall grade. I received this reply: I have not yet used the new range feature in Canvas Rubrics, and now I doubt I will. I just tested this, and what you stated seems accurate, when you select a rating, the rubric assigns the highest possible points for that rating's range. I checked the guide for this, and found, (A) "By default, rubric ratings are created as individual point values. (B) If you want to create a point range instead, click the Range checkbox [1]. (C) Ranges allow you to assign a rating for a range of point options instead of just one point value. (D) When enabled, the first rating (full marks) shows the total point value in a range format [2]. (E) Each rating displays a maximum and minimum point value. (F) For each rating, the maximum value is assigned as the point value." My observation about the directions in the guide: Huh? If I follow the logic of sentences A, B, C, D, and E - especially sentence C - then sentence F makes no sense. Idea: Make the Rubrics Criterion Range function work with this explanation, to supplant sentence F: For each rating, you may assign a range of point options instead of just one point value.

mcmaguire · ‎03-04-2021

With assessment, we know that Rubrics are not grades. I appreciate the opportunity to use the Canvas Rubrics tool, as it can be a good guide for students to know about how I assess components (criteria) of an assignment for determining that assignment's overall grade. I find it helpful for papers, especially. An issue/question comes up for students and me. When I am creating a Rubric via Canvas, "Course Rubrics," I use the option of: Criteria/Description of Criterion/and I check the box for, "Range." Next, I enter the values for the "Range," of the criterion via "Ratings." When students and I go to the "Assignment," the Rubric appears with each Criterion and the Range I entered. The confusion comes in with the Canvas Gradebook. While I take the time to complete a Rubric for each student's paper submitted, choosing the Ranges that best apply to the student's abilities to meet each criterion, those same criterion are represented by a single point total, and not a Range - as I had intended. Understandably, students are confused when the Canvas default single point total for each criterion appears to be different than the final grade they earn for the assignment. Perhaps I am not creating the Rubric to function in the way I intend it to: providing a range of criterion assessment that will help me to determine an assignment's overall grade.

mcmaguire · ‎02-10-2021

I've posted to Canvas help community in previous semesters regarding this issue with Groups. I thought I'd post issues to this higher ed user community, as I've been told that some of the issues I have with the infrastructure for Canvas Groups may be related to Canvas as a vendor for PreK-12. I'll give these a go with this community: I still do not have access to a Canvas function that allows me to set up Groups in any of my Canvas courses (I teach 4-5 courses per-semester) in such a way that the Group is unique to the class for which I set it up, and for which it has no other purpose - i.e., it will not be used in any other Canvas courses I (or any other Instructors) teach. I continue to use work-arounds (i.e., multiple clicks) when navigating Canvas Groups in a course, vs. simply staying within one course, for which I may have multiple groupings/teams of students - associated only with that one course. Unlike PreK-12, I do not have any use for being re-directed away from my Canvas course while navigating Groups in that course. I'll confess that I'm a bit bratty about doing the multiple-clicks work-around, but time is precious. I think this may be somewhat related .......... I just discovered a new foible associated with this default infrastructure of Canvas Groups.... this semester, I noticed that, at my Canvas course "People" page for two of my courses, a Group tab appeared - that I did not create - labeled, "Project Groups." Huh? I don't want Canvas setting up any default Groups in my courses. It can be confusing for students and me. In fact, I only noticed this because I received a query from a student asking me about why we have "Project Groups" as they didn't see any associated Assignments, Discussions, or mentions of "Project Groups" in the syllabus (or elsewhere). A possible culprit could be that someone at an administrative level provided that "Project Groups" setting (I'm looking into it). But I thought I'd post it here, in case anyone else has had a similar issue. Many thanks for any wisdom 🙂 Michael Maguire, Faculty Associate UW-Madison School of Human Ecology

mcmaguire · ‎09-15-2020

And, by "save," I mean "publish." While I can save it without publishing, I wont' get to test it from Student View unless it's published (which I've always thought was another quirky deal). mm

mcmaguire · ‎09-14-2020

Despite several years of experience with Canvas LMS, there remain (for me) occasions when I mess up, and the corrections can be tedious & inefficient. For me, common areas for mistakes are with the settings I use for common functions - setting up new Assignments, Discussions and more. To assist, I would find it helpful if, before "Saving" a newly-created Assignment, Discussion, etc., when I hit save, I received a prompt that indicates a message like, "be sure to check these frequently-missed items:" - followed by items - per Assignment or Discussion, etc. - that truly reflect the Canvas user community's experiences setting up these course components. Also important: for efficient, advanced, regular Canvas users, this "Review/Check" feature could be provided in the main course set-up menu as a "toggle on"/"toggle off" option. I want to defer to those folks for whom these frequent mistakes are not an issue! Here's how this might work for me with one of my frequent mistakes when setting up Discussions: In large-enrollment courses (100-150+), Discussions are a helpful tool - allowing students to connect with smaller groups of classmates over the span of a semester in that course. And, I like to provide differently-populated Discussions in such a course - perhaps the nature of the prompts allow for all-class sharing. Or, perhaps some topics lend themselves to the smaller Groups (8-10 students). When setting up a Discussion, I can overlook the check box, "This is a Group Discussion." As folks know, if students have submitted posts to one of these Discussions, this setting cannot be changed. I have to clean up that little mess - hence, my reference (above) to the tedious & inefficient corrections. However, if, when setting up the Discussion, I hit, "Save" and I received a prompt to Review or Check the Discussion - even if generic (e.g., "are your settings for this Discussion accurate?") - I'd go back to see whether or not I did something like check the box for, "This is a Group Discussion." Again, this feature would only be for other members of the Lead Pencil Society and me 🙂 In your course set up, you could simply have this toggled "off" if these mistakes aren't that frequent for you. Hand-holding? Maybe. And, I'm a frequent Canvas user, so I thought I'd put it out there, in case others may find this useful (or have different suggestions for me!). Thanks, Michael Maguire - Faculty Associate, UW-Madison School of Human Ecology

mcmaguire · ‎09-12-2020

Looks like this would work. The ongoing issue for students (in several of my classes) has been intuitive, easy-access to an accurate and complete record of prior submissions for the same assignment. There a many assignments I've design for which I've built in some scaffolded, low-stakes assessments based on early-semester, mid-semester, and end-of-semester submissions from students. Also, I have some large, semester-long, multiple-submission projects - usually individual research projects or group projects - for which a one-stop assignment dropbox would be more efficient - for students and for me. Because the Canvas LMS has not allowed for students' access to prior submissions for the same assignment, I've had to add separate assignment dropboxes within the same assignment Group, which can make navigating the Assignments page a bit too cumbersome. Thanks for your work on this 🙂

mcmaguire · ‎09-12-2020

Has Canvas LMS come up with an option for me, as an Instructor, while creating a new assignment and providing unlimited attempts for students' submissions in such a way that students can have access to (at least for their own viewing) their previous submissions? This would really assist me with a simple way to 'de-clutter' all parts of a multi-part, semester-long assignment. Yes, I use the assignment groups. However, this particular assignment has a good number of parts/submissions, and this seemingly simple feature can really help students keep track of their prior submissions. Apologies if I'm assuming too much about the simplicity of a feature like this. It just seems that, if I can access students' prior submissions, why can't I design an assignment that offers the same access features for students' viewing? It doesn't seem very student-friendly. Thanks for any assistance, and additional apologies if somehow, somewhere, this feature is available and I'm just not aware of it. Grateful, Michael Maguire - Faculty Associate, UW-Madison School of Human Ecology

mcmaguire · ‎04-22-2020

Yes, I forgot to mention in my initial post/question that I use that Gradebook function. And, I'm looking to have my Roster of students, wherever it appears in my Canvas course ["People" list, options for Discussion groups] to default to a setting I create for all references to class lists, and make them all alph-by-last-name-first. Thanks!

mcmaguire · ‎04-21-2020

For attendance, checklists, and other instructor functions for which I need regular access to a class roster, for four courses per-semester, usually 230-250 students, it is most efficient for me to have easy access to a roster that is sorted as alpha-last-name-first. While it is a start toward a solution, the Canvas default provides a listing People in the alpha order of their last name [but the list is actually displaying first-name-(and any middle)-names-first]. But, that is not efficient enough for my many uses. I appreciate knowing of the easy solution to this rather simple function for a default set-up of Canvas courses that default the list of "People" as alpha-last-name-first. See examples below. Thanks for any assistance! What Canvas (currently) provides (fictitious names, for illustration only): 1. John Thomas Abbot 2. Sarah Marie Susan Ames 3. Janiqua Barrett 4. Jo-Jo Chase 5. Marcus Jones What I need: 1. Abbot, John Thomas 2. Ames, Sarah Mari Susan 3. Barrett, Janiqua 4. Chase, Jo-Jo 5. Jones, Marcus

mcmaguire · ‎03-19-2020

I teach a course for which we host weekly guest speakers. With COVID19 and our institution switching to all-things-online, I would like to add several people to my Canvas course who are not affiliated with our university and who will serve as guest speakers. Neither their professional nor their personal email extensions are the same as our university's extension.

Post Details	Date Published	Views	Likes
Group Discussion as Assignment - Apply Same Grade to All I set up a Discussion with Groups I make it an Assignment, and categorize it as a Group Assignment Canvas STILL does not allow me to apply the same Assignment grade for this Group Discussion Assign...	09-23-2022	474	1
Notifications for Imported Existing Content I’ve set up my current semester course in Canvas, which is a recurring course each semester. I imported course components from an earlier semester (a.k.a., Existing Content), including some Assignmen...	01-30-2022	471	0
Discussions - Students' view after, "Mark All as Read" chosen by Instructor I have a course with 11 Discussion Groups. Students post responses to Discussions for that week - i.e., over a 14-week semester, they are posting to (at least) 14 Group Discussions. Each week...	04-07-2021	816	0
Rubric Creation & Criterion Ranges With assessment, we know that Rubrics are not grades. I appreciate the opportunity to use the Canvas Rubrics tool, as it can be a good guide for students to know about how I assess components (...	03-04-2021	1113	0
Progress on Canvas Groups Unique to One Canvas Course Only? I've posted to Canvas help community in previous semesters regarding this issue with Groups. I thought I'd post issues to this higher ed user community, as I've been told that some of the issue...	02-10-2021	548	0
Review/Check Settings Prompt as an Option - New Assignments, Discussions, + (toggle) Despite several years of experience with Canvas LMS, there remain (for me) occasions when I mess up, and the corrections can be tedious & inefficient. For me, common areas for mistakes are ...	09-14-2020	703	0
Re-submit Assignment - students access to viewing all submissions Has Canvas LMS come up with an option for me, as an Instructor, while creating a new assignment and providing unlimited attempts for students' submissions in such a way that students can have access ...	09-12-2020	440	0
how do I change my class roster [i.e., "People"] to default to alpha-last-name-first. For attendance, checklists, and other instructor functions for which I need regular access to a class roster, for four courses per-semester, usually 230-250 students, it is most efficient for me to h...	04-21-2020	386	0
I need to add a person/people to my Canvas course who has/have no affiliation with my institution. I teach a course for which we host weekly guest speakers. With COVID19 and our institution switching to all-things-online, I would like to add several people to my Canvas course who are not aff...	03-19-2020	624	0

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