Can anyone tell me whether it is possible to enter final letter grades into the Gradebook and, if so, how?
Can anyone tell me whether it is possible to enter final letter grades into the Gradebook and, if so, how?
You can't enter in a final letter grade, but you can use a grading scheme to have the final grade converted to a letter grade.
That’s as it seemed and thanks!
It is absolutely ridiculous that you cannot add a text column for letter grades in the gradebook as you could in D2L. This LMS might be the worst that I have ever used and I have used many. Even Angel was better than this. Do they even listen to suggestions? Because having the ability for a text column without a score assigned seems like a no-brainer.
Steven, you can enter a text column for letter grades in the Gradebook. To do this, create a no-submission assignment and set it to display the grade as a letter grade--then enter the letter grades in the column. Please refer to How do I create extra assignment columns for non-submission assignments in the Gradebook? for the instructions. This doesn't replace the built-in Final Grade column, but you can hide students' ability to view totals in their grade summaries by disabling that capability in course settings.
This does not work for b/c I have found that you must input an number of points possible and Canvas must link it to a grading scheme. This gives a result that includes points next to the letter grade.
I echo and agree with Mr. Abram's comments:
It is absolutely ridiculous that you cannot add a text column for letter grades in the gradebook as you could in D2L. This LMS might be the worst that I have ever used and I have used many. Even Angel was better than this. Do they even listen to suggestions? Because having the ability for a text column without a score assigned seems like a no-brainer.
Do they even listen to suggestions? Because having the ability for a text column without a score assigned seems like a no-brainer.
Hey Stephen Bailey,
Canvas is definitely listening to suggestions! I'd also have to say I personally think they're far from the worst LMS out there. They heard Gradebook Enhancements were a big deal and so they made it a priority and you can read about and participate in that effort at Priority: Gradebook Enhancements. Canvas also brought a large group of users (I was one of them) to their headquarters in Salt Lake City and asked us to tell them what we wanted worked on. This was called Project Khaki, and you can see the list ordered by order of our votes at Khaki 2017: Priorities & Related Ideas. One of them has already even made it into production! Canvas Beta Release Notes (2017-07-05)
Adam:
I can really only speak to comparing Blackboard and Canvas. Blackboard is far superior to Canvas. I've spent many - many hours on the forum trying to understand and use Canvas. It is clear to me that there are excellent suggestions by numerous individuals that go undeveloped. I expect that these individuals quickly learn that making suggestions is a waste of time.
It would be really nice if there was a list somewhere of what Canvas can't do (that blackboard could) so I would not have to spend hours figuring out if it can/cannot be done in canvas. Below is my list so far.
1. Canvas does not allow the instructor to limit students' use of emails (avoid stalking, harassment, selling of items, etc...)
2. Canvas actually does not use emails and it is difficult to impossible to look up a student's email through canvas if you wish to actually send an email to their actual email address.
2.1 The "conversations" in Canvas do not get sent to students' emails unless they have the notifications set up - on their end - to have the conversation forwarded to their email. Professor's cannot automatically require/set this up from their end.
3. In Canvas you cannot copy and paste a formatted document from Word into Canvas - all the formatting is lost.
4. You cannot "hide" a discussion board topic from student viewing after it has been published.
5. The "email" you are forced by Canvas to use does not allow you to do any formatting of the text.
6. The gradebook is horrible, you can't change the assignment and quiz categories from percentages to points. If you use points, this will confuse many students.
7. You cannot weight quizzes equally when the quizzes have different number of questions.
8. Canvas will not allow all or No points on multiple answer questions.
9. Canvas has the ability to use scorm packages, but unlike blackboard it will not track the completion rate of individual students and link it to their gradebook for a grade.
10. Announcements in Canvas cannot be scheduled to open AND CLOSE on specific dates, they can only be set to open at a certain time. The announcement then remains open unless you delete it (it cannot be closed from viewing - even manually).
11. You cannot simply add a column in the gradebook for posting points. You must create an "assignment" in canvas to create a column - So what do you do if you distribute an in-class assignment/homework etc... can't simply create a column to post the points earned by the students.
11.1 You cannot create an "assignment" for posting LETTER grades for in-class assignments without having the letter grade tied to a grading scheme. How hard is it to simply allow the instructor to create a column in the gradebook?!
12. When creating exams using multiple question banks (i.e. different bank for each chapter) - you cannot randomize the question groups - the exam questions will always be grouped together by chapter in the exam.
13. The things you are able to do - almost all of them seem to require some odd work-around to be able to do them.
14. WARNING!!! Do not change the point value of a question after a quiz/exam has already been taken by a student. You will have to manually grade every quiz/exam for every student - it will not automatically update grades and you can not then change your mind and go back to the old point value to avoid this result (you will still have to manually grade the quiz/exam for every student).
15. Blackboard collaborate has gradebook integration for attendance purposes. Canvas collaborate (Big Blue Button) does not have any method for attendance integration or data for determining attendance/participation.
16. The respondus / canvas link is weak, often dropping graphics. I've been advised that many professors must go through by hand EVERY semester since links are also broken when quizzes are copied from one semester to the next
Interesting! I personally love lists and find them very helpful. We might be straying a bit far off-topic here and running right up on the point we should branch off into a separate discussion thread, but I have run across a few blackboard to canvas resources here in the community that stood out to me. I'd like to leave them here for you quickly in case any prove helpful. If you take this list and create a stand alone discussion, please let me know with an @ mention (How do I @mention (link to) people, places, content?) Someone's always listening
Preparing Your Canvas: All Together Now
My institution recently switched from Blackboard to Canvas and I am also amazed by the lack of certain functionality. Seriously, I can't enter categorical data into the grade book? That's ridiculous IMHO.
Hey Michael Gilchrist 
You can't enter in a final letter grade, but you can use a grading scheme to have the final grade converted to a letter grade.
How do I enable a grading scheme for a course?