Resubmit: Mute/Unmute assignments by section in gradebook

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

 

This is a resubmission of an idea that was archived January 6.  The original idea is here:  In gradebook, change mute & unmute assignment to be section specific AND graders can mute/unmute onl...

This was  not my original idea.  The original idea was submitted by Donald Schumacher.

 

Situation 1: As an instructor or course monitor you manage multiple sections of a course on a single Canvas page, you are the instructor and grader for all sections.

 

In my case this can be two sections of one course where I am teaching and grading both sections myself, however the two sections meet different days of the week (Tuesday vs Thursday). The Assignments feature already lets me set available and due dates independently for each section while creating only one assignment, which shows in the gradebook.

 

However, when in the gradebook if I want to mute the assignment until I'm done grading all of them so students get feedback at the same time (and I don't get barraged with emails mid grading) my only option is to mute all sections at once. Ideally I would like to be able to mute sections independently so I can grade the Tuesday section's assignment first, and unmute it first so they get their feedback by Tuesday. At the same time the Thursday section would remain muted longer since I have a few more days to finish up grading that section. Unfortunately the only option right now is to mute all sections and get all the grading done earlier than it needs to be, or don't use the mute option at all.

 

Situation 2: As an instructor or course monitor you manage multiple sections of a course on a single Canvas page. You are the instructor for all sections, but you have a different grader or Teaching Assistant for each individual section.

 

In my case this is 10 sections of one laboratory course where a graduate student is the Teaching Assistant and Grader, there is a different graduate student for each section so in total there are 10 different graders. Each Grader/TA is assigned to only one section and has been added so they "can only grade the section they are enrolled in."

 

Once again the Assignments are created as a course wide assignment with independent availability and due dates for each section depending on the time they meet during the week (T-Th). Each grader only has the ability to see their section's grades and grade only their section's student submissions. However, when the individual graders use the mute/unmute assignment feature (without their knowledge or ability to know) the mute/unmute is applied across ALL sections. This is opposite what it should be. If they can only interact with grades from their section any mute/unmute they perform should only affect their section.

 

The ability to mute/unmute assignments in the Canvas gradebook is clearly a beneficial and useful feature. It keeps feedback fair and equal for all students, it by default notifies students when an assignment is unmuted and their grade is available, and it frees the instructor/grader from having to respond to grade questions before finishing grading an assignment.

 

Unfortunately as it is right now, it is mostly useless for multi-section courses managed under one course page. Changing the mute/unmute assignment feature to be applicable course wide or by individual section would greatly improve its usefulness.

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-16958-canvas-release-notes-2019-07-13 .

26 Comments
BethCrook
Community Contributor

Oh man.  This is so needed!  We have so many courses that have multiple sections and multiple teachers that this is a huge frustration for the teachers.  Do we reopen for voting a 3rd time and hope for charm?

zuberec
Community Novice

This feature just doesn't get traction and I don't know why...since so many

courses are sectioned based.

I'm all for re-opening as I think this is a super needed feature.

On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 6:31 PM, bcrook@standrews-de.org <

jdaggs
Community Member

I am a new Canvas user, and I would really like this to come up for vote again.  I just ran into this problem that I finished grading for one section, and the other section has not completed their presentations.  I would like to be able to mute/unmute by section. 

Renee_Carney
Community Team
Community Team

 @jdaggs ​

Welcome to Canvas and the Canvas Community!  We're excited to have you. 

Any community member can resubmit an idea that was archived because it did not meet the vote threshold.  You can read more about that at Can_I_resubmit_an_idea_after_it_is_archived.

barbaracoen
Community Contributor

I want this too!! We have different teachers covering different classes/sections, running in parallel.  Definitely important for each teacher to only unmute assignments for their own section.

llortsher
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

This is coming with Phase 2 of the New Gradebook: https://community.canvaslms.com/community/ideas/priority-gradebook-enhancements/pages/home . I spent some time today looking for this answer and saw many admins were interested in having this feature so wanted to post it here as well in case there are some that are not aware of Canvas Studio and what is in the works Smiley Happy

grosh
Community Novice

I really want this to be implemented - it would help us a great deal - why no consideration of this after 2 years?

grosh
Community Novice

Lauren - at Michigan - this does not appear to be implemented in 2018 - are we missing something?

llortsher
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

 @Renee_Carney  do you know if this is something that is on the roadmap for New Gradebook still?

Renee_Carney
Community Team
Community Team

Hey,  @llortsher ‌

I don't recall ever seeing this idea in the scope of the gradebook project, but I could be wrong.  I also just checked it for the tagging with did with that project and it wasn't tagged either - so I don't think it's within scope