Need flexibility for calculating grades (to accommodate student learning options)
In the community, I find a number of teachers/professors who need this:
In Canvas, we need to be able to set the formula upon which assignment/grade groups are based. Faculty want the flexibility to be able to enter formulas of varying flexibility that Canvas will then use to use calculate the assignment group and final grade percentages that Canvas shows.
We have this kind of flexibility in the standard spreadsheet and want the same in our LMS.
___more details:
In my courses, students have options for what they want to focus on learning. Canvas only tells them how many points they've earned in a grade category (assignment group). The percentage that is shown is erroneous.
Excel and Numbers spreadsheets can easily calculate the correct semester grade. (Per my syllabus, for one homework grade, 48 points is 100% regardless of which learning opportunities (aka assignments) the points are earned on. This 48 points out of 81 possible for the semester earns 100% for this part of the grade. This means approximately 66% of all the points possible earns 100%. My Numbers spreadsheet tells me at every given point in the semester if the student is keeping pace for a good end-of-semester grade at any point in the middle of the term. I can also have my Numbers spreadsheet tell me if the student did no more homework in this assignment group what their end-of-semester grade would be in that group.
Right now, I have to take grades out of Canvas to put them into the spreadsheet, then back into Canvas... I don't have time to do this. I want Canvas to do this throughout the semester in real-time so that students know how they are actually doing compared to expectations.
In other words, I want Canvas to be able to replicate my flexible grading scheme to show the ACTUAL GRADE for each assignment group/grade category.
I want students to not only see the total points earned but also how that relates to a PERCENTAGE OF WHAT IS EXPECTED. I do not want students to see the percentage of total points possible—which is the only calculation Canvas does now—because that is NOT the grade and it causes a lot of confusion.
The easy fix is to allow me to set up a formula in Canvas so that Canvas does the same calculations my spreadsheet app (Numbers) does.
If you want to see my grading spreadsheet app, I am happy to share it.
—Rebecca Sager, Ph.D.
rebecca.sager@famu.edu
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