[ARCHIVED] How can I remove assignment category percentages?

[chuber]

I've had one major issue with the Canvas gradebook for years, which is that I cannot hide the total percentages for a given assignment group. I (like many instructors I know) use a total points based system, and do not use percentages or weighting for any part of my grading scheme. Canvas allows a switch to points-based grades, but still displays an un-editable, un-removable column in the gradebook displaying a percentage for each assignment group: 

Worse still, when a student checks their own grade, they also see these percentages at the bottom of the table, right above their total points:

These percentages are NOT representative of the student's total grade, since the assignment groups are worth different total points, and are incredibly misleading to all but the most attentive and math-inclined students. I have written posts in these question forums in the past regarding this issue, and responded in sympathy to other instructors across the nation who have posted their frustrations about this issue. And before anyone brings it up, no, I can't just remove all assignment groups because I need to use the "drop lowest score" feature for both quizzes and exams. This has caused enough confusion in my courses over the past few years that I even have a statement built into my syllabus, specifically telling the students to ignore any percentages they see when they look up their grades. 

Fast forward to this quarter, when I see that there is a gradebook overhaul incoming which adds many features and options. I was excited by this until actually switching over to the new gradebook... where I see that these percentage category totals are STILL THERE AND STILL CANNOT BE REMOVED! It truly cannot be that difficult to program an option to simply hide these percentages in the gradebook or to students. Please please help us instructors that use points-based grading!

[chuber]

Also just to get out in front of another common answer that is not helpful: the option to "hide totals in student grade summary" is not an option either. Because while that hides these percentages, it also hides the student's total course grade at the same time! Argh!

[crawfordt]

SO much THIS! I have this exact problem and it is very frustrating. Please make the option to remove/ hide the tags!

[Robbie_Grant]

 @chuber ,

Unfortunately, being able to hide Group percentages, but not the Total Score is not an option at this time in the Canvas Gradebook.  There are a number of feature requests out there similar to this that have been archived:

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/8563 

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/13173 

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/10247 

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/4451 

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/9470 

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/9869 

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/4136 

There is one that is open that is similar, but not exactly what you are looking for:

https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/3477-hide-grade-columns-for-teacher-gradebook 

Robbie

[chuber]

So, there are 8 requests for this feature that you were able to quickly find, and probably more overall. Considering that this request does not propose a substantial change or new functionality added to Canvas, but to simply *not display a number* on the student's grade page, a lack of resolution in the long-awaited gradebook overhaul is disappointing. I suppose I will just continue to monitor the feature requests.

[mzimmerman]

Hi Craig,

Can you clarify why you are using the Assignment Groups to begin with?

My impression has always been that the primary reason that the Assignment Group function even exists is to allow for weighted grading by group/category.  So, it seems like there's no reason to even create additional "Homework", "Quizzes", and "Exams" assignment groups if you're not doing weighted grading, unless you are dropping lowest or highest grades from an assignment group.

You are still stuck with the default "Assignments" assignment group, which does display the overall percentage no matter what, but you could possibly replace that with a different name ("Overall"?) if it were less confusing. 

Mike

[chuber]

Hi Michael, I am indeed using the function to drop the lowest score from two of the groups (Quizzes and Exams in my case), which is really the only reason I am using assignment groups at all. I find that telling students to ignore the percentages in their grade summary is less of a headache than reminding them to manually subtract their lowest quiz and lowest exam (which if they don't, makes their grade appear higher...).

[mzimmerman]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for the clarification, and that does make sense.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any luck suppressing the percentage display, either.  In my initial testing, I was getting a "N/A" in the percentage column when I left the assignment group percentage blank, but after additional testing, it seems to have been due to my grade posting policy, since the student in question didn't yet have any grades coming through yet, either.

Mike

[mzimmerman]

As for the issue of the previous feature requests for this change, it's my understanding that Instructure's decision to implement those kinds of changes really depends on community votes regarding the request.  My guess is that those prior ideas/requestions did not necessary generate a lot of interest/support from the user community.

Mike

[noonerk]

This question is so important and so frustrating that it cannot be done in Canvas. Our prior LMS had the feature where you could hide any columns you wanted and still show the total if needed. I wish Canvas would add this feature.

[tom_haymes]

As a stupid workaround I use a point system and simply have one assignment that is lower in points that it actually is by the same amount of excess points that I have in my class. It messes up one column a little bit but the percentages end up working out. For this semester I simply changed my portfolio, which is worth 300 points actually, to 190 points in the grade book to reflect the 110 "extra" points in the grade book. I grade on a 0-1000 point scale. Now someone with 930 points shows as 93% (which is correct). Not sure if this will work for your particular problem.

[kamehiro]

I am having the same problem as described in the original post. I use grade point system (0, .7, 1, 1.3, 1.7, 2, 2.3, 2.7, 3, 3.3, 3.7, 4) to calculate my grades. The automatic percentages skew the grades and do not give students an accurate accounting of their assignment grade nor for the course grade.  For instance, if a student does not do an assignment and I enter "0," the gradebook automatically populates the percentage category with a 60% instead of a 0. 

Also, if I have an assignment cluster (for instance 10 homework assignments), each graded on a GPA scale, and then I want a total grade for just this cluster (which could be worth, say 25% of the course grade), the gradebook automatically transforms the cluster grade into a percentage. The result is that I now have 3 assignment grades posted as grade points  (with an unwanted percentage column adjacent) and the homework assignment cluster is posted as a percentage. 

Finally, once the assignment grades (as grade points) are posted, I am not given the option of hiding the adjacent percentage column. 

Any recent fixes or suggestions? 

[noonerk]

Hello. Unfortunately, I did not receive any fixes or suggestions. Hopefully, Canvas will come up with something to fix these issues.

Best,

Kate

Kate Brody Nooner, PhD

Professor & Graduate Coordinator

Department of Psychology

University of North Carolina Wilmington

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[gliese876d]

It can't be that hard.  It was easily doable in Blackboard.  Not only could you hide ANY column you wanted to from the students (which I found to be insanely useful when uploading exam scores for large enrollment classes, so as to make it visible only at the right time-- when I had double and tripled checked the column for mistakes, for example), but you could also do the opposite of what the OP seems to do.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, many of us find the use of points to be rather, um, pointless, if you'll forgive the pun.  In Blackboard you could arbitrarily make assignments worth any amount of points you wished and then tell it in the weighted columns to weight by percentages rather than by points.  In canvas there's no way to do this so if I make an assignment worth 11 points and another worth 7 points, the 11 point one will count more heavily, which is not what I generally want.  I just want to use percentages of each assignment equally.  In blackboard, you could also simply add a column directly into the grade book without having to go back to assignments and create an assignment, which is very handy for quick manual grade entries. And blackboard didn't take an obscure detour into Settings to hide the total column, you simply got a pulldown menu from the top of the column and selected Hide from Students. All of these features in Blackboard have been around for at *LEAST* 5-7 years.  Why can't Canvas do what Blackboard has done for ages?  Give the instructor some control!  We can handle spreadsheet manipulation if you let us--I promise!

[dfpeterson1]

Same issue here!! Many students see the percentage which does not align with the course grading scale.  PLEASE CANVAS GET RID OF IT!! Or at least give us the option as an instructor to do so. Seriously! How hard is it for Canvas to change/fix this?

[britney_lewis]

I am in the same boat. It really clutters the gradebook. I find that I am constantly have to scroll past these. I use assignment groups because when Canvas syncs to our gradebook (Skyward) the color coded assignments help parents understand the different modes of instruction (discussions versus their projects, etc). I run on total points and do not need these extra columns. This should be a QUICK toggle for those of us using a total point system.

Thank you.

[kwilliam1]

I couldn't agree more with the sentiments here. Why can't the instructor be allowed to block the quiz/assignment percentage columns? The Blackboard gradebook was infinitely more flexible. Showing a "running" percentage of quiz grades or assignment is inevitably confusing to students. It's more than confusing to me -- it's again evidence that Canvas is all about assessment and all about grades. 

[heather_monti]

Our college is dealing with this same frustration. Many faculty members grade using points and having the assignment group columns displayed to students as percentages is really confusing to our students. I wish the option in "Settings" (see below) ONLY hid the assignment group totals, NOT the final total.

If this option could be modified that would be extremely helpful to students!!!

[cxjjensen]

Throwing my hat into this ring!

I want to grade with accumulated points, not percentages.

Has there been any progress in ending the tyranny of percentages on Canvas???

[chuber]

Unfortunately my original post was ~3.5 years ago, and to this day I'm still dealing with numerous student questions at the end of every term along the lines of "which % = which grade in this class" when my course grades have nothing to do with percentages in any way! I feel like I've become desensitized to it at this point.

Canvas, please.

[HayleyBlunden]

Another request to please add the ability to hide this percentage column. I do not want to have subcategories at all, but the gradebook continues to show a percentage in the "Assignments" subgroup, and showing a percentage in this column is very confusing to students. Please let us hide or remove it, or at the VERY least have it display points rather than a percentage. This would be very valuable.

[TrishaMeyer1]

This is now possible, as of the 9/16/2023 release:

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Releases/Canvas-Release-Notes-2023-09-16/ta-p/577167#toc-h... 

It is called "Hide Quantitative Data" and must be enabled by an admin. Once enabled, it will be an option for all users in the domain. (It also can be locked into this view at the admin level.)

[cxjjensen]

Ugh, I wish this was a solution to the problem that we are all raising above, but it is not.

When I check off the "Quantitative Data Options: __ Restrict view of quantitative data" option in Settings, then my students can see no quantitative data at all.

This is not a solution. What we are asking for is a solution to the display of percentages in the student grade panel.

What I want is a "Do not display grades in percentage form" option.

This seems like such a simple ask. Why haven't we gotten what we asked for?

[TrishaMeyer1]

Hi @cxjjensen ,

The update also includes the ability to set your grading scale based on points rather than percentages. If you create a grading scheme based on points and then select that scheme for your course, you can keep quantitative data visible, and it will be based on points with no percentages. You might also need to select that grading scheme for each Assignment in addition to setting it as the course grading scheme. (That choice was already available prior to this update.)

ETA: See attached. I set my grading scheme out of 50; you would set yours out of whatever your total in the course is.

[PaulBuckley]

Thanks Trisha,

But when I go to Grading Scheme in Settings, then select "Graded Grading Basis", then "View/Edit", both the bubble to change to points and the little pencil are grayed out as inactive.

What am I missing?

[TrishaMeyer1]

Hi @PaulBuckley ,

It's possible your institution has disabled your ability to edit grading schemes. But if you see "Manage All Grading Schemes" on the next line down, click on that. I'm not familiar with the term "Graded Grading Basis," so I'm assuming that's the name of a grading scheme for your institution. The View/Edit button next to that won't allow you to make the edits. You need to manage the grading schemes, create a new one to use, and then select it in the drop-down box. Again, your institution may have these features disabled.

How do I add a grading scheme in a course?

How do I enable a grading scheme for a course?

[cxjjensen]

Hi Trisha,

I think that this exchange kind of highlights how the Canvas team is still not really seeing the user need expressed in this thread.

Many of us have moved away from grading systems based on percentage achievement on a set number of assignments. Instead, we give the students numerous "opportunities" to demonstrate learning, and the students choose which ones they want to complete. Final grades are determined based on the number of points accumulated. In my case, these points have to fit into different categories -- with each category mapping to a major learning outcome in my course -- so there's a "cap" on the number of points in each category that students can apply to their final grade.

I have managed to create a really wonky work-around by using the "Grading Schemes" feature and checking off "Grade by Points". You'll notice that it looks a lot like yours:

I did this by specifying a single grade category called "Graded" that ranged from 0 to 1.

What's important to notice here is that Canvas still wants to grade by percentages, because that is all that it is programmed to do. My "0 to 1" grading system is simply picked up by Canvas as an invitation to create a fraction rather than a percentage, but we are still talking about numerator-denominator grading here.

What we on this thread are asking for is grading without a denominator. Just points, just thresholds for achievement based on points accumulated on assignments listed on Canvas. This workaround doesn't do this for us... I will still have to find some other way (spreadsheet? 😳) to communicate final grades to students.

I want to reiterate that this is a major design flaw in Canvas because it is such a value-laden algorithm for grading. Don't believe that grading based on percentages is a pedagogically sound way of motivating students? Well, your way of thinking about teaching just doesn't fit into the system that Canvas has created. In an age where there is a lot of rethinking of grading, that exclusion of alternative grading systems is highly problematic. I daresay it is political!

[TrishaMeyer1]

It's not a direct solution to your issue, but regarding alternative grading systems and pedagogy, have you looked at using the Learning Mastery Gradebook, which allows for the assessment of achievement of standards by linking to outcomes? Your institution would have to enable it if it is not already available to you.

How do I use the Learning Mastery Gradebook to view outcome results in a course?

Another option is to download the grades as a CSV file and put it into Excel. You can then use whatever calculation system you set to calculate your grades.

If you are required by your institution to use the Canvas gradebook, then it seems your debate would be more productive by taking it up with your administration rather than with Canvas. Perhaps there is a different grading program that would better suit your needs. I'm not a programmer, so I have no idea how difficult it would be to design a gradebook that would allow for multiple calculation methods in one domain.

[cxjjensen]

Another update: yesterday a student showed me that while "Grading by points" does eliminate percentages on the web version of Canvas, a percentage still shows up on the phone app version of Canvas... which of course is used frequently by students.

So this problem is not solved!

[PaulBuckley]

The comment by Community Explorer above is spot-on.  Suggesting that professors begin a debate with administration about using the Canvas gradebook is missing the point, especially when Canvas could so easily fix this issue by simply allowing the professors to choose an option to display points instead of percents.  Why does Canvas refuse to do this?  They have to know it's an issue for many.

Frankly it's disturbing that Canvas' attitude is "you will take what we give you".  This is what happens when there is no competition.  There are features of Canvas I like, but  I actually miss Blackboard when it comes to the gradebook.

Contrast the Canvas attitude with Crowdmark.  Crowdmark actively seeks input from instructors and is responsive to their needs.

Nobody has ever really gotten an actual answer as to why Canvas won't simply give instructors this option.  Anyone who has had to deal with student emails about why their grade for the class is a B- when Canvas says they have 90% knows this problem.  Telling students to ignore their Canvas grade works for some of them, but honestly this is terrible.

[cxjjensen]

Paul nails it!

The technology should keep up with the pedagogy; the pedagogy should not be asked to bend to the technology.

This is a reason I will be suggesting that my institution move away from Canvas!