Student Confusion on Assignment Submission Page

[mcordes1]

We switched to the Assignment Redesign in mid-January. Since we switched, we have seen an increase in student calls/chats to our Help Desk and faculty in the following areas:

1. The Turnitin End User Agreement box is small and easily missed by students. The Submit Assignment button functionality is disabled until this end-user agreement is clicked; however, there is no information telling students this is why the button is disabled. In the previous assignment submission design, students were told that they needed to click this end-user agreement prior to submission. Is there any plan to add this information when the Submit Assignment button is disabled so that students are directed toward the end-user agreement?

2. File uploads render in a different location with a very small font with a small green check mark instead of a larger box on the right. This new location and size of the upload confirmation are easily overlooked and cause an increase in submissions by the student and call volume to our Help Desk. Are there any plans to increase the size and/or location of the verification of the file upload?

3. Assignment status wheel is confusing to students. They see submitting the assignment as the last stage on the assignment page. Since the wheel sees this as step 2 out of 3, students are resubmitting assignments trying to get that wheel to close. Are there any plans to update this or clarify the steps more clearly to the students?

4. After the initial submission of an assignment, the submit button changes to "Try Again". This language is confusing to students who are not sure they submitted the file correctly. They think Canvas is telling them to "Try Again" instead of seeing this button as another submission attempt. Are there any plans to retitle this button to avoid student confusion?

5. Screen resolution determines how much the student sees with the smaller font in this redesign. This exasperates some of the aforementioned issues. Are there any future plans addressing this concern?

[b_w_reid]

Hi there, In regards to your points,

1 & 5 - I agree, I raised this issue in this blog post: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Assignment-Enhancements-Users/Position-of-attached-files-on-assig... We have not yet released this tool, but its interesting to see that this issues it is filtering through to your support. I also raised the issues of using a smaller screen resolution here too.

2 - The positioning is a bit odd, on my smaller screen resolution, if I have the large box for uploading in sight, I don't necessarily see the items upload due to the screen space.

3 - I hadn't anticipated this, but yes I can see what you mean.

4 - this is something that was already highlighted in this post: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Assignment-Enhancements-Users/Resubmission-Button-Text/m-p/529102...by @v_insalaco which I wholeheartily agree with and also left a comment.

[mcordes1]

Thank you for your reply and the links to the other discussions! I’ve added my kudos to each one! 

[MintyRosedeer]

I have definitely felt and noticed the change since the UI was updated. In addition to what you have pointed out, it is also confusing for students to locate any add-on submission methods (Eg. turning in work via google drive). Instead of being listed as a seperate method, it is now hidden within the "More" option, next to "Upload." The placement makes it feel as if this option may lead students to do something other than simply uploading the assignment. It could be beneficial to place this box within the Turn-in section, instead of above it.

In my opinion, this update has overcomplicated the process of submitting assignments, and it no longer feels as intuitive as before. But it can't be all negative. What benefits have you noticed from this change? Is there something here which you could not do before, or is it simply a cosmetic change? 

[audra_agnelly]

We have not enabled submissions redesign specifically because of the organization of the submission options. The second tile is Studio, which we don't use with students and have disabled elsewhere in the UI. We really need our primary submission tool, Google Drive, to be in the forefront rather than under "More". We would turn on the redesign if that update was made.

[RaeJobst-GU]

Thank you for sharing your observations so clearly, and your observations are similar to the experience that I am observing as well. 

1. The Turnitin End User Agreement box is small and easily missed by students.

• yes - it is so easily missed

2. File uploads

• the appearance of the tiles is different for this option than for other submission options - the Upload tile is selected and highlighted whereas if other options or combinations are chosen, all tiles are unselected. 
• the Upload option of clicking the rocket ship is not clearly obvious
• I never thought I would be writing advice to students "Click the rocket ship to upload your file"! 

3. Assignment status wheel is confusing to students

• agree - at first I though ok that's neat, but when it doesn't progress until students view feedback it kind of doesn't gel

4. After the initial submission of an assignment, the submit button changes to "Try Again". 

• you nailed it - "Try again" is like a quiz show "bah-bong"
• "New attempt" would be so much better

I would also add that the ability to collapse and expand the rubric and details is welcomed, but these clickable options are not visually prominent or inviting.