[Assignments] weighting in assignment groups

[jlamb1]

It seems this has been a reoccurring request for some time now, but is not generating the votes needed to get attention. Perhaps it is time to try again!

Canvas would benefit greatly from being able to allocate a weighting to individual assignments within an assignment group. At present, rather than an overarching "Geography" assignment group for HASS, I have to put each individual assignment in their own group to distribute task weighting for the course. HASS also covers economics, politics and history - that makes for A LOT of assignment groups to break up the weighting for tasks.

In my view, it would be much simpler to have the Assignment Group that aligns with the unit or module being taught and has a weighting for the overall course, and an individual assignment weighting function within the group without having to fiddle around with the points. I think most teachers would agree that there is enough of a workload without adjusting and readjusting points to weight assignments according to their worth. I for one wold love to be able to do this with a quick click of a button instead of laboriously pouring over numbers.

Please vote up on this - it is clear that many people are asking for this function in many different ways.

Gradebook: weigh assignment within assignment group

"Lock Grade" option in Gradebook

Weighting Assignments

[Stef_retired]

Hmm, I see that,  @buckleyc . I'll ask one of the Community Managers to have a look at this.

[buckleyc]

Thanks.

[cesbrandt]

This is definitely something we could use. Our biggest area that this would help with is quizzes. Not every quiz in a course have the same number of questions. Most of the quizzes we deploy was flat valued so each question is worth the same, but this causes problems when trying to keep each quiz being worth the same as any other. Our solution is to adjust the points of the questions so each quiz gets as close to a 100-point scale as possible, but this results in some being a little more or less than that 100 points. It's not ideal and far was desired.

Another problem area is a multi-part project. Say a 3-part project is worth 35% of the final grade. Part 1 could be worth 10% of the overall project grade while parts 2 and 3 are 45% each. It's our policy that all course/term project assignments by graded on a 100-point scale, so we have to split the project gradebook category into 2 categories (Part 1 = 3.5% of final grade; Part 2 & 3 = 31.5% of final grade).

Being able to apply a weighting to the gradebook would be amazing. It would allow to various grading scales to be utilized while allowing the gradebook to be maintained in a simplified and clean way.

[catherine_uvaro]

YES!! Please add weighting in assignment groups!

At my previous institution, we used an out-dated (no longer supported) version of Sakai that was at least 10 years old - and even that LMS allowed weighting within assignment groups!

I'd have my assignments grouped by type and I'd be able to CHOOSE if assignments had equal weighting within a group, or if I could manually set the weighting:

• Exams (60%)
  • Exam 1 (10%)
  • Exam 2 (10%)
  • Midterm (25 %)
  • Exam 3 (10%)
  • Exam 4  (10%)
  • Final Exam (35%)
• Worksheets (10%)
  • Equal weighting
• Homework (10%)
  • Equal weighting
• Lab Reports (10%)
  • Equal weighting
• Participation (10%)
  • Equal weighting
  • Lowest x dropped

In order to achieve the same effect in Canvas, I currently have to set points for each assignment to match the scaling:

• Exam 1: 100 pt
• Midterm: 250 pt
• etc..

Or, I have to separate into more assignment groups

I grade the assignments with point values distributed in logical ways for grading, and then use excel to scale the grades to appropriate point values. For pre-lab quizzes, I had to make each quiz have the same number of questions or otherwise adjust the points per question so that the overall point total would be equal so that each prelab quiz would have equal weighting. Cumbersome & annoying.

[hjackson1]

This is a feature that I used all the time in my previous LMS and DESPERATELY miss now. It seems like a no-brainer to me that this should be an option.

[tsawicki]

Even PowerSchool gradebook offers the option to weight individual assignments.  Please make this a priority!

[david_ross]

Weighing items within a category is a standard feature of most gradebooks I have used; in a class in which earlier assignments are considered more preparatory in relation to later assignments, such as in an ESL writing class, the weighting function can in fact be very important.

[ronmarx]

I don't know how I missed seeing this idea, but I found it now!

I think it addresses the notion that individual weight-graded assignments within a group produce a single grade that is sent to an electronic SIS gradebook during a synchronization call.

If that's the case, then a big thumbs up!

[mgill]

this should be pushed to top of the priority list for gradebook enhancements. aesthetics are nice, but this basic functionality is a requirement for many.

[thompsli]

I just wanted to link to a related Idea: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/9109-customize-weighted-grading-per-section-or-student?sr=sear...‌. While distinct from that one, I suggest that when writing an implementation of this Idea, considering whether or not to structure the implementation to also support that Idea would be useful.