[Gradebook] Grades without points

[jhurley]

I don't know why Canvas insists upon points for grading. Many of us are moving towards grading systems without points or letter grades (standards-based grading or specifications grading). Linda Nilson's book Specifications Grading has popularized a way of grading that does not use cumulative points, but bases the letter grade on the number and type of assignments completed successfully. Please, Canvas, give us a way to record student grades in a non-point format. I use High Pass, Pass, Low Pass, and Not Yet Passing as the grading scheme for my essays, but there is no way to indicate this in my students' gradebook, aside from in the comments section. I have to use an elaborate work-around to give my students a grade update.

[GideonWilliams]

I wrote about many aspects of this in detail in a blog post about Mastery level - Canvas not making the Grade (visible)... 

Not interested in points score, interested in a mastery model.. If Canvas extended the marking features to allow addition of your own grading scheme now that would be awesome!

Vote here - https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/15337-manual-mastery-display-grade-option-for-assignmentsdiscu... 

[cduran1]

Amen! The whole point of using proficiency level descriptors is to avoid points- spread or otherwise. I use the descriptors, outcomes, LMG, and STILL every time my kiddos check grades, they see a point value in parenthesis. No way to turn it off.

[GideonWilliams]

At the risk of repeating myself, why not develop the platform so that these are options that schools/colleges/admins can select. 

Surely it is possible to do this? https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/delayed-grade/ 

[silja_paymer]

For me the issue is simplifying typing. I want to be able to type "A" for all of the kids that are in that mastery category. I understand that represents points for mathematical computation, but I don't want to have to type 4.75 if it is out of 5 or 97.5 if it is out of one hundred. I want the computer to do that for me. 

I would like a "reverse" grading scheme where I tell the computer how many points a student gets for A/B/C/D/F/I/M/P/etc. Any letter can be a pointer to a point value. 

[cathieleblanc]

I wholeheartedly agree with this comment. In addition, it would be great if we could set up grading schemes that are based on something other than percentages. For example, I have a class in which students have significant choice out of a large number of assignments for what they want to complete. So there might be a total of 2000 points worth of assignments. In order to get an A (in a contract grading kind of scheme), students maybe only have to earn 1000 points. Since they also can submit their ideas for assignments to complete, by the end of the semester, there might be 2500 points worth of assignments available to choose from. Any percentages I might have set up at the start of the semester are now incorrect. Another way I might want to determine final letter grades in a course is the number of complete assignments a student has, again in a situation where they choose some subset of all of the assignments in the class to complete. I'd like to be able to set up the grading scheme so that earning a certain number of points is directly converted into a letter grade or completing a certain number of assignments is directly converted into a letter grade. The lack of flexibility for grading schemes doesn't make a lot of sense in these days when lots of people are questioning traditional ways of grading.

[annoyedmf]

Really?  This problem still exists after six years?  I just stumbled across it now when I found that things I used to do in my institution's LMS just can't be done in Canvas.  It really derails me.

[mguthrie]

Many schools are moving away from traditional points and percentages to proficiency and skill based assessment in an effort to make grading more equitable. Could there be an option for a grading scheme based on revision needed, meets expectations, exceeds expectations? Does it *have* to be based on points? Could there even be an option to check "skills based grading" and the percentages would disappear? Students get really hung up on the percentage associated with the letter grade in the override.

[Dr_Biophys]

My school is switching everything over to Canvas which is making it really difficult for all of the courses that use specifications grading for marking. I have my own offline gradebook spreadsheet but students (obviously) do not have access to that so there is no way for them to easily see their progress in the course. It is also tedious for me to continually update and double check that my spreadsheet and the LMS gradebook match. It'd be so nice if Canvas would support other grading systems!