[Gradebook Settings] A global option to enable/disable Missing and Late Status labels in the New Gradebook

[kimberly_smith1]

I would like to see a more global option to enable/disable the display of MISSING/LATE assignment labels to our students in their Gradebook. While I appreciate the effort to address our initial concerns about this feature in the New Gradebook, as it is now this option must be managed student-by-student for EACH assignment. The display of these labels as the default is problematic for those of us who allow students to choose among a number of assignments to complete within an assignment group (e.g. making those ‘not done’ assignments neither ‘late’ nor ‘missing’).  

An Example...An instructor with 4 classes in a 16 week semester, with 50 students in each class, allows students to choose 5/10 assignments to complete in a given assignment group. The instructor cannot know which of these assignments students will choose until all of the assignment deadlines in that assignment group have passed. As such, to prevent students from seeing inaccurate late/missing labels in the New Gradebook for assignments that were not actually required, the instructor must:

1) go to the Gradebook column for each assignment in that assignment group (10 assignments)
2) click on the cell where each student’s grade would appear for that assignment (200 students)
3) change the Grade Detail Tray to ‘No Status’ (= 2000 grade detail tray changes)

If you then consider instructors with larger classes, and/or those who allow assignment choices in more than one assignment group, I think the need for a more global option associated with this feature becomes clear. 

For a more detailed explanation of how the option the removal of these labels is currently managed in the New Gradebook, please see ttps://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-13333-canvas-release-new-gradebook#jive_content_id_Grades_Ma... . 

Additional concerns associated with this issue can be found in my post at https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/9339-missing-label-placed-incorrectlysubmission-on-paper-and-o... (Feb. 25th, 2018). 

[laurakgibbs]

I voted up.

This is an imperative for me.

I cannot even think about switching to the new Gradebook unless I have control over communication with my students.

And at over 200 Gradebook quizzes per class (I use a micro-assignments, low-stakes approach to grading), I absolutely will not adjust those items one by one to get rid of the unwelcome and inaccurate missing/late labels.

Maybe  @James ‌ will come to the rescue with a spreadsheet where it would not be difficult to do such an item-by-item update.

But if this means click-click-click-click to update every time, nope, I am not switching to the new Gradebook.

It is wrong IMO for Instructure to impose any kind of verbal communication re: grades. The nothing-but-numbers approach to grading is bad enough, and then this (badly) automated labeling just makes it worse.

Communication about grades is fraught with stress for our students, and some of us are committed to reducing that stress in any way we can. The vocabulary of "missing" and "late" are completely inappropriate for my situation, and the red ink just makes it worse, as I explained in ad nauseam detail when these red-ink labels were incorrectly applied to my (old) Gradebook last semester (causing lots of student stress as a result; that's how I found out about it to begin with: my students were really worried and upset, and they wrote to ask me why I had misled them about how the grading worked...).

Thank you so much for writing up this feature request,  @kimberly_smith1 ! I am disappointed that we are going to have to fight this fight all over again, but I will do so if that is what it takes.

#NoRedInk

(Gadsden flag meme)

[mary_bolton]

I spent a lot of time communicating with Canvas about the missing/late label not being an effective tool for use in the way that I teach.  I was very glad that they changed it.

I agree with everything you stated above.

I will not want to use the new gradebook unless I can disable the missing/late status globally.

[stale_heggset]

Totally agree! As a teacher i a K-class, some pupils find it very demotivating to for ever have this "late" stamp in their gradebook. Make it an option! Or at least, make the late-stamp go away as soon at the pupil has done his work.   

[laurakgibbs]

AGREED  @stale_heggset ‌!

It's demotivating for students of all ages I think (I teach college seniors).

[cholling]

***on soapbox ***

I'm going to post an entirely personal opposing opinion. I find that we are teaching students a lot of things in schools that they will find "don't fly" on the job. They should find it demoralizing to find a "late" tag - they should have submitted their work on time. If they have a reason for it and have received permission to submit late, then they know it's OK, but the fact remains, it was still late. They're going to find life demoralizing if they continue to submit projects on the job late because they're going to be looking for a new job.

***off soapbox***

[kmeeusen]

Thank you, cholling‌!

I totally agree! I do not see a sound pedagogical reason for this, and many reasons for making even K students aware of the value of timeliness, diligence, and keeping on task. I find this practice a false-motivator, and one that does not engage students in the learning process.

Kelley

[laurakgibbs]

I use the option to have two deadlines as a soft deadline and hard deadline. If students meet the hard deadline, I do not care if they did not meet the soft deadline. Using the hard deadline does not mean the assignment is late. That's why I deeply resent having the late label put on assignments that ARE NOT LATE.

Here's more about how much I like having a soft deadline and a hard deadline in Canvas, which I describe as a "grace period"

Use the Canvas “Grace Period” 

So, I hear you  @kmeeusen ‌ and cholling‌: if the red-ink late label is something useful to you, you should be able to have it.

But because it is totally inappropriate for my classes, I have to be able to turn it off. I am GLAD when students turn something in during the grace period in order to meet the hard deadline. I want to reward them, not shame them.

[stale_heggset]

Thank you, Laura!

I totally agree.

If a school is a fan of the option with red late signs, and their pedagogic mind like this, they should use it!

But if my pedagogic mind find this inappropriate for my class, why shouldn't I decide for my self? Give us the option to turn it on or off.

Sendt fra min iPhone

Den 5. mar. 2018 kl. 17.38 skrev laurakgibbs <instructure@jiveon.com<mailto:instructure@jiveon.com>>:

From the Canvas Community <https://community.canvaslms.com/?et=watches.email.idea_comment>

A global option to enable/disable Missing and Late Status labels in the New Gradebook

new comment by Laura Gibbs<https://community.canvaslms.com/people/laurakgibbs> View all comments on this idea<https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/10605-a-global-option-to-enabledisable-missing-and-late-status-labels-in-the-new-gradebook?commentID=112525#comment-112525>

[rlbrown21]

I am up voting this, even though this is something I do not see as an issue in my class.  Why?  Because choice is a good thing.  Not everybody ONLY accepts submissions through canvas, and in that case, the "late" marker is incorrect, since it is base on a Canvas submission, not a assignment handed to you physically.  

Maybe a different solution would be a option in the Assignment (not the gradebook) that would "ignore late/missing tags"

[kimberly_smith1]

Hello cholling and  @kmeeusen  ,

With your mention of down votes, I think it may be important to clarify. The issue here is not necessarily that late assignments not be penalized in some way, but rather a problem of assignments being marked as 'late' or 'missing' when they are neither. Personally, I do not accept late work - so the penalty is the loss of an opportunity for any points on the assignment. However, the display of these labels as the default is problematic for those of us who allow students to choose among a number of assignments to complete within an assignment group (e.g. making those ‘not done’ assignments neither ‘late’ nor ‘missing’). Hence the need for the option to just turn them off without having to spend hours doing so (e.g. one at a time, student-by-student, assignment-by-assignment).