[Gradebook] Student Grades Looking Wrong Because Lowest Grades Will Eventually Be Dropped

[kagesttt]

When entering grades for an assignment category that will drop the lowest grades at the end of the semester, if a student has not completed the assignment because they know the lowest grades will be dropped, and a 0 is entered by the teacher, this drastically drops the students' total grade. This is a major annoyance for students, especially those in school programs that utilize grade checks to keep students in line. A student might have an A, but because the "lowest grade" doesn't appear to be dropped, the grade shows as a D, for example.

If the lowest 5 grades are to be dropped and there are 6 total assignments, if a professor enters "0" that grade should be considered "dropped" from the total, and not affect the total grade appearing so that grades can appear accurately. Or, if there is another way to fix this issue, whatever that fix is, make that change.

[ProfessorBeyrer]

I have run into a similar problem, @kagesttt, but coming from another direction. Within a couple of my assignment groups I give students a baseline score (70% of the points possible) once they have achieved that score for any of the assignments within that group. For those students who achieve higher than the baseline score on the first assignment, they can be flustered because I then award them that baseline score for future assignments, and this lowers their current grade for the course. Even though they can submit those later assignments to go for a higher score, I have had a student ask me not to post those baseline scores because they did not like seeing a lower grade.

In the example you provide, it sounds like a student decided not to do the first of six assignments in the group because they are confident that they will get a score other than zero on one of the remaining five. That seems a reasonable risk and an appropriate consequence. I wonder what would happen to that student's grade if they decide to do none of the remaining assignments in that group, in which case a zero for the first one sends the correct message.

To reduce the risk of adverse reactions to seeing a zero in the gradebook, especially for students who have grade checks, I suggest not counting those assignments toward the final grade until each student has done at least one assignment in the group. That way none of the students will see a zero for that assignment group. If you think that would meet your students' interests, please submit that as an idea to improve Canvas.

[KristinL]

Hi @kagesttt -

I hope you are doing well! I hope the reply from @ProfessorBeyrer was helpful to you.

If you are unable to provide an update regarding this idea by November 3, we will need to archive it to help the Community Team focus on current Ideas. If you need more time, that's okay too! Providing an update before that time would be helpful and appreciat

[kagesttt]

Thanks, Gregory-- what I am currently doing is, yes, holding off on submitting the zeros that students have earned for not completing the assignment. Rather than waiting for each student to submit the assignment (there are 35 students in each class) to go back in and enter the zeroes, I am waiting until the final assignment's due date. This is a workaround, but not a solution. If we have the option to set grade weights and drop lowest grades, etc., it seems unfair to students who have multiple options during a semester to do an assignment to have to live with a low grade--this is punitive for the students who have just chosen a different timeline. On the other hand, it's annoying for me to have to go in and re-enter the 0s in the end after the last assignment is due when I already know they will be zeroes as soon as the assignment deadline passes. A work around is different than a solution.