[Permission] Limiting gradebook access for TA/Grader roles

[abbyrosensweig]

We'd like instructors to have the ability to turn off gradebook access to people of certain roles in a course. Alternately, we'd like to be able to turn off gradebook access within a custom role.

The use case here is that there are times when graders should be able to grade specific assignments but they should not be able to view the full gradebook. For example, if undergraduate graders are assigned to a course and will be completing grading on certain assignments (like homework), they should not be able to view the full gradebook as this creates a security risk. Grading permissions currently allow viewing of the gradebook. We'd like to be able to control/limit that gradebook access.

[Stef_retired]

Thanks for sharing this idea, @abbyrosensweig . Have you already explored creating a custom role that restricts TA's ability to view grades? The Canvas Permissions PDF linked in the admin documentation How do I set permissions for a course-level role i...  suggests that a TA's ability to view grades might be a specific permission an admin can turn on or off. (It's in the Grades - view all grades section that starts on page 14 of the PDF).

If that doesn't address the issue, we can move this forward for broader discussion, so please let us know.

[abbyrosensweig]

According to the permissions PDF, "If both Grades - edit and Grades - view all grades are disabled, Gradebook will be hidden from the course navigation." This means that we'd have to turn off both of these permissions to hide the gradebook. Based on my testing, that means that the person in that role then wouldn't be able to grade items. We'd like to have a custom role where the user can grade assignments (via Speedgrader) but not access the gradebook.

[Stef_retired]

Thanks for digging into this, @abbyrosensweig ! The idea is now open for conversation.

[bdgreene]

This is also something I have been interested in as well. I need undergraduate student graders to be able to view specific assignments through speedgrader (in the assignment), but not have access to student grades in gradebook. 

Any update on this conversation?

[kmedu]

I am very interested in this as well!!

[jmwatson1]

I agree with this feature request that the permissions should be separated to allow access to Speedgrader separately from access to the Gradebook. I also want to expand its request to ask that permissions be more granular in the following way as well. 

• I would like a specific permission to edit assign cards of assignments (quizzes, assignments, discussions) as well as Classic and New Quiz Moderation.
  • Currently this is tied to the Edit grades feature which prevents us from creating a role that is in between a designer and a TA.

Thankful for this getting some attention and happy to meet with and provide scenarios and details. 

[pspringfield]

In higher ed, there are strong FERPA concerns surrounding access to the gradebook. We have great need of this enhanced feature request at Auburn University.

This includes being able to control "Gradebook Access" for both the TA and Observer roles, toggling both "On" or "Off" at the account level, and for roles created based on TA / Observer. This will allow us to prevent an undergraduate TA from seeing fellow student's grades, and will prevent an Observer who has been "Linked to Student" from seeing that student's grades.

We are currently having to manually approve every Observer, restricting Teacher access to add their own Observers, because we can't create an Observer role that cannot view the grades of linked students, and have to therefore ensure they are never linked to a student. If we can restrict gradebook access, then we can allow Observers to be added by the Teacher, because they won't be turning over the gradebook if a student is linked. 

[kfullman]

We have a need for undergraduate TAs to give feedback only in the SpeedGrader without the option to add grades or view the gradebook. This has been a big FERPA issue for us.

@pspringfield I hadn't considered the issue with Observers but it does seem that instructors can link an Observer to a Student from the People page. I can't figure out a way to turn this off. I agree that this is another FERPA issue.