Restrict assignment submission attempts

[mribkoff]

Currently there is no way (that I am aware of) to limit the number of times a student may submit an assignment. This functionality is available for quizzes, but not for other assignment types. It would be very helpful for our instructors to be able to set the number of times a student may submit an assignment, whether for a revisions process or simply to limit the number of files they need to comb through in grading.

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For details, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-18579-canvas-release-notes-2020-04-18 

[ann_vuletin]

My issue isn't exactly with limiting the number of submissions.  My issue stems from the fact that all submissions are available when the instructor exports that assignment.  I would like the system to replace the previous version with the most recent submission to eliminate the human error factor of the instructor marking the wrong version.  In a class of over 100, it isn't really reasonable to ask the instructor to comb through each student's submissions to make sure they have the latest version of the assignment.  If there is a workaround for that then I'm game!

[aroyal9]

Thank you for sharing, Ben.  When we made the switch, I was not happy about the endless submission scenario, either.  You are right; the workaround is less than ideal (though doable because there is no other way), but I'm hoping that this uproar we're all making will turn into something practical!  :+)  I'm agreeing with what you're saying, and I'm just adding my thoughts to the conversation in hopes that my words will persuade others to up-vote.

Without the power to delete or limit erroneous attempts, they just pile up.  And what if a student asks the instructor to grade "attachment 1 of the second submission" and "attachment 2 of the third submission" because those are the so-called correct versions?  Why can't the student just submit both correct documents on the fourth submission then, since that's what should have been done in the first place?  If the assignment is now closed, then there can be no fourth submission, which leaves the instructor to wade through and find what the student is referring to.  Having only one chance to get it right encourages students to take responsibility for being organized and purposeful in their school work; they don't get to just drop their mess on someone else's desk and expect someone else to figure it out.  At a job interview, I wouldn't literally just dump my briefcase out on the desk and ask the interviewer to find the latest final draft of my dossier amongst a bunch of miscellaneous paperwork and assorted odds and ends, so our LMS shouldn't be teaching students to do this virtually.

Waiting until after the deadline to start grading is a real hassle when I have a large number of items to grade, especially if they're all due around major grading periods (such as midterms and finals) or if I'm going to be otherwise encumbered (e.g. attending meetings and conferences).  For this reason, I sometimes end up setting ridiculously early due dates to build grading time into the schedule, and I'd rather not have to game the system in that manner.  It would be nice to start grading earlier (when reasonable) so that my work doesn't pile up on me, especially if I can anticipate backlog or if I suddenly recover some "free time" that could be spent making progress toward the massive grading.  As our institution moves toward offering more courses in 8-week terms, this idea of staying ahead of grading is going to become even more necessary with the decrease in turnaround time.

Occasionally, I would need to allow a student an extra submission if they accidentally attached the wrong document, but it was controlled chaos, and the student was responsible for contacting me before the due date to make that kind of arrangement.  The communication made the student's accountability transparent (having to ask for a re-do is documented officially, rather than sneaked in under the radar as multiple submissions that essentially "don't count"), and it allowed me the opportunity to practice being benevolent (strategically yielding to a student's desire to improve is usually well received).  The current system bypasses this opportunity for instructor and student to build the rapport that mimics the workplace interaction between employees and supervisors.

Sometime, I have difficulty, as do many instructors, with getting students (and mine are adults!) to do as I say or abide by the criteria you mentioned.  If something is available, it can be redone until all submissions are "used up," even if I said no.  The unintentional policy of automatic do-overs doesn't teach students to do their best work and submit their assignments correctly, on time, and on the first try.  This inadvertently encourages the assumption of infinite opportunities, which is unrealistic in most real-world situations (such as job interviews, delivery services, catering, grand openings, live events, etc.).  I'm supposed to be grooming most of my students to go out into the workforce soon after graduation, so one-shot assignments are kind of a necessary evil that get thwarted by a rigid, insensitive LMS.  Having the assignments behave more like quizzes, with regard to submission restrictions, would be an improvement I could appreciate.

Gwinn

[chip_gagnon]

I'm actually surprised this feature doesn't already exist as an option . Much as I hated Blackboard this was an option there.

It's important for my purposes that students can only submit before the deadline if it's on time, but if I lock it at the due date/time, then it won't allow for late submissions, which I do allow (with a grade penalty).

As I've found teaching both face to face and online courses, the simpler the better, so I don't want to have to explain this. It should just be a regular option.

Please add this ASAP!!

[cjp93]

I read through this discussion thread, but I am not clear if the change has been made. I need my final assignment to only allow for one submission [i.e. eliminate the re-submit button] How can I limit the assignment to only one file submission?

[james_trueman]

I'm not sure if this is helpful to anyone following this.

We're also really interested in this feature - and given the discussions we'd found about this, we thought it was impossible at the moment. Then we recently spotted the following in the API:

We double checked with Instructure and had it confirmed that, via the API, we can set a number of submission attempts.

They advised that in the assignment description students and teachers see a description that says:  'Allowed Attempts' and a number (e.g. 2 as below).  Once that number is reached by the student the resubmit button is no longer yellow and becomes greyed out. The image below is an example they supplied for us.

Best wishes

[thompsli]

To my knowledge, there is no way to do this with an Assignment currently, but the work-around would be to do it as a Quiz with the "File Upload" question type: How do I create a File Upload quiz question?

You could then set your Quiz to only allow one submission.

[james_trueman]

Hi  @thompsli ‌ and  @cjp93  - to our knowledge, we still cannot limit submissions via the Canvas UI, but as illustrated in my comment below, according to Instructure support, if you are able to use the Canvas API, there is a parameter that does this.

BW

[James]

This sounds like some of the functionality needed to address Assignments 2.0 that was demoed at InstructureCon last week. The Assignments 2.0 was still in beta (for a while) and they said that once it was enabled, you could run both Assignments and the Assignments 2.0 in parallel. Assignments 2.0 would not have peer reviews and one other thing at the beginning, but it did have the ability to require multiple file uploads, allowed students to see all of their previous submissions, and some other things.

Assignments 2.0 was mostly a repackaging of Assignments, with little change to the underlying structures, but it did have some features that weren't currently available.

The main thing I focused on was the new look, presenting the students with the information that was most relevant for the phase of the assignment that they were in.

[james_trueman]

It may be useful for Assignments 2.0, but I'm kinda unsure that it was released 'for' that - as this parameter was added to the API as part of the 2019-01-05 release. I understand they've been working on this (Assignment 2.0) for a while - but that seems a while ago and unrelated? Probably wrong - usually am.

It should work with current assignments - as that is what Support tested with for the screenshot provided. We asked them for confirmation because of threads like this - which conclude there is 'no' way to limit. But as we use the API, for us there (now) is 'a' way.

EDIT: This connects with a general understanding we're forming - that there are are a number of things that 'are' possible via documented API parameters - which are not available via the Canvas UI. This started a while ago (a year or two) when we wanted mute by default.  Not possible via the UI (wasn't then anyway) - had to create the assignment then manually mute - but was already possible via the API.  Then we discovered that restrict student submissions for assignments wasn't possible at all via the UI - but could be achieved via the API.  Our dev guys have spotted similar things. So we're currently looking at the API to understand 'what' is possible.  

BW

[dlyons]

APIs for new features will typically exist before the UI part of the feature, and because Canvas is open source and has an open API, that can lead to situations where eagled-eyed customers notice those APIs "early". APIs won't always lead to just a single feature in the UI so I wouldn't spend too much time trying to connect dots (though some speculation is surely a fun pass time!)

"Muting by default" is a perfect example; you noticed it in the API a while back and now it's in the UI (via Post Policies).