Checksum vs Handout Given to Student

[jon_ware]

I'm an instructor and sometimes I will give students a document that they are to download, answer questions on, and then resubmit to Canvas. Inevitably there are a few students who accidentally turn in the original, unchanged document.

I was thinking a feature that would be nice is if on an assignment I could tell Canvas the file the students are downloading. Then when they submit their project, Canvas would do a SHA256 checksum to compare the files and then warn the user that they are submitting the same document they downloaded without any changes made to it.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi there, @jon_ware ...

This would be an interesting idea for sure, and I'm not sure if anything in Canvas already does that or not.  What I would suggest is that you submit your idea to the "Ideas and Themes" area here in the Canvas Community so that others will be able to evaluate it later on.  There are a handful of links within this URL that I'll provide you that you should look through (look under the "Ideas and Themes" heading):

Instructure Community Guide - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

You'll want to go to this page and click on the blue "View and Submit Ideas" button to begin the process to start your idea:

Canvas Ideas and Themes - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

Then, click on the blue "Submit an Idea" button.

I hope this will help in some way.  Sing out if you have any questions...thanks!