Disable/disallow students from being able to submit an attachment through graded comments

[GloriaGuerra]

Disable/disallow students from being able to submit an attachment through graded comments

Has a feature been requested by faculty to have Canvas disable/disallow students from being able to submit an attachment through graded comments?

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

I have occasionally had students do this. I just tell them that they must submit the assignment correctly in order for me to grade it.

[SusanNiemeyer · Accepted solution]

I have occasionally had students do this. I just tell them that they must submit the assignment correctly in order for me to grade it.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Good afternoon, @GloriaGuerra ...

I think I have found an existing Feature Idea here in the Canvas Community that might be similar to what you are asking for.  You can find it at:

Disable file attachments in comments for assignment submissions

If you feel that this Feature Idea is similar to something you'd like to see implemented in Canvas, you can leave a comment on that Feature Idea as well as give it a star rating.  (More about the star rating system at How do idea conversations work in the Instructure Community?.)  Please know that this isn't the only way that Instructure gets feedback from us as end users of the LMS on what things should be developed in Canvas.  That is covered in the section called "Discover" on What is the feature development process for Instructure products?.

Hopefully these resources will be of some help to you.  In the meantime, I agree with the suggestion from @SusanNiemeyer.

Let us know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

[Gregory_Putman]

Hi,

The idea you linked seems to be locked so we can read but not comment and/or vote.  Is there a similar idea that we can vote on and discuss further? 

This is very important - I'm having so many students avoid specified file types and avoid deadlines on assignments by simply attaching files to comment sections.  Then I have the be the bad guy instead of just being able to turn off the ability to attach files to places I don't want students putting them.  Many students attach files to comment sections instead of the actual assignment and then get mad that they get a 0 grade when the assignment is missing - or don't understand why Canvas is calling it missing when they clearly submitted their work - but didn't actually submit, just attached to a comment.  I've put this in my syllabi, have mentioned it in several class wide announcements, have it specified in the instructions on the assignments themselves, etc...   PLEASE HELP!

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @Gregory_Putman ...

Re: the Idea that I had linked to in my earlier response...  I am not sure if that will open up again for commenting.  The re-vamped Ideas and Themes space here in the Community is a little different than what it used to be, so I would direct your attention to:

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

As of right now, that Idea I linked to doesn't appear to be part of any identified theme...but that may change in the future...who knows.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things to let your students know how they should be attaching their submissions to you (compared to what they are actually doing).  Are you also giving them links to Canvas Guides?  For example:

• How do I submit an online assignment? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)
• Assignments Overview (Students)
• Assignment Submissions (Students)

I hope this will help a bit.  Sing out if you have any questions...thanks!