Does anyone know how to disable the "What if" Score option with out disabling the grade altogether ?

[dkamelhar]

We are looking for a way for the students to stop doing the what if feature so they do not annoy teachers and tell them that if they get "x" they can do so much better in the class? 

Anyone else tried disabling this feature either on a global level or a course level?

thanks

[rmurchshafer]

Hi Daniel,

I do think there is any way to disable that feature.  Your comment is interesting though because the whole point of the "what if" scenario is to eliminate the need for students to bug their teachers about grade scenarios.  A student shouldn't ever need to ask a teacher "what score do I need to get on the final to get an A in the course" because the "what if" features lets them figure it out very easily themselves.  I'm having a hard time picturing why the feature would cause students to annoy teachers more?????

Rick

[traciebosket]

Unfortunately our students get confused and think that their grades are much higher than they really are. Some stop working since they think that they "passed" the course.  

[ChrisFoley]

I would gladly have conversations (being bugged by) my students about how to improve their learning. But the "What if" option allows students to play math games with their grade so they can figure out what the bare minimum output is to land on a grade they're satisfied with. They can then turn in sub-standard work rather than trying their best. It also shifts the focus on point-gathering and not on the learning. Students, parents, and the "what if" function prioritize points over learning, failing to see that learning skills, concepts, knowledge, etc. ought to be the priority. Finally, I would argue a point that was also shared on this board: that the "what if" feature might *increase* students bugging their teacher because now they have a specific point value to haggle over even though it's not been earned.

Those are just my two cents based on experience (20 years). Also, work by Dr. Thomas Guskey, Cathy Vatterott and Tom Schimmer support this conclusion. It would be nice if this was a feature that individual professionals (the teachers) could disable for their courses.

Thanks! 🙂

[Newinstructor]

They ask for for instructors to "change this assignment so I can have an extra point, and the quiz so I have an extra 2 points", etc. Now they will have a C- instead of a D+.  In the college courses I teach, grades are not rounded and extra points aren't given. There are no do-overs on assignments. This feature is a nightmare.

There should be the option for the instructor to disable it, rather than the work-around where the overall total grade is hidden. This helps somewhat because most of my students won't take the time (or know how) to calculate their overall grades. But it's a poor work around since it's beneficial for students to be able to see their total grades. 

[Renee_Carney]

 @dkamelhar  

I can build upon what Rick just shared.  There is not a way to disable this feature and we do not have plans to build a way to disable it.  You can read more about this here; https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/9254-disable-what-if-feature 

Some people have explored work-arounds and published them here How to Disable "What If" grades.......(workaround) 

[dkamelhar]

how do I gain access to read about the work around? I get unauthorized

access:

This place or content does not exist or access to it is restricted. If you

think this is a mistake, please contact your administrator or the person

who directed you here.

Any advice or suggestions I could read about or try would greatly

appreciated.

thanks

On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 4:10 PM rcarney@instructure.com <

[awilliams]

Hey  @dkamelhar , apologies that document is in a restricted location and I will need to check on if we have plans to move it or not. However, the gist of the workaround is to disable the grade summary and the grade distribution graphs. Quoting from the document 

1. Go to Course --> Settings --> Scroll down to the bottom and select "more options"
2. Enable "Hide totals in student grades summary" and "Hide grade distribution graphs from students"
When a student tries to change a grade to a "What if" grade with the above settings selected, it won't affect the Total Grade Summary - essentially disabling it. 

[sgarcia1]

I find this very interesting. Did anyone find a workaround to disable this 'What if' feature?

Our students cannot understand it and we get very often questions about why they can change their own grades. They think it is a Canvas error and make it look unprofessional. Also in our case we cannot find any advantage to this feature... I think it would be better if it were optional!

Any ideas?

[jtr13]

I would like to disable it since students use it after the fact to argue for higher grades. Here's a direct quote from an email: "I ended with a 95.7% overall, and from playing with the 'what-if' score feature I learned that if I had gotten 1.2 points higher (out of 100) on either midterm or the final, I would've ended with a 96% and made the cutoff for an A+, so I just barely missed it. Is there any chance my final grade could be rounded when it's submitted..."

[Newinstructor]

Yes, exactly this!  Only 1% of my students ask "what do I need to pass" and could find value in the What If feature. But 99% of my students will use the What If feature to ask for extra points and curving of grades. Which doesn't exist in our college course. This feature needs to have the option for instructors to disable in their courses!!

[sbillings82]

I'm not sure why Canvas has made a definitive decision to NOT allow school districts and educators the ability to use or not use this feature. It makes no sense why I am forced with only the option to show grades and use it or not show grades and not allow students to use it. Stop deliberately punishing the users that don't want it. I want to show grades. I don't want what-ifs no teacher at our school does and all of us have stopped showing grades because of it which has in turn caused other issues because students don't know where they stand on grades. All the instances or almost all of them are students trying to figure out the bare minimum just to pass and they don't care about doing any of the other work. It's sad and Canvas could do something about it. Allow users to have the option!!!! The ability to turn on and off what-ifs. Teaching is hard enough don't make it harder unnecessary because you're too stubborn to make a change to your platform. That's what happens, you make something, you access, you get feedback, you access again. Once you add the option to turn it on and off you empower the educators using your platform to make the choice best for them and their situation.

[ChrisFoley]

I had thought this thread went into the great beyond ... but I'm glad someone recently revived it. This is a hill I have been making my stand on ever since we adopted Canvas and a student brought this feature to my attention.

Hey Instructure, is the disabling of the "What if..." feature ever going to be a possibility? Why don't instructors have the power to manage their own grading system and practices, especially when those grading practices are intended to focus students on learning and not point-grubbing?

There is so much literature out there that would find features like this to be contrary to best practices. Check out Grading Smarter Not Harder, Grading from the Inside Out, On Your Mark, Rethinking Grading, Answers to Essential Questions about Standards, Assessments, Grading and Reporting, and Off the Mark. They are a wealth of research-based information that points out having features like this actively distract students from learning and are a detriment to our ability to teach.

Please allow teachers who want the focus of their classroom to be on learning to disable the "what if" function. Thank you!

[wkoch]

It makes one wonder if Canvas has gotten so big that they no longer listen or care. It seems like they used to be more responsive and concerned about issues instructors had with Canvas.

[ChrisFoley]

This original thread is pretty old, so I wonder if it's even monitored anymore. I feel as though I want to start a new thread on this subject to get Instructure's attention on this.

[Charlotte_Lew]

I don't understand why, as a teacher, you can disable the totals columns but not the 'what if' function.

This combination doesn't make sense for students as they can't see the effect of changing a score in their total, they still have to calculate it manually.

[SarahKebaugh]

Here to say that our school wants to revive this conversation too! We're a middle school and students at this age don't really grasp the concept of a What-If score. They do, however, think they can temporarily change their grade on assignments and show that score to their parents instead of their actual grade.

At the very least, this feature shouldn't include grades that have already been posted for students. What-if I studied for that test and got a 100% instead of the 75% I actually have is not going to help anyone!

[ChrisFoley]

I never even thought of that! This is just another in a LONG list of reasons why this feature is so flawed and poorly-thought-out.

[emiller2020]

Our students *just* found this feature (we have been using Canvas since 2014.) It is already a nightmare, and teachers and administrators are extremely unhappy. 

I can imagine this feature being useful of helpful for college age students, but Canvas, you have marketed your product to the K-12 space. This is NOT a healthy feature. 
It is adding more stress for students about grades, not less, and not being 'helpful'. It is encouraging the *wrong* types of conversations with teachers around grades. 

I'm honestly surprised and mortified that it is a feature that can not be turned off, particularly in the K-12 space. I am such a Canvas fangirl always singing its praises. This is an embarrassingly ill-thought out "feature". 

[emily_beckman]

This was a feature request back in 2017 (https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Idea-Conversations/Disable-quot-What-If-quot-Feature/idi-p/314617...) and has since been archived. 

I had a teacher ask today if they can turn it off for their class. Kids are obsessed with begging if she will round as they think their grade will be X. It would be nice for teachers to have the choice to have it on or off. 

We see the merit of the feature but also how it can be used incorrectly. It would just be nice for the teachers to have the option to have it on or off.