How to hide assignments submitted for students by instructor

[BethanyRagains]

I would like to upload PDF scanned copies of students' final exam as an assignment or quiz, so I can grade them on Canvas and have the PDF for record keeping purposes. Then, I want to hide the submission so students can see their grade but not the actual scanned exam. Is this possible?

[ryan_corris · Accepted solution]

Hey @BethanyRagains ! I would say, that depends.  My first question is, do any other students need to submit or have all students submitted?  In my district, we suggest everything be housed in modules.  That way, Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, etc. can be disabled in the course navigation menu and everything is available to the students in modules.  If everyone has submitted to the assignment, the assignment cannot be unpublished, but it can be removed from the module.  Removing the assignment from the module (which does not delete the assignment from the course) still allows the instructor to access the assignment in the Assignments window, but students should not be able to access the assignment if Assignments have been disabled in the navigation menu.

While this may work, you will need to ask yourself if students or observers will still need to access the assignment in the future or if it is ok that it "disappears" from their view and they will not be able to access the assignment. 

A second thought and a bit more convoluted way that might work where the assignment would not have to be removed from a module might look like this:

(Disclaimer:  This is not a very pretty way to do this, but could still be an option.)

1. Store your PDF file in Google Drive / One Drive.
2. Get the share link for the PDF file but keep the sharing settings so only you (or anyone else that NEEDS to) can see the file.
3. Paste the share link into a completely separate document that can be submitted to the assignment on behalf of the student.
4. Submit the document with the share link on behalf of the student.

When a the student views the submission for the assignment, they will see the link to the PDF, but they should not be able to access the PDF since it is restricted to only be viewed by you.

When you (the instructor) views the assignment submission, they should also see the link but should be able to click on the link and view the PDF since you have access to the file in your drive.

Can't say I am truly fond of either of these options, but hopefully they help you through the thought process.