Issues with Student Peer Reviews

[CarlySteffen]

I have peer reviews set up for assignments in Canvas, but the people trying to complete them are unable to access them. They can see the peer review shown in their To Do List, but when they click on it, they receive an Access Denied screen. I am not able to locate any thing saying this has changed. Am I missing a step?

[CarlySteffen · Accepted solution]

So I entered a ticket with Canvas and it is actually a known issue. At this time my case has been put on hold and I will be updated once a fix is implemented. 

For clarity, this assignment submission type was file upload. 

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Given what you've shared, @CarlySteffen, I can think of two explanations for what your students are seeing. One is the resource is in a Canvas course where they are not enrolled, and the other is the resource is outside of Canvas but they don't have access. I encounter this second one often enough that I have to tell my students who are submitting Google Drive files to check their sharing settings (both so I can access and classmates too if necessary).

But you write that they can see it on their To Do list, so that makes me think that my first suggestion is not what's going on.

Do these ideas help?

[CarlySteffen · Accepted solution]

So I entered a ticket with Canvas and it is actually a known issue. At this time my case has been put on hold and I will be updated once a fix is implemented. 

For clarity, this assignment submission type was file upload. 

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Thank you for sharing that update. I marked it as a solution not to indicate that the problem has been fixed (I'm looking forward that soon!) but to indicate to other members of the Community that something can be done, even if it's reporting it to Canvas support.

[demierov · Accepted solution]

So, here's a possible reason and solution.

I've given my students an assignment that allows them to work in partners, and have set up the assignment as a group assignment even though not all students are working in partnerships. Additionally, peer reviews are required from each individual student. However, when a partnership submits a draft to be reviewed, sometimes the person in the partnership who did not submit the draft for their partnership is denied access to the peer reviews that they have been assigned to do. So, just out of curiosity, I asked the student who was getting the access denied message to also submit the same document that his partner had submitted on their behalf. As soon as he did that, he gained access to the peer review documents to which he had already been assigned.

Dang. That sounds way more complicated than it is, but after trying a bunch of other things, that actually worked!

For what it's worth…