Why doesn't hide grades automatically change grade posting policy to manual?

[mrainaldi]

When selecting "Hide Grades" in the gradebook, why doesn't Canvas automatically change the grade posting policy to "Manual"? 

A couple of times before posting grades, I have selected "Hide Grades" before entering, only to realize that if the grade posting policy was not changed to manual, and the grades were published the instant they are entered.

It would be great if selecting "Hide Grades" automatically changed the grade posting policy to manual if it was not already set to manual. Otherwise remove "hide grades" from the drop down menu and have hide grades under the grade posting policy.

[SusanNiemeyer]

I agree that this is a flaw in Canvas's Gradebook. The key is to always change the column in the Gradebook to "manual" first. Then you can "hide" the grades. 

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @mrainaldi,

Here's how I describe these related, but distinctly different features to instructors at my university.

"Hide Grades" is used to hide grades already released to students.  Students may have already seen their grade in Canvas or received notifications including their grade info, so it's important to note that even after hiding grades, students may still be able to see what was done.

The posting policy is used to control what will happen when grade changes (modifications or new grades) are made.  Setting the policy to manual will not hide already given grades, and similarly hiding given grades will not change the posting policy.  They are two distinct things with different use cases brought up by teachers in the community over the years.

It sounds like you'd like to link these two features, and while that may work well for your use cases, I think there will be a lot of others who would not like that change.  You could definitely submit this as a feature idea, to see whether Instructure would consider it.

-Chris

[mrainaldi]

My general idea is not to consolidate the two features (hiding grades and grade posting policy) into one. Rather it would make more sense to make them accessed simultaneously so that a teacher understands that one or both features needs to be addressed to achieve the goal the teacher is aiming for. The two ideas are intertwined enough for that consideration to be made. This leaves both features as is, would save the teacher a few navigational steps, and with some prompts might give them the knowledge of what they need to do.