how to check missing assignments on canvas

Get a List of All Students and Missing Work from Canvas

Published: 2020-05-18 9:16 AM | Updated: 2024-04-02 12:31 AM |

Category: Code | Tags: canvas , canvas api , canvas lms , code , programming , python

In a Canvas course, you can quickly check the number of missing assignments for single students relatively quickly. You can also message groups of students missing specific assignments from the analytics page (or the gradebook). What you can't do is get a list of all students in a course and their missing assignments in a CSV for quick analysis.

In my never ending exploration of the Canvas API, I've got a Python script that creates a missing assignments report for a course, broken down by section.

I have my own specific thoughts about using the "missing" flag to communicate with students about work. The bigger picture is that while we're distance learning, it's helpful to be able to get a birds-eye view of the entire course in terms of assignment submission. We also have enlisted building principals to help check in on progress and having this report available is helpful for their lookup purposes.

What it does

The script uses UCF's canvasapi library to handle all of the endpoints. Make sure to pip install before you try to run the script. The Canvas object makes it easy to pass course and section references around for processing.

Because each student has to be individualy looked up, it uses multiple threads to speed it up. There isn't much compute, just API calls and data wrangling, so multithreading worked better than multiprocessing.

For each section, the script calls for each students' submissions, looking for workflow_state="unsubmitted" specifically to handle filtering on the Canvas servers.

From this filtered list, it creates a final list by checking the submission history and any excused flags. A list is then returned to the main worker and the section is written as a whole to keep the processes thread-safe.

When the script is finished, you'll have a CSV report on your filesystem (in the same directory as the script itself) that you can use.

Improvements

Currently, missing assigments are joined as a single string in the final cell, so those could be broken out into individual columns. I found that the resulting sheet is nicer when the number of columns is consistent, but there could be some additional processing added to sort assignments by name to keep order similar.

Canvas is also implementing GraphQL endpoints so you can request specific bits of data. The REST endpoints are hepful, but you get a lot of data back. Cleaning up the number of bytes of return data will also help it run faster.

Thank you kindly for your post. This helps tremendously to see how my 5th and 4th graders are doing in all their subjects.

Comments are always open. You can get in touch by sending me an email at [email protected]

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Automatically score missing assignments in canvas.

If you have a lot of students in your class, it can be a pain to put in a grade for missing assignments that are past due. A new feature in Canvas will do it for you, automatically!

Click on the Grades link on the left-hand navigation. Then, click on the gear icon

A new window opens and provides an option for setting the Late Policies

Click on the check box next to Automatically apply grade for missing submissions

Type a zero (0), or the desired number of points for a missing submission, in the Grade percentage for missing submissions box

Click the Update button

This feature applies to any currently missing assignments that are:

• past the due date, AND
• set-up for online submission

See the Canvas guide on Missing Submission policy for more information.

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Setting Automatic Grades for Missing Assignments in Canvas

If a student has not submitted an assignment and the due date has passed, you can either enter a zero in the Canvas Gradebook manually or you can have Canvas automatically assign a zero using a Missing Submission Policy.

It is important that every item in the Canvas Gradebook has a number or a value. If you do not enter a grade for an assignment, Canvas will ignore the assignment in their final grade calculation, resulting in an inaccurate, possibly inflated score. It is also important to enter any zeros immediately after the due date passes rather than at the end of the semester so that students’ grades are an accurate reflection of their current standing.

To use the Missing Submission Policy feature :

• Open your Canvas course and select Grades in the left-hand navigation.
• Click on the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Gradebook. The Late Policies tab will now appear.
• Select “Automatically apply grade for missing submissions” and enter 0 in the field below.

Canvas will now automatically insert a zero into any missing assignment cell after a due date has passed. You can always override this score if you choose to accept a student’s assignment after the due date.

Setting a Missing Submission policy affects all assignments in a course, including assignments with due dates in the past. To exclude a specific assignment, mark the submission as something other than Missing in the Grade Detail Tray. Applying a missing submission policy will not affect previously graded missing submissions. See  How do I apply a Missing Submission policy in the Gradebook?  for more information.

Note that you can also use this feature to automatically apply deductions to late submissions.  See  How do I apply a Late Submission policy in the Gradebook?  for more information.

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Common Questions You Can Answer with Canvas Learning Analytics

3. How can I see which students have late or missing assignments so I can reach out to them?

• Use the New Analytics tool to find out which students have late or missing assignments. In Course Grade ,
• Use the filter function to narrow your inquiry to a Section , Student or Assignment .
• Click the Message Students Who option and indicate your criteria, whether that is a Score Range , Missing , or Late assignment. You can access names of students who meet those criteria.
• You can also message students who meet criteria that you determine.
• Click a bubble associated with an assignment of interest to see the Average Grade , Low , and High grades.
• Click on the Missing or Late column to see who has missed the assignment or submitted the assignment late.
• Use the Message Students Who option to message those students directly.

Note that when you message a group of students, individual students will never be aware of other recipients.

Related Resources

• How do I send a message to all students based on specific course criteria in New Analytics?

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4 strategies to get those missing assignments turned in

Published: May 13, 2022

As we get closer and closer to the end of the school year, it happens as reliably as the changing of the seasons—students notice the late, missing, or forgotten assignments that might have a real impact on their grade.

Sound familiar?

Most teachers spend too much valuable time toward the end of the school year reminding students about their missing assignments. This process doesn’t have to be time-consuming or painful though.

Here are 3 simple and repeatable tips to help classroom teachers encourage students to—finally—submit those late, missing, or forgotten assignments.

1. Help students manage their own assignment completion

There’s no better way to promote accountability than to help students to keep track of and manage their own assignments list. LMS tools like Schoology or Google Classroom make the process easier than ever before.

With clear assignment instructions and due dates, every student can log into their LMS and see a clean list of which assignments have been turned in, and which are still outstanding—even if they miss a class!

2. Get parents, families, and caregivers on board to help keep students on track

One of the best ways to keep students from getting too far behind is to recruit the champions they have outside school. When parents and guardians are kept in the loop about the assignments that are upcoming—along with expectations and due dates—they can help students avoid missing assignments well before the due date.

Keeping parents and guardians aware when assignments become late or get entered as missing increases the likelihood that assignment will get completed too. The Parent/Guardian Portal in Schoolytics gives parents and guardians easy access to student assignments in each of their classes. There are even reminders you can automate when an assignment is late or counted missing.

3. Send automated reminders when assignments are past due

You know what they say about an ounce of prevention…

Setting up a Schoolytics account and syncing it with your Google Classroom ( remember: it’s free to sign up! ) lets teachers set up an automated report of late or missing assignments. You never have to click into each Classroom for assignment details!

You can even set up automatic reports for late or missing assignments—Friday late work roundup anyone? And now you can send a bulk reminder to every student with a link to their missing work.

4. Try a new communication method

Each generation of students is more online than the last, and Gen Z is spending most of its time on video-forward platforms like YouTube and TikTok. As teachers, we can either fight this reality or lean into it in our communication with students.

The good news is that the rise of online video has coincided with the advent of easy-to-use video creation tools, making it easier than ever to create engaging videos for free. Tools like Veed are great for trimming videos and testing your webcam to ensure you get the perfect take to keep students engaged and on top of their assignments.

In conclusion...

These interventions make it quick and simple to keep students on track for assignment completion. And they reduce the headache for teachers to have to manage chasing down late or missing assignments.

Have any other tips for helping keep late and missing assignments under control? Let us know on Twitter at @Schoolytics

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