Require specific grade on assignments to pass course

TommyTaylor

Let me preface this by saying I'm new to Canvas -- like only a few days in, so please forgive this potentially dumb question, but is there a way to designate multiple assignments as "passing grade is required to pass the entire course"? More specifically, I have 5 assessments that need to go into a course, all of which the student must achieve at least 70% in order to pass the course. For example, a student passes every other assignment, passes the first 2 (of 5) assessments, but fails the third. Is it possible to set it up such that they do not pass the course? 

ColtonSwapp

Hello @TommyTaylor 

Thanks for posting this in the Canvas Community! 

I wanted to welcome you and let you know that this is a really great question! 

There is not a way that I know of to set up course and make it so that a designated grade is required to "pass" a course. This is usually left up to institutions to determine at the end of the course term or semester and is usually based on the grading schemes used. 

However, there are a few things you can possibly explore and play around with on this subject. If you have access to a sandbox or development course this would be the place to try it out. A couple things that comes to mind are using something called Module Requirements (Link to a GUIDE) and possibly Prerequisites. (Link to a GUIDE). More specifically, you can set a requirement for Students To Score At Least a minimum score on something shared into the modules page. This is usually something used to force students to complete the defined requirements within the module before the module will be marked complete. You could set certain scores for the assignments in the requirements and then have an item such as a page, at the end that needs all the requirements to be met to unlock. The page could contain information about the course being complete or something. Sometimes this page will contain information about how to receive and download a certificate of completion. 

Another option you might be to explore and use is weighted grading. (GUIDE) You can weight the final course grade based on assignments within an assignment group in the course. So if you were to place your 5 assignments in a group and weight it, the student will need to get 70% on all assignments in the the group to get a passing grade or completion. 

If your institution has an instructional design team, they might be able to go over a few options with you on this subject. 

Hopefully this helps get you pointed in the right direction! 

-Colton