Submission time in Canvas LTI assignment changes to grading time

[Kristina Hoeppner]

Tested with Canvas.

When an LTI assignment is graded, the submission time recorded in Canvas switches to the time the portfolio was graded, which causes problems when the grading time is past the due time for the assignment as the assignment is then marked as late submission even though it had been on time originally.

To replicate:

1. Set up an LTI assignment in Canvas that has a due date just a few minutes out.
2. Set the assignment settings as teacher.
3. Log in as student and submit a portfolio before the due date.
4. Wait until the due date has passed to grade the assignment as teacher.
5. Look into the gradebook.
Expected result: The submission time is the same as displayed when the portfolio was submitted (it can be seen on the Mahara screen in the grading table).
Actual result: The time switched to the grading time and now the portfolio is marked as late submission.

[Paolo Oprandi (paolooprandi)]

Just to confirm, the time graded should not be written as the submission time (as stated above), but I don't think that the submission time is written to Canvas at the point of a Mahara submission at all. Other external tools that are integrated with the Canvas assignment, such as Turnitin, will write the submission time and this will be very important feature for the way we integrate assignments with our student record system. Many thanks, Paolo

[Kristina Hoeppner (kris-hoeppner)]

From a developer:

"This is a tricky one - the LMS has no knowledge of the student submission until a result is sent back to it. We have no result until it has been graded.

"Maybe we need to send a grade of zero on submission by the student, then update it when it is graded for real. "

Cavas has a non-standard solution:

See 'Submission Submitted At Timestamp Extension' here
https://canvas.instructure.com/doc/api/file.assignment_tools.html

[Paolo Oprandi (paolooprandi)]

Hi again,

I hope it isn't a tricky one. Other LTI tools which will be graded, such as Turnitin Feedback Studio, send a submission timestamp without having been graded and the documentation reads,

"Simply add a node called submittedAt to the submissionDetails node... If included, then it will override any existing submitted_at value on the submission even when result score or result total score are not present."

[Kristina Hoeppner (kris-hoeppner)]

Removing milestones for the time being in case this is a bigger fix than can be done for a minor point version.