Several teachers, students, and parents are reporting issues when students attempt to submit assignments in Canvas.
This seems to be happening because:
1. WiFi connection drops at the wrong time.
2. What has been the most common reason: Students open assignments, start to work, decide to finish later, and leave the assignment open. When the student goes back to the assignment, finishes it, and tries to submit it, the assignment has timed out because of inactivity. And when the submission fails, the work is gone. We agree this is VERY frustrating.
Hooray! We have solutions:
Textbox Assignments:
Students should not type straight into a textbox. Instead, they should type in a Google Doc or Notes. Then when they are really ready to submit, they should refresh the assignment, copy and paste the text into the textbox, and click to submit immediately. If anything goes wrong with the submission, they still have their work in Google Docs or in Notes.
Google Cloud Assignments:
Open the actual Google Doc, Slides, etc., and edit it there. It's important not to edit in the assignment, especially if you are going to leave the assignment. Then when you are ready to submit, refresh the assignment, which will update with the changes you made in the other tab. Click submit.
Quizzes:
Only start quizzes when you are ready to complete the WHOLE quiz. If you do have to leave during the quiz, copy and paste any text you have written into a Google Doc or Notes. The text will likely disappear if you try to submit later and it fails. If at first, an assignment fails to submit, you should refresh the assignment and try again.