Seesaw (K-5): Missing Work?

Overview

Below are a few reasons why work may appear to be missing, reappearing, or blank in Seesaw. If you are having these problems, please see the How to Report Problems below.

Symptoms 

1. A teacher in the class has assigned the same activity multiple times without knowing. In some cases, this is because the activity was first scheduled, and then the activity was later assigned immediately, resulting in two activities once the scheduled activity populates.

2. A teacher in the class has tapped the “trash can” icon or the “send back” icon when approving activities. Deleting a student post via the trash can icon while reviewing activities sends the activity back to the student's To-Do folder to prompt them to start over from scratch. The Send back option serves as an opportunity for students to revise and resubmit their activity. This is especially common with teachers who have classes with multiple co-teachers.

3. A teacher in the class could be deleting posts thinking they are clearing notifications. Teachers may not be aware they have the same permissions as the main class teacher.

4. Students are tapping “Respond Again” on already submitted activities. Because activities waiting for approval show in the Journal rather than in the Activities tab, students sometimes aren’t aware that their submission has gone to their teacher, and respond again to make sure it is received.

5. Students could be making regular journal posts rather than responding to activities. When students tap the +Add button a the top of their journal rather than the +Add Response button on the activity itself, their posts are not connected to the activity, so it will show up in the student's journal as a standalone post rather than in the panel below the activity.

6. If students are accessing the class using a Shared Device class code, they will see all activities assigned to the class in their 'Activities' tab. They will all show as 'add response' - this is because Seesaw doesn't know who is logged in with a Shared Device code until the student taps their name to submit their work. Seeing a completed activity waiting for a response can make it seem as though their response was deleted or not submitted.

7. If 'Enable item editing' is on, students could be deleting their work. Please make sure Enable Item Editing is disabled via the wrench icon > Class Settings > Item Editing to prevent this.

8. If a user's network/WiFi connection is weak, that could cause the app to time out. Students must have a good Internet connection to view Seesaw journals, upload posts, and respond to activities. Teachers need a good WiFi connection as well so they aren't tapping the check several times and assigning the activity more than one time. Please make sure both teachers and students are accessing a good Internet connection while using Seesaw.

9. Students aren't making a habit of tapping the 'Activities' tab at the beginning of a class session. Since activities aren't always pushed at the time they are assigned or scheduled, it is important that students navigate to their Activities tap first, to refresh their feed.

10. The student has two responses to the activity. If the student has two responses for the same activity and they submit one of the responses and the other is showing as a draft, the activity will continue to show as incomplete until the draft is submitted or deleted.

We realize it may be difficult to determine which of these things are happening within your classroom. We recommend connecting with any co-teachers you have, checking your list of activities, and/or asking a student to send a screencast of their workflow to determine the root cause.

How to Report Problems

If the topics above do not explain why you have missing work, please copy the questions below and submit a Web HelpDesk ticket with very specific information for the student who are having these experiences.

• What is the name of your school?

• What is the name of the class this is happening in?

• Which student/students are missing work?

• What device is the students who are having this problem using?

• What method students are using to log in?  email/Google

• What activities (the activity name and/or link) are being impacted by this issue?

In addition, any screenshots or screencasts of what you and your student(s) are experiencing would be helpful to the Seesaw investigation.