Taking the Mystery Out of Canvas Assignments

 

Canvas Assignments

Taking the Mystery Out of Canvas Assignments

Created by Scott Aten, December 3, 2021

Hopefully Canvas is becoming a little easier for you this second year.   On our past PD days I did a session called "Taking the Mystery out of Canvas Assignments."  I have recorded this session and am posting it hear in case you were not able to attend.  I am also including some time stamps in case you are looking for something specific dealing with Canvas Assignments and don't want to watch the whole presentation.  I am also including a link to the session presentation notes if you would like to see them as well.

Video Time Stamps
Canvas Assignment explained - 0:48

Creating Assignments in the "Assignments Area" - 2:21

Creating Assignments in the "Module Area" - 4:25

Importing assignments from past courses/sandbox - 5:42

Create new assignments that will sync to ProgressBook - 17:20
What types of things can be added into a Canvas Assignment - 21:03

Adding assignment information in the Rich Content Editor - 22:53

Four basic submission types - 25:33

Assign to Area - 30:24

Online Submission types explained - 33:05

Student Annotation Assignments explained - 36:26

Google LTI assignments - 39:54

Grading Assignment Tips - 47:09

Troubleshooting assignments that did not sync to ProgressBook - 53:07

Please feel free to schedule me to come and assist you with Canvas Assignments if you have specific issues with your Canvas Course.  

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

 

Using the Canvas Commons

Find existing content for your Canvas Course

Created by Scott Aten, November 9, 2021

After talking with some of the presenters from our PD day, shout to out Natalie and Christine, we were surprised that a good amount of the staff is not aware of the Canvas Commons.  So I thought I would create this quick post to remind everyone about this great resource.

What is the Canvas Commons?
The Canvas Commons is a digital library that contains content created by other teachers. The Commons allows teachers to share resources with others, allowing them to import these resources into their own Canvas course. 

Where can I find the Canvas Commons?
When you have logged into your Canvas Instructor account, look for the "Commons" button in the far left menu.  Click on it to enter the Commons.

How does the Canvas Commons Work?
There is a lot of content available in the Canvas Commons.  By default, you will have the "Green Local Schools" filter turned on.  This filters and shows only content Green staff members have added to the Commons.  More on sharing content later, but for looking for things created by non-Green staff you will need to turn this filter off. Turn off this filter by simply clicking the X at the end of the label.

You can now search for content and will discover material added by teachers outside of Green.  Start by typing something in the search box at the top.  For example if I am doing lessons on "The Great Gatsby" I could type in "Great Gatsby" and I would find 102 results that include quizzes, modules, pages, assignments and even entire courses.  I am able to import any of these into my own course and use them with my students.

You can apply filters to your search in order to find more specific content.  For example if I wanted to find a quiz I can use with my students who just read "The Great Gatsby", I can click the filter button and then click the quiz button.

This will limit the search results to just Canvas Quizzes.  You can run similar filters for Modules, Assignments, and Pages as well.  You may also filter by grade level to help focus the content to your age students.

You can preview the content by clicking on the links in the search.  This will allow you to see if the content is what you want before you bring it into your Canvas Course.  Please note that this content is not vetted, so please use your professional discretion before adding content to your course from the Canvas Commons.

How do I get this content into my Canvas Course?
Once you find content you like and want to use in your Canvas course, you can import it by clicking the "Import/Download" button on the right side of the screen.

You will then be asked to identify into which of your Canvas course(s) you would like to import the content.  Then simply click the "Import into Course" button.

Keep in mind if you import a Module, you will be getting all the pieces of that Module (assignments, quizzes, pages, discussions, etc.).  So this is a fast way to get a lot of content into your course.

Once the content is in your course, you will need to unpublish things you don't want the students to see, add the appropriate assignment types (practice and achievement), as well as alter some due dates.  If you import things to ProgressBook you will have to set assignments to sync as well.

Can you just show me a video of you doing all the steps?

How can I share content to the Canvas Commons for other to find?

If you have designed a nice assignment, module, quiz or other piece of Canvas content, you can easily add it to the commons by following these steps.

1) Find the content you want to share (if it is an assignment, go into "Assignments"  in your Canvas, if it is a Module, go into the "Modules" in your Canvas course, etc.)

2) Click the three dots at the end of the content

3) Choose "Share to Commons"

4) Choose who can use this resource ("All of Green Local Schools" - will limit it to just our staff)

5) Complete the rest of the info as appropriate

6) Click "Share"

It is that easy!

Hopefully this will help you find and share content in the Canvas Commons.  If you need assistance feel free to schedule me to come and work with you or your department.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Import Final Report Card Grades from Canvas to ProgressBook

 

Import Final Report Card Grades

Import from Canvas to ProgressBook with NO manual typing.

Created by Scott Aten, October 15, 2021

At the beginning of the school year you were given the choice of using the sync option to bring grades to ProgressBook or doing not syncing and manually type in the final grade on the report card at the end of the nine weeks.  What I didn't say at the time was that I was hoping to find a way to bring in the final grades to ProgressBook WITHOUT manually typing in all the final grades.  Good New! There is a way and this blog post will describe how to do it.

ONLY APPLILES TO STAFF THAT ARE NOT SYNCING GRADES 
So if you are doing the daily or weekly sync of each assignment into ProgressBook from Canvas, you can stop reading because this post does not apply to you.  For the rest of you here we go...

BASIC STEPS

1. Download your grades from Canvas as a spreadsheet
2. Make a few edits to the spreadsheet to get it ready 
3. Create an assignment in ProgressBook and copy that assignment to all the classes you teach.
4. Import Spreadsheet (final grade) into the assignment in ProgressBook
5. At report card time click "check/equals" and you are done with report cards

Now that you have the basic idea of what we are going to do, you are ready to look at the actual directions.  I have created both a written step-by-step document that tells you exactly what to do as well as a video of me doing all the steps that you can watch.

[Written Step-By-Step Directions]

Video Demonstration

That is all you need to do.  Follow these steps and your Canvas Final Grade will match perfectly to your ProgressBook Report Card grade.

Please keep in mind if you ever need to schedule me for a 1-1 help session, these can be scheduled using this link.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Built in Annotation Assignment Type in Canvas

 

Annotations in Canvas

Using the Built in Annotation Assignment Type in Canvas

Created by Scott Aten, September 16, 2021

New for this school year is the option of creating an "Annotation" type assignment for students in Canvas as a part of an online submission assignment.  This type of assignment will totally replace the use of Kami for this type of activity.  The challenge with the free version of Kami has been the saving of student work and then getting the annotated copy turned into the teacher.  All of these issue go away by using the annotation option built into Canvas.

What can the student's do?

• complete the annotation assignment directly in Canvas.
• add text boxes to a document
• draw lines on a document
• highlight on a document
• add comments to a document
• easily submit the assignment when finished

See how it works

Remember you can easily convert a paper document to a PDF with any building copy machine, so go ahead and eliminate all the paper on your desk by using this awesome feature of Canvas.

Please keep in mind if you ever need to schedule me for a 1-1 help session, these can be scheduled using this link.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

 

Save your Responses in Forms

Now you can go back into a form/quiz and finish later

Created by Scott Aten, May 13, 2021

Green has volunteered to be a part of a Google Beta program that will allow a student to begin a form/quiz and save the responses prior to submitting the form.  This means a student could begin a quiz and then come back and finish the quiz later. The answers they have entered will be saved for up to 30 days making it so they can come back into a quiz and finish it anytime within that time period.

How can this help?

• Student is taking a quiz and they loose power on the Chromebook.  Now they can come back into the quiz and finish without starting over.
• If a student loses WiFi,  once they are back online they can resume a quiz picking up where they left off.
• Students begin a quiz but were not able to finish because the period ended.  Now they can resume the next class period.

The responses are auto saved, so there is nothing they need to do to get this to work.  To get back into the quiz, all they will need it the link to the quiz.

We are a part of a beta program on this feature, so there may be some bugs, but I tried it on a form that I made and it worked as expected.  Just keep this in mind while the feature is in beta.

Please keep in mind if you ever need to schedule me for a 1-1 help session, these can be scheduled using this link.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

 

Update to Google Meet

Google Meet will have some changes in May 2021

Created by Scott Aten, April 22, 2021

Google continues to listen to teachers and is trying to make Google Meet an effective tool to use for teaching remotely.  Coming in May you will see some changes happening to Google Meet.  Many of these changes are things I have heard teachers ask for all year.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Ability to remove the "You are presenting" box allowing you to still see all the students while presenting your screen
• Ability to remove your video as one of the tiled cameras
• Move all the Meet controls to the bottom of the screen for easy access
• Move the Mute and End Call button away from each other so students don't accidently exit the Meet

While we do not have access to all these features at this time, Eric Curts has put out a video showing what all of these new features will look like when they arrive.  It is a good idea to watch this short video so you are not taken by surprise when the change happens.  We are a part of the Google Rapid Release program so we can expect to see these changes as early as May 3rd, but may take up to 15 days to hit everyone's account.  These changes will also impact the experience students will have as well.  BDA teachers may want to let their students know that Meet may look different for them in May.  These changes do not impact any of the other features you have been using, but are primarily "look and feel" type changes.

Please keep in mind if you ever need to schedule me for a 1-1 help session, these can be scheduled using this link.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Create a Tab Canvas Page

 

Canvas

Organize a student's week with a tabbed Canvas Page

Created by Scott Aten, March 18, 2021

There is a lot of great content that has been created this year in Canvas courses throughout the district.  In working with teachers in each building, I have been exposed to a lot of different ideas on how to provide course content using the tools in Canvas.  I have to give a shout out to Lisa Pafford, GHS Health Teacher, for showing me this cool trick.

The idea here is to create a Canvas page that has built in tabs across the top where each tabbed section has different content.  In this example we make a tab for each day of the week.

It is not difficult to set this up and it actually allows you to build an entire week's worth of content all on one Canvas page.  I created a video that demonstrates how to set this up and how to begin to add content to the page tabs.

The code used in the video can be found on this Google Doc.  Simply open the document and copy and paste the code as shown in the video.  

If you end up using this trick, please drop Lisa an email (paffordlisa@greenlocalschools.org) letting her know you used the cool thing she found.

If you have another technique that you have found in Canvas, please let me know so I can share it with everyone.

Please keep in mind if you ever need to schedule me for a 1-1 help session, these can be scheduled using this link.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team

Data Available in Canvas through New Analytics

 

Canvas

Data Available in Canvas through New Analytics

Created by Scott Aten, March 8, 2021

One nice feature of Canvas that we have not talked a lot about this year is the data available to teachers within the course. Canvas has actually made some updates to this section throughout the school year.  This post will cover some of the types of data you can find using "New Analytics".

New Analytics
The "New Analytics" button can be found on the homepage of any Canvas course in the left menu.  It is called "New" because of the updates they have made to the analytics tool during the school year.

Upon entering the "New Analytics" area, teachers are given the Average Course Grade.  This will give you an idea of the overall grade for the course.

Below this score is a menu of options: Course Grade, Weekly Online Activity, Students, and Reports.  The first three are all able to be filtered by section or viewed as a whole course if your sections are cross-listed.

Course Grade
The Course Grade area allows you to see the average course grade for student submitted assignments.  This graph can be changed from "Display shapes" to a "Data Table" by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner.  By using the "Display shapes" option, teachers can get more information on individual assignments. To access this simply click on the dots themselves.  This screen also provides a quick and easy way to message students about the assignment.  For example, a teacher could contact students whose grade falls below a certain score, are missing the assignment, or are late on the assignment.

Weekly Online Activity
The Weekly Online Activity shows average page views and average participation. There is a graph that can be changed to a table much like the Course Grades could be changed. By clicking on one of the dots in the graph, the teacher can see how specific students viewed pages or participated during a specific time period.  Below the graph/table is a list of all the resources connected with the course.  This information includes overall page views and participation as well.  

Students
The Students area allows teachers to dig into information on specific students.  The initial  screen shows the students grade, percentage of assignments turned in on time, when they last interacted with the course, when they last accessed the course, number of pages they have viewed, and total number of participations.

When a teacher clicks on a specific student's name, additional information becomes available.

Reports
The reports area is newer to Canvas Analytics, and can provide teachers with some good data.  Reports come as a CSV file which basically is a file that will open in a spreadsheet. Teachers will download this file and open it in Excel on a desktop or Google Sheets if it has been saved to Google Drive.  There are several different reports that can be run.

Since the report opens in a spreadsheet program, teachers can filter the data in many different ways to interpret the data.

The best way to understand all that New Analytics can show a teacher is to get in there and click around.  

Please keep in mind if you ever need to schedule me for a 1-1 help session, these can be scheduled using this link.

[Green Technology Training Center]

[Click here to go to the YouTube Channel]

For more helpful information and the archive of previous posts, look for items in the menu to the left.

Green Local Schools

Tech Integration Team