Canvas Mastery Paths

Differentiation tool in Canvas

Created by Scott Aten, September 20, 2023

One of my goals for this school year is to try and introduce additional tools available to us in the Canvas LMS.  The first tool I wanted to show you is Mastery Paths.  Canvas Mastery Paths allow you to differentiate learning paths for students based on their performance on quizzes or assignments. These paths help you create a personalized learning experience by directing students through different content based on their needs.

I have created step-by-step directions for you to follow as well as a video of me setting these up in my Canvas course.

Setting Up Canvas Mastery Paths:

1. Access Your Canvas Course:
   Get into Canvas and navigate to the course where you want to set up Mastery Paths.
   
   

2. Enable Mastery Paths:
   Mastery Paths need to be enabled for your course. To do this, go to "Settings" in the course menu and scroll down until you see “Mastery Paths”.  Click the box to “Enable individual learning baths for students based on assessment”.

   
   
   

3. Create Content:
   To use Mastery Paths effectively, you need to have content (pages, assignments, quizzes, etc.) ready in your course. Create the content you will use based on the different learning paths you want to assign to your students.  For example, when you give a Canvas Quiz, students' mastery path assignments will vary depending on their performance on the quiz. If they do not demonstrate an understanding of the content, you will want some content prepared  to reteach and reinforce the material. Alternatively, if they do show some level of understanding, you will give them enrichment activities to work on. The content created for these assignments can encompass anything that you can add to Canvas including pages, assignments, links to videos, links to google slides, and canvas quizzes. 
   
   

4. Design Mastery Path Assignment/Quiz:
   You can use either a Canvas Assignment or a Canvas Quiz to determine which path a student will follow.  Since you turned on “Mastery Paths” in step two, when you go into a quiz or assignment you should see a “Mastery Path” tab now available.
   
   

   
   
   

Click on this tab to set up the “Mastery Paths”.  You can set up to 3 different paths that will be taken based on the student’s score on the assignment/quiz.

You may elect to use only two paths if you wish.  If so, simply have the bottom two paths both set to 0 points and do not add activities in the bottom path.

5. Add Your Content:
   Once you've created the paths, customize the content within each path according to the students' needs.  With the points set that will determine which path of work students will be assigned, you may now add the content by clicking on the “+” button in the path you want to add the content.  You can add additional assignments, readings, videos, or other resources.
   

   
   
   
   
   Repeat this for each path you will be using. Again if you only want two paths, you may just set content in two paths.  It is NOT possible to have more than three Mastery Paths.
   
   

6. Assign Quiz/Assignment:
   With the Mastery Paths set, the last key is to change who gets the assignment from “Everyone” to “Mastery Paths”.  By changing the “Assign to” from “Everyone” to “Mastery Paths”, Canvas will automatically set up your gradebook for you.  This means that students will only be given the assignments in their “path” and excluded from the others.
   

   
   
   
   
   

7. Students Perform on the Assignment/Quiz
   As soon as the Assignment/Quiz is graded the students will be placed into the path that corresponds to points they received.  The activities you placed in the path will then be assigned to them and show up for them in their “To Do” list.  In the case of an auto graded Quiz, this happens automatically.  If you used Mastery Paths in an assignment, once you put a grade on the assignment in your gradebook the path will be determined based on that score.
   
   
   

Ideas For Using Canvas Mastery Paths:

1. Differentiate Student Work Based on a Quiz Grade
   As described above you can use Mastery Paths to reteach or enrich based on how a student performs on an assessment.  This makes Mastery Paths an excellent tool for Differentiation.

2. Assigning a Test A or B
   If you would like to give half of the class a Test A and the other Test B.  You can do this by creating a simple one question quiz that does not count toward a student’s overall grade.  Create a multiple choice question worth 1 point.  Have half the students choose A worth 1 point and the other half choose B worth 0 points.  Setup the Mastery Path to assign Test A to one path and Test B to the other path.

3. Give Students Choices on a Project:
   Doing a project where students can pick between 2-3 different options.  Setup a Mastery Path Quiz that allows them to pick and then use the paths to assign the work based on what they selected in the quiz.

Canvas Mastery Paths can significantly enhance the personalized learning experience for your students, allowing them to progress at their own pace and focus on the content that's most relevant to their needs. Make sure to provide clear instructions and support to help students navigate the paths effectively.

If you would like me to come and help you please feel free to schedule me to come and assist you.  I am always ready to come help.  

[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

Adjusting Due Dates on Imported Canvas Assignments

 

Adjusting Due Dates on Imported Canvas Assginments

Get due dates in the correct calendar school year

Created by Scott Aten, August 17, 2023

Beginning of the school year means it's time to import content from previous Canvas Courses.  One of the great features of Canvas is the ease in which you can bring in content from past courses into your new course.  One key step that teacher often skip is shifting the dates of assignments into the new school year.  This is best practice when importing assignments into your new Canvas course.  Here are the steps...  

Importing Content

1. Open your Canvas course for the new school year.
2. In the right menu click "Import Existing Content"
   
3. This will open the Import Content window.  In the Content Type dropdown select "Copy a Canvas Course".
4. In the "Search for a course" dropdown, select the course that has the content you want to use (last year's course or your sandbox for example).
5. In the "Content" area choose "Select specific content"
6. In the Options area check "Adjust events and due dates"
   
   This will open up date options for you that will help shift your assignment due dates into the current school year and approximate correct day.
   
   
   
   

   In the Beginning Date field [1], enter the starting date of the course you are importing (last year the start date would be 8/17/2022) . You can also click the Calendar icon to select a date. In the Change to field [2], enter the new date when you want the course to begin, or click the Calendar icon (this year the date would be 8/22/23).

   
   

   In the Ending Date field [3], enter the end date of the course you are importing, or click the Calendar icon to select a date (last year end date for a full year course would be 5/26/23). In the Change to field [4], enter the new date when you want the course to end (5/30/24).

   
   

   Canvas will take the new start and end dates for the course and distribute all assignments with due dates as evenly as possible across the course dates and keep them due on the same day of the week as the original course. If the imported course and the new course vary in course length, assignments will be assigned proportionally. BUT this gets the assignments into the correct school year and you can then edit the assignments if the day is not correct.
   
   
7. Click "Import"
8. A new Job will be started in your course.  Click the "Select Content" button at the end of that Course Copy job.
9. This opens up the "Select Content" window.  You can expand each section by clicking on the arrow in front of each category.  Put a check in each item you want to bring into your course.  By clicking a module, you will bring in all the pieces of that module including assignment, quizzes, pages, etc that are in the module.  This is why building your content in modules is recommended.
10. Once you have selected all the pieces you want to bring into your new courses, click the "Select Content" button.

And that is it!  Your content will be brought into your new course and the dates will be adjusted.

If you would like me to come and help you please feel free to schedule me to come and assist you.  I am always ready to come help.  

[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

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