Five Canvas Features to Discover
If you've been using Canvas for a while, you know your way around. You know how to create an assignment, build a module, post an announcement, and enter grades.
But Canvas has many features that are easy to overlook. Some are tucked away in menus. Others are things that you may have heard us talk about, tried once, and then completely forgotten about. Every now and then, you also can find one that makes you wonder why you’ve been doing something the hard way for so long.
We wanted to share five Canvas features worth remembering; however, please join us (or watch the recording later) for our session focused on Canvas shortcuts and hidden gems on Monday, October 19th at 2pm (check your emails from the ODL for the meeting link) for even more!
1. SpeedGrader Comment Library: Stop Typing the Same Feedback
If you grade a lot of student work in SpeedGrader, you probably have a few comments you find yourself typing again and again (and again and again).
“Don't forget to include a citation.”
“Your thesis needs to be more specific.”
“Please review the assignment instructions.”
“Be careful with formatting.”
There's nothing wrong with this kind of feedback, but typing the same comments over and over can get old. This is where it is time to become best friends with the SpeedGrader Comment Library.
The Comment Library allows you to save comments that you use frequently so you can insert them into your feedback instead of typing them from scratch every time. It's particularly useful for common issues that show up from one assignment to the next or to save a comment that is really helpful for letting a student know about more information about a resource or concept.
That doesn't mean your feedback has to become generic. Look at this library as a collection of building blocks. You can insert a saved comment and then add something specific to the student's work. For example, you might have a general comment about missing citations saved in your library. When you use it, you can add, “You have a citation here, but there isn't one for the second source you used in this paragraph.” You get the efficiency of a reusable comment while still providing feedback individualized for your student.
A comment library works best when you save comments that you genuinely use frequently. If you try to create a comment for every possible situation, you may end up spending more time managing the library than saving.
The takeaway: If you find yourself typing the same feedback repeatedly, save it once and reuse it.
Link: How do I use the Comment Library in SpeedGrader?
2. Module Requirements and Prerequisites: Let Canvas Help Guide Students
Modules are often treated as the place where we put course content in order: Read this, then read this, then submit this, then take the quiz. But Canvas modules can do more than organize content. You can use requirements and prerequisites to help guide students through the course.
Within a module, you can set requirements for the activities included in that module. Depending on the activity, you can require students to do things such as view a page, submit an assignment, contribute to a discussion, or complete a quiz.
You can also control how a student completes an item. For example, you might require a student to mark an item as done, submit an assignment, or achieve a particular score on a quiz. This can make the expectations within a module much clearer. Instead of simply presenting students with six items and hoping they know what to do, you can build a more intentional path through the material.
The other part of this is the prerequisite in modules. A prerequisite can require students to complete one module before they can move on to another.
Imagine a research paper module. You might have students:
- review the assignment instructions
- choose a topic
- submit a research question
- locate sources
- submit a proposal
You could use module requirements to establish what students need to complete within that module. Then, a prerequisite can be used to make completion of that module part of the path to the next stage of the project. This can be especially helpful for courses where students need to complete activities in a particular order.
A small caveat to consider: Requirements and prerequisites can be useful, but they aren't something to add just because Canvas gives you the option. Before locking students into a particular sequence, think about whether the sequence is actually necessary. You don't want to create a maze that prevents students from accessing something they need. It's also important to test your setup from the student perspective. Use Student View to make sure your requirements and prerequisites are working the way you intended.
The takeaway: Modules don't have to be digital filing cabinets. Used thoughtfully, they can really help guide students through your course and get them in the habit of looking to modules for all the information instead of jumping to assignments.
Link: How do I add requirements to a module?
Link: How do I add a prerequisite to a module?
3. Course Link Validator: Find the Problems Before Your Students Do
There's a particular kind of student email that no instructor wants to receive: “The link isn't working.” Maybe the website changed, a page was deleted, the URL was copied incorrectly, or that link worked perfectly when you built the course six months ago and hasn't worked since. Canvas has a Course Link Validator that can help you find these problems.
The Link Validator checks your course for links that may be broken or that need attention. Rather than clicking through every page and assignment yourself, you can use the tool to identify potential problems. This is particularly useful when you're preparing a course for a new semester or after you've imported content from another course. It's also worth remembering during the semester. If you make a lot of changes to your course, it's easy for something to get overlooked, but it’s something that requires minimal effort to save a lot of headaches later.
Think of the Link Validator as a quick course checkup. It won't replace actually looking through your course, but it can catch problems you might otherwise discover from a student.
The takeaway: Before the semester starts, check your links. Check again at the midpoint, and again at the end (if you plan to import your course). Your students shouldn't have to be your quality assurance team.
Link: How do I validate links in a course?
4. Duplicate: Don't Build the Same Thing Twice
This might be one of the simplest time-saving features in Canvas, and it's easy to overlook. If you've ever created an assignment, discussion, page, or other piece of course content and thought, “I need another one just like this,” you may not need to start from scratch. Canvas allows you to duplicate certain course content.
Say you have a weekly discussion that follows the same basic format. Students read an article, answer two questions, and respond to a classmate. The reading and questions change each week, but the basic setup stays the same. Instead of creating a brand-new discussion every time, you can duplicate the existing one and change the parts that are different. The same idea can work with many assignments. Maybe students have four short writing assignments throughout the semester. Each one has similar instructions, the same submission settings, and the same general structure. Duplicating the first assignment gives you a starting point for the others.
Duplication can also help with consistency, and this is the part that can be especially useful for course design. When you duplicate an item, you're not just saving yourself some typing; you're starting with the same basic structure and settings. That can help create consistency from one assignment to another since students don't have to figure out a completely different setup every time they encounter a new assignment. The instructions may change, but the basic Canvas experience stays familiar.
Of course, you'll want to check the duplicated item carefully. Change the title. Update the instructions. Check the points, dates, availability settings, rubric, and anything else that should be different. A duplicate is a starting point, but it’s not a finished assignment.
This is also a good reminder to look around your course before creating something new. Do you already have a discussion with the format you want? An assignment with the right settings? A page that has the structure you need? You may already have most of the work done.
The takeaway: Before you build something from scratch, look around your course. You might already have a good template sitting there.
Link: How do I duplicate an assignment?
Link: How do I duplicate a module item?
Link: How do I duplicate a New Quizzes quiz?
5. Message Students Who...: Let the Gradebook Do Some of the Work
The Canvas Gradebook isn't just where you enter grades. One particularly useful feature is Message Students Who...It allows you to identify students based on their performance or submission status and then send a message to those students.
For example, you might want to contact students who maybe haven't submitted an assignment, scored below a particular grade, haven't met a particular expectation, or did really well or improved and you want to send a note of encouragement. Instead of looking through the Gradebook, making a list of students, and then figuring out how to contact them, Canvas can help identify the group for you.
The obvious use is reminding students about missing work. Have it pick out students who have’t completed the work and send a message: “I noticed you haven't submitted the first research assignment yet. Please check the assignment instructions and let me know if you have questions.”
You might use the feature to reach out to students who are struggling early in the semester. You could send a message to students who received a low score on an early assignment and encourage them to take advantage of office hours, tutoring, or other support. You could also use it for positive communication if most of the class did well on an assignment, you could send those students a quick note recognizing their work. Message Students Who... is not limited to students who are doing something wrong. It can be a way to make your communication more targeted.
Another advantage is that you don't have to send the same message individually to every student. Canvas can identify the students who meet your selected criteria, and you can compose one message for that group. That can be particularly helpful in a large class. Instead of spending 20 minutes figuring out who hasn't submitted an assignment, you can let the Gradebook do that part for you and spend your time writing the message.
This feature could also become part of a regular instructor workflow. After an assignment deadline, take a quick look at who hasn't submitted. A targeted reminder may be more useful than a general announcement to the entire class. After grading an early assignment, look for students who may need additional support. Reaching out early can give them an opportunity to make adjustments before they get too far into the course.
The takeaway: Instead of sending another announcement to everyone, let the Gradebook help you reach the students who actually need the message. It can make it easier to figure out who needs to hear from you.
Link: How do I send a message to students from the Gradebook?
None of these features completely change the way you use Canvas. That's part of what makes them easy to overlook. But small things can make a difference in how much time you spend grading, organizing, troubleshooting, and communicating with students.
The next time you find yourself doing something repeatedly in Canvas, stop and ask: Is there a feature that could do some of this work for me? There just might be, and we are happy to explore these possibilities with you! Reach out to us with these questions, feedback, and/or concerns at canvashelp@durhamtech.edu
We hope to see you at our next professional development session on Monday, October 19th at 2pm to expand more on these features and others!