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Canvas News

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Canvas News#wdmcsonline #canvaslms

Have you seen the New Canvas Analytics?!

Canvas recently published new analytics capabilities for teachers to have a clearer understanding of what their students are doing in their courses. New Canvas Analytics is a more interactive and actionable view of course analytics. Exploration of New Canvas Analytics was conducted by surveying users, collecting community ideas, and face-to-face interviews of teachers, students, and instructional designers.


Course Grade is the first feature available within Analytics Beta. Course Grade allows instructors to view the average course grade for all course data using an interactive chart or table. Additionally, instructors can filter analytics results to compare the average course grade with a specific section, student, or assignment.


Weekly Online Activity is the second feature available within Analytics Beta. Weekly Online Activity allows instructors to view the average number of page views and participations for a course using an interactive chart or table. Additionally, instructors can filter analytics results to compare the average course activity with a specific section or student.


You do not have to do anything to turn this new feature on, just click on the "New Analytics" button on the far right of the homepage of your course (see pics below for more details).

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New Analytics Button

On the Home page of your course, you can find the new analytics button in the list of options on the far right of the page. Click the button to access your course analytics.
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Analytics Options

You can toggle between "Course Grade" and "Weekly Online Activity" analytics at the top of the page. Then choose to see specific sections or student analytics.
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Analytics Details

On the right hand side of the Analytics page, you can see the time stamp for the data, change the chart views, and open up a "Message Students Who..." window to send messages to students that viewed or didn't view, participated or didn't participate.

Need to Know...

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Grades in Course Navigation

Students can access their grades report right from your course on Canvas if you give them the Grades link in the course menu. If there is an eye crossed out next to Grades, then students cannot access it. To give them access, go to the Settings link and Navigation tab and click and drag or enable "Grades" in the menu.
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Manually Created Courses

Did you teach with a manually created course the past couple of years? If so, please go back into that course and add an "end date" to the course. These courses are still showing up for students years later and causing some confusion with parents.
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"What if" Grades

In the assignment list of the student's grades in Canvas, students can click on the grade you entered and change the grade to a better or worse score to see the impact the change will have on their overall grades. This "what if" grade does not change anything in your gradebook or in the parent view and disappears when the student leaves the page.

Final Grades Passing Back to Infinite Campus (Secondary)

Final grades are now being passed back to Infinite Campus on a nightly basis. If you are seeing discrepancies please email Carrie or Abby and we will look into them.


We are continuing our work with parents getting connected to Canvas and better understanding the system. There are multiple resources available on the district website.

Canvas Integration for Literacy

I use Canvas in several literacy capacities. Here are two ways to integrate Canvas into literacy instruction.


Each week our fifth-grade students have a focus poem. We use the poem in shared reading to develop our reading workshop community, practice fluency, and develop understanding. Every four weeks, students are assigned to select a poem and create a video recording with fluency. They enjoy this assignment and it is a good artifact of their fluency work and progress. In addition, students take weekly quizzes that align with our comprehension work throughout the week. The great things about quizzes on Canvas are the instant feedback the students get on their work and that Canvas literally grades it for you giving you analytics of what areas students have mastered and what areas still need work.


Canvas has also been helpful in the implementation and assessment of our word study work. I organized the lists from our Benchmark Word Study Vocabulary program and post them to Canvas. I created two groups, one is the regular list and the other modifying for students needing more support. Students access the list they are assigned and work through the week accessing their lists there. No more paper to manage for them or me. I also place a link to websites such as SpellingCity.com and Sheppard Software for spelling and parts of speech practice.


At the end of the week, students complete an assessment, both a spelling list, and a quick check. The spelling list is completed through Spelling City. Students create a PDF of their finished work and submit it to Canvas as an assignment. I have created the quick check quizzes using Next Quiz and students complete that part of their word study online. Again, all of these provide the students with instant feedback as soon as they submit it and it saves me time in grading and managing papers.

Try something new in Canvas!

We know that Canvas feels very overwhelming, so each month we will include suggestions for new tasks to try out.


Elementary

  • If you are using Canvas in your classroom, invite parents to be observers of their students in your course and create a parent information and/or resources page
  • Post an announcement to your students about an upcoming event in class
  • Take a deep breath, it's almost winter break!


Secondary

  • Use a Canvas discussion to facilitate a classroom discussion
  • Click the "New Analytics" button and look at the data it gives you
  • Take a deep breath, it's almost winter break!

Want to learn more about Canvas?

Online Canvas Training
Be sure to Create an Account with your @wdmcs.org email to review options for webinars.
The Canvas page on the TechHub has a new look! Check out the topics and find answers to your questions easier!
Canvas New Gradebook Webinar
Learn all about your new gradebook from the Canvas experts!
Be sure to log in with your @wdmcs.org email to view the recorded webinar.
Canvas News Archives
Remember that new tool you read about last year on the Canvas Newsletter, but can't remember exactly how to do it? Access the old Canvas News here, also available from the Canvas page of the TechHub.