reading assignment in canvas

Instructional Technology Blog

ITG supports faculty use of technology for teaching and learning at Emerson College

• by Natalie Hebshie
• August 3, 2021 February 2, 2023

Should you create assignments for readings in your Canvas course?

Last April, I co-wrote a blog post with Jodi Burrel titled Tidying Up Canvas to Help Students Stay Organized . It was a follow up to a workshop we developed together about course design strategies based on student feedback. The main purpose of these design tips was to help students and faculty manage their time and energy.

One of the things I learned from working with Jodi is that students found it very helpful when faculty created a corresponding assignment for readings that they wanted their students to do. Truthfully, this was not a strategy that I was actively encouraging at the time. I assumed it would just clutter the student assignment view and the faculty gradebook view. But once I heard that this was a game changer for students who struggled with time management, I decided to look into it and experiment with various ways to set this up in Canvas. Here is a video on what I think is the best way to set up reading assignments in Canvas:

To summarize, I recommend creating an assignment for each set of readings that are due at the same time. Having an assignment for each individual reading is too much. Listing out all of your readings in a semester long schedule on the syllabus is too clunky. You could create Canvas Calendar events instead of assignments for your readings but then you miss some of the additional prompts that you get with an assignment. An ungraded assignment for each due is just right. Here is how to do it:

• Start with a clear naming convention that is consistent throughout the course. If your class meets live (in person or on Zoom) and you have separate readings for each session, create a different assignment for each due date. Examples could include  Week 1 Readings, Week 1 Class 1 Readings, etc.  Remember that Canvas can adjust the due date fields when importing to future courses, but it cannot adjust dates added to Name fields or Description fields. So if you do decide to include the due date in the Assignment Name field, just remember that you will need to manually change that in future courses.
• List and link the readings in the assignment description.   Don’t refer to a list that exists elsewhere. List those readings in the description area and if they’re electronic, link to them. You can link to course files or to websites via the Rich Content Editor .
• Set points to 0 . The purpose of this type of assignment is to let the students know exactly what they need to read and when they need to read it by. We’re keeping grades out of it so just leave the points at 0. If you’re looking to build in accountability, you’ll probably want to look at other options for low stakes tasks, such as self check quizzes or online discussions.
• Choose “Not Graded” for Display Grade As . Again, we’re doing this for time management purposes, not for grading. Choosing Not Graded will ensure that this does not appear in your Canvas Gradebook.
• Set a Due Date and Time . If you’ve attended any of my workshops, you know that I think this is a big deal. Adding a due date in the due date field generates a series of beautiful prompts for your students. The assignment will be listed in their To Do’s, on their Calendar, on the Course Summary on their Syllabus as well as below the assignment name in the Assignment and Module view.
• Avoid Available From and Until Dates. These fields just restrict student access to an assignment . A student may wants or need to get a head start on readings or refer back to something that they read. We recommend removing any roadblocks that might get in the way of their ability to manage their workload.

I’d definitely recommend reading the Tidying Up Canvas post and watching the corresponding video if you haven’t done so already. You can also check out one of our upcoming sessions on the topic at teachanywhere.emerson.edu . If you do decide to incorporate reading assignments into your Canvas course, let us know how it goes, or reach out with any questions or concerns you might have at [email protected] .

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Getting Started with Canvas Assignments

• Last modification date Updated On June 8, 2023
• Categories: Assignments , Canvas , Uncategorized
• Categories: assessment , Getting Started , Grading

Canvas  Assignments  are a way for instructors to provide students opportunities to practice using the knowledge and skills they have gained or to assess student performance related to such knowledge and skills. (Creating an Assignment is the  only  way to create a new column in the Gradebook.)

In Canvas there are four basic  Submission Types  for assignments. The submission types include:

• No Submission : For assignments for which you are not collecting any content from the students.
• Text Entry : For students to enter text directly into a text box on Canvas.
• Website URL : For students to enter a URL (usually to a blog, video, podcast, etc.).
• Media Recordings : For students to upload or record media for submission.
• File Uploads : For students to upload files for submission ( Restrict Upload File Types  will allow you to limit which types of files may be submitted).
• On Paper : For assignments students will submit in person.
• External Tool : For assignments which students will submit through a third-party tool (such as Turnitin, Panopto Video Quiz, and PlayPosit).

Managing an Assignment

Managing assignment groups.

When getting started with Assignments, learn to

• Create an assignment shell with the Canvas guide  How do I create an assignment? 

If you select  Peer Reviews Appear Anonymously , annotation tools in  SpeedGrader  will become unavailable.

If you change the  Assign To  area from  Everyone  to select students after submissions have already begun, and do not have a second set of Assign To dates, submissions from unassigned students will disappear.

• Published assignments are visible as existing outside of availability dates, but students cannot see the details.
• If looking to update the due and/or availability dates on multiple assignments, see   How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
• If choosing the option to make an assignment a  Group Assignment : If only assigning to specific groups, make sure to click the  X  on the  Everyone Else  choice under  Assign to .

Media Recording  Assignments are not recommended due to technical reasons. Instead, have students submit media by embedding it in a  Text Entry  assignment through Panopto .

Clearly express expectations and criteria for grading by using a  Rubric .

Be cautious limiting submission attempts, as students often make mistakes loading documents and need multiple attempts to ensure you have the correct submission.

• Delete an assignment with the Canvas guide  How do I delete an assignment?
• This duplication process will not work for Quizzes.
• Attach a rubric to an assignment for grading or to communicate expectations to students with the Canvas guide  How do I add a rubric to an assignment?

Accessibility Tips

• Use descriptive text for links, instead of long URLs or ‘click here’. 
• Make instructions brief and to-the-point. Avoid long paragraphs and sentences.
• Consider allowing multiple submission types to accommodate technical limitations students may face.

Assignment Groups  are a way to categorize different graded items in Canvas. For example, you may have journals, blogs, and essays which your students create in your course. Assignment Groups allow you to label and group different types of assignments separately in order to better organize and for ease when applying weighting (see  How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups? ). When getting started with Assignment Groups, learn to

• Add and delete assignment groups with the Canvas guide  How do I add an assignment group in a course?
• Move or reorder an assignment group with the Canvas guide  How do I move or reorder an assignment group?
• Make rules governing grading expectations within assignment groups with the Canvas guide  How do I create rules for an assignment group?

Additional Resources

• CTI Resource: What is the Assignments Index Page?
• How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
• Canvas Student Guide

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University Center for Teaching and Learning

How to create assignments for your canvas course.

• Quick Start
• Instructor Help
• Student Help

How to Create Assignments

Using assignments in Canvas provides a streamlined process for assigning homework and creating quizzes for students.  Canvas considers an ‘assignment’ to be anything that is graded, whether that be a quiz or homework assignment, and whether it’s delivered entirely online, paper-and-pencil, or is a participatory assignment with no actual deliverable.

This Quick Start guide will cover the creation of assignments where the student submits a file electronically, on paper, using an external tool such as Turnitin or Panopto , or where no submission is expected (e.g. class participation). See How to Create Tests and Quizzes for Your Canvas Course and Create and Manage Discussions for more information about using those tools as assignments.

1. In the Course Navigation menu, click the Assignments link.

2. Click “ +Assignment ” at the top right.

3. Write the assignment title and directions for students.

4. Assign the number of points available for the assignment.

5. Choose an “ Assignment Group” . Assignment groups are, in essence, a category of assignment. For more information about using Assignment Groups, see the Canvas guides regarding Assignments.

6. There are four submission types :

• No Submission: an activity where nothing will be collected from students (e.g. a participation grade)
• For the full details about the online assignment subtypes, (text entry, annotation, file upload, etc.), please see the official documentation .
• We have a recorded mini-webinar on annotation assignments, including assignment ideas, available on the Training Webinars page.
• On Paper: assignments/quizzes/activities that were written on paper and collected by the instructor
• External Tool: assignments submitted through a 3rd party tool that is integrated with Canvas, such as a textbook publisher’s website or Turnitin

7. Submission Attempts: You may allow unlimited submission attempts for Online assignments, or restrict attempts to one or more. When a student submits to an assignment they have already submitted to, the previous submission is retained as well, and the instructor may view both.

8. Group Assignments and Peer Reviews:  Assignments can be created as either a group assignment or peer review assignment.

9. Assign options- You can assign an assignment to your entire class, a specific student, and/or a section of your class. You can also set the due date and the availability dates (when your students can submit their assignment). Each section can have different due dates and availability dates.

10. If you are finished creating the assignment, click on “ Save & Publish “. If you are not finished creating the assignment, click on “ Save ” and you may come back and work on it more later without students having access to it.

Instructor Help for Assignments

Creating assignments.

• How do I create an assignment?
• How do I add a moderated assignment to be graded by multiple reviewers?
• How do I create an online assignment?
• How do I add or edit details in an assignment?
• How do I add or edit points for an assignment?
• What assignment types can I create in a course?
• How do I limit submission attempts for an assignment?
• How do I add an assignment that includes anonymous grading?
• How do I enable anonymous instructor annotations in student submissions?
• How do I import SCORM files as an assignment?
• How do I publish or unpublish an assignment as an instructor?

Managing Assignments

• How do I use the Assignments Index Page?
• Can a student resubmit Canvas assignments?
• How do I assign an assignment to everyone in a course?
• How do I assign an assignment to a course group?
• How do I assign an assignment to a course section?
• How do I assign an assignment to an individual student?
• How do I view differentiated assignments with different due dates in a course?
• How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor?
• How do I delete an assignment?
• How do I duplicate an assignment?
• How do I move or reorder an assignment?
• How do I use Direct Share to copy an assignment to another course?
• How do I use Direct Share to send an assignment to another instructor?

Creating and Managing Peer Review Assignments

• How do I create a peer review assignment?
• How do I use peer review assignments in a course?
• How do I automatically assign peer reviews for an assignment?
• How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment?
• How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor?

Creating External Tool Assignments

• How do I add an assignment using an external app?
• How do I create a cloud assignment with a Microsoft Office 365 file?

Using Assignment Groups

• How do I add an assignment group in a course?
• How do I create an assignment shell in an assignment group?
• How do I create rules for an assignment group?
• How do I move or reorder an assignment group?
• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?

Grading Considerations

• How do I add a grading scheme to an assignment?
• How do I download all student submissions for an assignment?
• How do I upload all student submissions for an assignment?
• How do I exclude an assignment from the course’s final grades?
• How do I give extra credit in a course?

Student Help for Assignments

• How do I view Assignments as a student?
• How do I filter assignments by type as a student?
• How do I submit an online assignment?
• How do I submit a text entry assignment?
• How do I enter a URL as an assignment submission?
• How do I submit a media file as an assignment submission?
• How do I upload a file as an assignment submission in Canvas?
• How do I upload a file from Microsoft Office 365 as an assignment submission?
• How do I know when my assignment has been submitted?
• How do I manage celebration animations in Canvas as a student?
• How do I submit a cloud assignment with Microsoft Office 365?
• How do I download assignment submissions from all my courses?
• How do I annotate a file as an assignment submission in Canvas?
• How do I use DocViewer in Canvas assignments as a student?
• How do I submit a PDF assignment with annotations in the Student app on my Android device?
• How do I add annotations to a submission in the Student app on my iOS device?

Groups and Peer

• How do I submit an assignment on behalf of a group?
• How do I know if I have a peer review assignment to complete?
• How do I submit a peer review to an assignment?
• Where can I find my peers’ feedback for peer reviewed assignments?
• How do I view the rubric for my assignment?
• How do I view the rubric for my external tool assignment?
• How do I view rubric results for my assignment?
• How do I know when my instructor has graded my assignment?
• How do I view assignment comments from my instructor?
• How do I view annotation feedback comments from my instructor directly in my assignment submission?
• How do I view my Roll Call Attendance report as a student?
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Expanded Student Annotation Assignment Options in Canvas

by Sarah McDaniel | Jun 21, 2021 | Canvas , Canvas Features/Functions , How-tos , Pedagogy

With an updated release of Canvas that launched in mid-May, instructors now have access to an additional Assignment format on Canvas: Student Annotation Assignments . With the addition of Student Annotation Assignments to the suite of resources supported through Canvas, instructors can now make use of two distinct platforms for student annotation assignments and activities, which can be tailored to distinct instructional contexts and learning objectives.

In this post, we will explore two frameworks for student annotation and close-reading exercises – individual annotations, completed independently by students, and social or group annotations, which students generate collectively – and consider which digital annotation tools best suit each purpose. Additionally, we will provide an overview of the new Student Annotation Assignment format and a recommended workflow for designing assignments that make use of it.

I. Student Annotation Assignments on Canvas

Features of canvas annotation assignments.

As a new Assignment format native to the Canvas learning management system, Student Annotation Assignments enable instructors to design assignments that ask students to annotate text- and image-based documents using a variety of annotation features also available to instructors in SpeedGrader. When working with an Annotation Assignment, students have access to a highlighting tool (to select text), a rectangular area selection tool (to select an area of the document), a pin marker (to mark a point of focus at a specific location in the document), a freehand drawing tool, a text box tool, and a strikethrough tool.

In addition, when making use of any of these text selection or modification tools, students can type out marginal comments that describe or reflect on their annotation choices.

Once students have completed their annotations, they click the maroon “Submit Assignment” button to save their work and deliver their annotated version of the document to the instructor through Canvas.

Students are also able to download their annotations – an annotated copy of the document – through the annotation toolbar.

Pedagogical Context for Canvas Annotation Assignments: Individual Work

As the Student View perspective shown above indicates, Canvas Annotation Assignments are designed for independent use by individual students . In brief, students open such assignments as they would any other on Canvas, begin an assignment attempt (by clicking “Start Assignment”), and access an unannotated copy of the original document uploaded by the instructor to begin their annotations. Each student, in other words, accesses a fresh copy of the document and creates and submits annotations that are visible only to the instructor.

As a result, Canvas Annotation Assignments are not effectively suited to group annotation work , for the simple reason that annotations are generated and submitted on an individual rather than a collaborative basis. However, individual annotation exercises – performed individually by students and submitted to the instructor for assessment – have a wide variety of instructional uses across the disciplines and can be used to help students prepare for group annotation work.

In the language-learning classroom, for example, individual annotation exercises represent one streamlined way to assess students’ reading comprehension skills (asking students to make translations, highlight particular parts of speech or grammatical structures, paraphrase passages, and raise comprehension or discussion questions responsive to the text) while challenging students to develop their fluency as readers, writers, and speakers through tasks that work through layers of cognitive complexity.

Across humanities and social sciences classrooms, individual annotation exercises can enable instructors to gain insight into and assess their students’ use of interpretive strategies and modalities through targeted reading exercises that challenge students to generate observations about a text or document, develop an argument or thesis about it, and gather evidence to support that thesis from their initial observations – an activity that could either precede the drafting of an argumentative essay or serve as a standalone exercise to develop the scaffolding for an argumentative essay.

In a variety of STEM contexts, individual annotation exercises can challenge students to represent their thinking and their work clearly in response to problems and questions – that is, to elucidate and emphasize the process of their problem-solving in addition to the solutions, products, and outcomes they ultimately generate.

Creating Canvas Annotation Assignments: Workflow for Instructors

For instructors, creating Canvas Annotation Assignments is just as straightforward as creating any other Canvas Assignment:

• We recommend uploading to your Canvas site the file you wish students to annotate before creating your Annotation Assignment. You may do so by navigating to the Files tab and uploading files there. This helps prevent occasional hiccups in correctly linking the Canvas Assignment with the file.

Grading Student Annotation Assignments

After students have attempted and submitted this assignment, you can view, assess, and provide feedback for student work using SpeedGrader. In opening each student’s submission, you will be able to view all annotations, mark-up, and comments the student generated.

II. Hypothes.is Integration on Canvas

A second format for student annotation activities and assignments on Canvas is the social annotation platform Hypothes.is, available for instructor use through the Canvas – Hypothes.is integration. As a platform designed specifically to support the work of social annotation, Hypothes.is is ideally suited to collaborative, group-based exercises in reading and annotation.

Unlike with Canvas Annotation Assignments, Hypothes.is activities and assignments are visible by default to all members of a Canvas site; as students contribute annotations, these become visible to their colleagues, who are then able to respond to and comment on the observations and ideas that have been shared. Instructors at UChicago have found that Hypothes.is activities are a good way to promote students’ engagement with each other, to encourage discussions of close reading, and to make the reading process more transparent.

To access Hypothes.is activities in Canvas, students click on the name of the activity (under Modules or Assignments) and load a new tab that displays the document undergoing annotation. The Canvas – Hypothes.is integration makes use of a collapsible annotation applet that loads on the right-hand side of this tab.

An additional important difference between Canvas Annotation Assignments and Hypothes.is lies in the way that annotations are saved and the document formats that are supported. Canvas Annotation Assignments make use of an image-based overlay process, incorporating student highlights, comments, and other modifications onto approximated locations in the document. Hypothes.is, on the other hand, makes use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to tie annotations and highlights – the two annotation strategies available to students – to particular characters or strings of characters in the document. Accordingly, Canvas Annotation Assignments are compatible with a variety of file formats (.pdf, .docx, .png, .jpeg) and enable students to produce annotations on non-textual features of a document (such as images, diagrams, and interstitial space), while Hypothes.is can be used to annotate web pages and PDFs for annotation and does not support the annotation of non-textual features of a document. Annotations produced through Canvas Annotation Assignments can thus at times be less precise (not tied to specific characters) than those generated in Hypothes.is (which are highly portable across browsers and devices because they are tied to specific characters), while Canvas Annotation Assignments allow for the annotation of additional non-textual features.

Instructors at UChicago have found creative ways to respond to the affordances and limitations of each platform; for an in-depth exploration of faculty use of Hypothes.is and social annotation at UChicago, please see “ Social Annotation and the Pedagogy of Hypothes.is ” on the Academic Technology Solutions blog. For a comprehensive treatment of the technical specifications and steps required to implement Hypothes.is in Canvas, as well as effective practices for its use, please see “ Use the Hypothesis-Canvas Integration ” on the UChicago IT Knowledge Base.

If you have any questions about Canvas Annotation Assignments, Hypothes.is, digital annotation, or other topics in Canvas, Academic Technology Solutions can help. Set up a consultation with us , or drop by our Virtual Office Hours .

• How do I annotate a file as an assignment submission in Canvas? (Canvas student guide)
• Student Annotation Submissions (Canvas instructor video)
• Use the Hypothesis-Canvas Integration
• Social Annotation and the Pedagogy of Hypothes.is

(Featured photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash )

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Teaching Writing in Canvas

Main navigation.

At first glance, a learning management system like Canvas may feel like an intimidating space to teach writing. With a point-based grading system as the default method for assessing work and a user interface that seems to privilege grading "checklists" and assignments, we may initially feel like Canvas cannot accommodate the collaborative or student-centered pedagogies that are at the center of the writing class.

There are a number of ways to teach writing from a student-centered perspective in Canvas, but they take a little bit of "hacking" and understanding exactly how the platform works. This page will give you some ideas for how to contineu practicing the pedagogies central to teaching writing, but within the Canvas interface. This page is really just a start to helping you think more about the affordances of a tool like Canvas, so if these tips interest you enough to explore more, you can contact the Academic Technology Specialist at  [email protected]  to set up a consultation to make the most of your Canvas course site.

Instead of Storing Documents in "Files," Organize Materials in "Modules"

Many instructors are used to sharing course materials with their students in the form of a "digital course reader." This usually involves uploading the course's written materials to the "Files" section of the course website. However, the functionality of this part of Canvas is really limited; it really is just a place for instructors to share course materials and for students to download them. It can be helpful for students to see their reading assignments, their assignment sheets, or any of their other course materials contextualized in the full arc of the course. This is where the "Modules" tool in Canvas can come into play.

In the example shown in the image above, taken from Jenae Cohn's PWR 2 course, the "Modules" serve as a kind of "live syllabus," where students can see exactly which course materials they'll need to access in-class and outside of class. These materials include not only PDFs of reading assignments, but links to Google Docs where students can participate in synchronous, collaborative discussion, links to Discussion Forums within Canvas to promote conversations, webpages with activity and/or homework instructions, and links out to polls and other evaluative tools that the instructor uses to gauge student understanding during and outside of class time.

One thing to keep in mind is that the "Modules" tool does not store documents; rather, "Modules" oragnizes different parts of the Canvas infrastructure to create a unified collection of resources for your students. That way, your students do not have to find their course materials in several different places in the course management system. Rather, the instructors can upload and store documents and cousre materials in the appropriate places in Canvas and then students can find everything they need in just one place. Again, this creates an easily accessible course experience where links, files, and discussions can all be found in one place.

Take Advantage of "Discussions" for Promoting Response and Conversation

Discussion forums are a great way to get students to see each other's intellectual contributions and to create a record of conversations that happen in class. While there are a number of ways for students to record their reflections, observations, or ideas, the Discussions tool in Canvas provides one, unified, private space where students can safely share their ideas. Many instructors use Google Docs for this purpose, but Google Docs is really designed more for collaborative document-creation. When you're wnating each student to contribute something individually - and not necessarily compose collaboratively - the Discussions tool in Canvas will be easier for students to find and read. Further still, the Canvas Discussions become a class-specific archive, so if a student wants to read through the class's responses, they can easily find the conversation again in the course Canvas site. 

For example, an instructor might create a prompt in a Canvas discussion forum that a small group has to answer. Rather than have the student groups simply talk about the answer or write the answer down in a Google Doc (where students may not be able to find the link again), a discussion forum is accessible in Canvas and it  shows a threaded conversation where each indvidual's contributions are clearly noted. Then, the archived discussion also creates a space for instructors to facilitate a conversation about what was discussed beyond the space of the class session. See screenshot below to see what a discussion forum in action can look like:

Hack the "Pages" Feature to Create Wikis & Interactive Materials

The "Pages" feature in Canvas is basically a way for instructors to put whatever content they want up on a web page! When instructors create a new "Page" in Canvas, they have the option of adding text, embedding images/videos, or creating links to outside resources. Because the "Pages" tool is powered by a simple HTML editor, savvy instructors can up the ante a bit and hand-code some of their own material to impact both the design and the content!

A page can exist as a space simply to store static content, like assignment instructions or a page with links to outside resources (see screenshot above), but it can also be a space that allows students and teachers alike to edit the page, therefore creating a "Wiki"-like resource without having to use Wikipedia proper. When you allow students to edit the page (see screenshot below), you can let them decide what resources, ideas, or sources can be shared.

Try "SpeedGrader" in "Assignments" for Commenting on Student Drafts

If you ask your students to submit their work electronically, you may be accustomed to giving them feedback in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, using tools like "Track Changes" or "Comments." These kinds of tools allow you to add notes in the margins of the paper and give summary comments. While these tools work well, the process of downloading the student's papers, opening the papers in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, and then re-uploading the drafts with your comments either to Canvas or another file-sharing program (like Box or Google Drive) can be a cumbersome process. 

In the "Assignments" tool, you can ask students to upload a copy of their drafts. When the students have turned in their drafts, you can click on the assignment link, then select the "Speedgrader" button to read the drafts. When you open the SpeedGrader interface, you'll see your student's paper and a place for you to write an end comment. Within the SpeedGrader interface, you can add marginal comments (like Microsoft Word or Google Docs comments), and you can also highlight the text in different colors, and use other editing and mark-up tools. Most instructors probably most value the marginal commenting tool, but there may be other forms of marginalia you wish to leave for your students. (See screenshot below)

With the commenting tool on the right-hand side of SpeedGrader, you can leave your summary comment , both in the form of typed text and in the form of an audio or video comment. In the screenshot below, I've pointed out the places where you can select these options if you'd like to give your student feedback in different modalities. 

Use the "Peer Review" Tool in "Assignments"

There are a lot of different ways to facilitate peer review for students with various affordances and limitations. One great way to facilitate peer review is in the Canvas interface. An advantage to facilitating peer review in this space is that students do not need to find and learn another interface. Rather, if they have been using Canvas for other activities in your course (or even if they've simply been using Canvas for other courses!), they will already feel comfortable with the learning environment. The other advantage to facilitating peer review in Canvas is that students' work remains safe and protected. When students upload their content to third-party apps that exist outside of the Stanford ecosystem, their work is subject to view from any member of the public. In Canvas, on the other hand, all work uploaded and shared is protected by the Stanford community.

The other advantage to facilitating peer review in Canvas is that there are many built-in editing tools that students can use. For example, students can add comments to the margin of the document, they can use a highlighter tool to highlight certain parts of the document, and they can offer a summary comment in the margins. This article does not include screenshots of peer review in action in order to protect student privacy, but if you would like to see peer review in action or learn more about how to set it up, contact the Academic Technology Specialist, Jenae Cohn.

Take Advantage of External Apps and Plug-Ins

So many institutions use Canvas as their learning management systems, which means that there are a lot of great "apps" that instructors can add into their course sites if they want to take advantage of additional learning experiences beyond what's offered by default in Canvas. For example, instructors interested in asking their students to create an ePortfolio may be interested in adding in the app for Digication, an ePortfolio creation tool for which Stanford has a license to use. You can search the Canvas "app library," by going into "Settings" and clicking "Apps." The "Apps" list will show what third-party applications Stanford has purchased and made available to instructors. If you don't see exactly what you're looking for in the available "Apps" list, contact the Academic Technology Specialist, Jenae Cohn, who will help you figure out how to add a third-party website or tool into your Canvas site.

Know That You Can Copy Your Course Content to Different Quarters!

If you spend a lot of time developing your Canvas course, know that you can easily transfer your course content from one course to another in a new quarter! To learn more about how to copy your course content, check out this Canvas Instructor's Guide on  Copying a Canvas Course into a New Course Shell. 

How to Add Study.Net Materials in Canvas

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At a Glance

Study.Net manages all copyright permissions and clearance for course packs at MIT Sloan. If you assign readings protected by copyright, this is a powerful resource to ensure compliance.

In this guide for teaching teams, you’ll learn how to embed Study.Net materials from your course pack into Canvas assignments.

Prepare your Course Pack

• Note: Only Faculty and Primary Course Administrators can access this form—TAs cannot.

Tip: Once Study.Net processes your request and you request they publish the course pack, it will automatically load in your Canvas course.

Connect your Course Pack to Canvas

Your Study.Net course pack automatically connects to your Canvas course after Study.Net processes your request and you request they publish the course pack. To confirm everything is working as expected, test the following:

If your course pack does not load, contact [email protected] .

Embed your readings in Canvas content

According to MIT Sloan’s Gold Standards for building Canvas courses, create pre-class readings as non-graded assignments in Canvas. Because assignment due dates appear on your Canvas course’s calendar, students are more likely to complete the readings on time.

• Finish setting up the reading assignment according to MIT Sloan’s Gold Standards .

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Table of Contents

This article will address the following information:

Recommendations for Facilitating Peer Assessment Activities

• Peer Review Discussions
• Peer Reviewed Assignments
• Collaborations

Examples of Peer Assessment

• Focuses on the end of a learning activity to determine whether predetermined objectives have been achieved.
• One example is providing feedback on a rough draft of a paper prior to submission.
• Occurs during the process of student learning activities.
• It focuses on improving students' learning by providing rich and detailed qualitative feedback information about strengths and weaknesses.
• Provide an example of a good peer review, either done within class or provide an online example with annotations.
• Think about how you should assign the peers (i.e. have the students pick their groups; automatically assign groups through Canvas; form groups that enhance the peer's strengths and weaknesses, etc).
• Have multiple peers review the same assignment to provide additional feedback to each student.
• Provide a rubric or clear, guided instructions for the peers to follow to ensure that the feedback provided to others is substantial and meaningful. 

Applications and Tools

Below is a non-comprehensive list of available tools that you may be interested in exploring to adopt and use in creating / facilitating peer review assessment activities in your course.

Peer review discussions can only be created with graded discussions and do not have an anonymous option.

Within Canvas, you can create a graded peer reviewed discussion. When creating a discussion, you can require students to comment and provide feedback on another student's work. Below are some helpful articles to use this tool.

• How do I use peer review discussions in a course?
• How do I create a peer review discussion?
• How do I automatically assign peer reviews for a discussion?
• How do I manually assign peer reviews for a discussion?

Peer review assignments can be assigned to show student names or be anonymous.

A peer review assignment enables students to provide feedback on another student's assignment submission. Peer reviews are a tool that allows communication between students and can help students master the concepts of a course and learn from each other. Below are some helpful articles to use this tool

• How do I use peer review assignments in a course?
• How do I create a peer review assignment?
• How do I manually assign peer reviews for an assignment?
• How do I automatically assign peer reviews for an assignment?
• How do I view student peer review comments as an instructor?

The Collaborations Index Page allows you to create collaborations for users in your course. You can create new collaborations, edit existing collaborations, and delete collaborations, which can be useful for organizing peer review activities. Students can create collaborations in courses as well. As an instructor, you can always view any collaboration created by a student in the course, though other students can only view collaborations that have been shared with them. If you have created groups in your course, students can always create collaborations within group sites as well.

• How do I use the Collaborations Index Page?
• How do I create a Google Drive collaboration as an instructor?
• How do I create a Google Docs collaboration as an instructor?
• How do I delete a collaboration as an instructor?

Box @ Yale is a cloud-based file sharing and storage service workspace which enables users to collaborate, synchronize, and share information. For more questions about Box @ Yale, please contact [email protected] . 

• Box at Yale Information Page
• Embedding Box (Cloud Storage) into a Canvas Course

Boud, D., Cohen, R., & Sampson, J. (1999). Peer Learning and Assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 24 (4), 413-426, DOI: 10.1080/0260293990240405

Boud, D., Cohen, R., & Sampson, J. (Eds.). (2014). Peer learning in higher education: Learning from and with each other . London: Routledge.

Chalmers, D. and Volet, S. 1997. Common misconceptions about students from South‐East Asia in Australia. Higher Education Research and Development , 16 (1), 87–98. 

Slavin, R. E. (1995).  Cooperative Learning , Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

For more help, please contact  [email protected] .

Assessments, Feedback and Grades

• Building Assessments in Canvas
• Creating an Assignment
• Creating a Media Recording Assignment
• Creating an Ungraded, No-Submission Assignment (Reading Assignment)
• Submitting a File to a Canvas Assignment on a Student's Behalf
• Duplicating an Assignment
• Setting Lock / Availability Dates
• Due Dates versus Display Dates
• Checking a Canvas Activity in Student View without Releasing It to Students
• Assignments (Vendor Guides)
• Turnitin: Creating a Turnitin Assignment
• Turnitin: Assignment Settings Options
• Turnitin: Viewing the Similarity Report / Originality Score (Instructor Guide)
• Creating a Discussion Board
• Implementing Online Discussions
• Discussions (Vendor Guides)
• Strategies for Delivering Exams / Quizzes in Canvas
• Introducing New Quizzes
• New Quizzes (Vendor Guides)
• Quizzes (Vendor Guides)
• Supporting and Using Feedback in Your Class
• Submitting Audio / Video Feedback to a Student
• Grading Assignments Using the SpeedGrader
• Utilizing Anonymous Grading
• Accessing the SpeedGrader from the Gradebook
• Gradebook Overview and Features
• Understanding Gradebook Views and Filters
• Using the Grade Posting Policy
• Changing Grading Schemes / Grade Letter Ranges
• Creating Weighted Assignments Groups
• Importing Grades into Gradebook
• SpeedGrader (Vendor Guides)
• Rubrics (Vendor Guides)
• Gradebook (Vendor Guides)
• Feedback & Accessibility Barriers Tool: Overview
• Enabling / Viewing the Feedback & Accessibility Barriers Tool
• Mid-Semester Feedback: Overview
• Disabling / Enabling the Mid-Semester Feedback Tool in Your Canvas Course
• Timing of Mid-Semester Feedback
• Managing Mid-Semester Feedback Survey Questions
• Viewing / Downloading Student Mid-Semester Feedback Submissions
• New Analytics (Vendor Guides)
• Analytics (Vendor Guides)
• Outcomes (Vendor Guides)

Other Resources

• Accessibility
• Inclusivity
• Canvas @ Yale Settings
• Enrollment & Permissions
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• Updates & Known Issues
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• Course Management
• Canvas @ Yale External Applications
• Discover Instructional Tools
• Instructor FAQ
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• Student Assessment Guides
• Student FAQ

Add Cengage Infuse Content in Canvas

Add Cengage Infuse reading assignments, concept checks, and end-of-chapter quizzes to your Canvas™ course.

Assignment types

• Open your Canvas course.

The app is copied when you copy a Canvas course.

• From the course navigation, click Settings  > Navigation .
• Drag the Cengage app to the course navigation.
• Click Save .
• From the course navigation, click Cengage .

If you get an error message when you click Cengage , see LTI Advantage .

If you don't have a Cengage instructor account, click Create Account .

• Click Add Cengage Infuse .
• Search for your textbook in the search bar.

Field	Notes
Course Name	Include the academic term in the course name.
Start date	This date is both the first day students can access your course and the beginning of your students' temporary access period. It cannot be changed after students access the course.
End date	To allow your students to view their grades and complete late work, consider setting this 1 week after the last day of class.
Time Zone	Assignment dates and times are based on the time zone you select.

• Click Continue .

You can return to add more content at any point during your course.

The assignment opens in a new tab.

• Set how many attempts students have for each type of Cengage Infuse assignment.

• Knowledge Base
• Learning Management Systems
• Using Hypothesis in the LMS

Using the Hypothesis LMS App With Assignments in Canvas

Using the Hypothesis app within Assignments allows some additional functionality over  creating Module Items . Instructors can assess student work in SpeedGrader , assign the reading/annotating to a particular Canvas Group and also set due dates or dates of availability for the Assignment. 

1. Select “Assignments” from your course Navigation sidebar

2. On the Assignments page click the “ + Assignment” button

2. Scroll down to the Submission Type field

Note: some users may have to click a  More Options  button to see this field.

From the drop-down menu, choose  External Tool  and click  Find

Then click Hypothesis from list of tools

3. Select the content source to use for your reading

You will have the option to enter a publicly-viewable URL, select a file from your Canvas file repository, select a PDF from Google Drive, or select a PDF from OneDrive.

Expand the sections below for instructions to use each option:

Enter URL of web page or PDF

Click the button that says Enter URL of web page or PDF . On the  Enter URL  dialog, enter a link to a public web page or PDF. Please note that the content at the link must be publicly viewable (i.e., not behind a login or paywall).

Click the Submit button.

Select PDF from Canvas

You must upload PDFs to your Canvas file repository before completing the steps below. The Canvas File Picker does not allow for uploading new documents.

Click the button that says Select PDF from Canvas . You will see a list of PDFs that have been uploaded to your Canvas file repository.

Note: The Canvas File picker does not show any folder structure in your course’s file repository; instead you are shown a combined list of all PDFs available in your course. It could be difficult, therefore, to tell the difference between PDFs if they share the same file name, even if they are saved to different folders. We recommend changing the filename of the document you plan on using with Hypothesis so it will be obvious which PDF to choose from the list.

Highlight the file you wish to use and click the Select button.

Select Canvas Page

The Canvas Page you use in Hypothesis must be published and visible to students.

Click the button that says Canvas Page . You will see a list of Published pages from your course.

Select the file you wish to use and then click the “Select” button.

Select PDF from Google Drive

Using a PDF stored in Google Drive within the Hypothesis LMS app will change the sharing settings of the selected file to allow the PDF to be shown to anyone viewing the assignment. The exact setting on the file will be “Anyone with a link can view”. For more information please see our articles on Google Drive sharing settings and using Hypothesis with Google Drive .

Click the button that says  Select PDF from Google Drive . You will be asked to select a Google account and/or authorize the Hypothesis LMS App to access Google Drive. To use an institutional Google Drive account you need to already have the ability to share documents with users outside your organization.

Search or browse to select a PDF to use in your reading. You may also click the Upload tab to upload a new PDF to use.

Only files for which you have e dit permission are able to be used by Hypothesis.

Click on the file you want to use and then click the Select button.

Note: This process will change the sharing permission of the selected Google Drive file to allow the PDF to be shown to anyone viewing the assignment. For more information please see our document about using Hypothesis with Google Drive .

Select PDF from OneDrive

Click the button that says  Select PDF from OneDrive . You will be asked to select a Microsoft account and/or authorize the Hypothesis LMS App to access OneDrive. To use an institutional OneDrive account you need to already have the ability to share documents with users outside your organization.

Once logged on, browse to select a PDF to use in your reading. You may also select the Upload option to upload a new PDF to use.

Only files available in “My files” are able to be used by Hypothesis. You will be unable to use PDFs that belong in any Shared Libraries.

Click to select the file you want to use and then click the Open button.

Note: This process will change the sharing permission of the selected OneDrive file to allow the PDF to be shown to anyone viewing the assignment. For more information please see our document about using Hypothesis with OneDrive .

Select PDF from JSTOR

When selecting a text from JSTOR it must be one that your school has license to access, and you must use the JSTOR stable URL. Complete instructions here .

Find and copy the Stable URL of the article you will be assigning from JSTOR.org. The stable URL is listed as part of the content metadata section of the page, usually under the title, author, and journal information.

Select the JSTOR article option in the Hypothesis picker during the assignment creation process and paste the stable URL into the text field. Click the right arrow and then accept JSTOR’s terms of use.

Select texts and ebooks from VitalSource

When selecting a text from VitalSource it must be one that your and your students have access to independent of Hypothesis. Complete instructions here .

Open your VitalSource bookshelf, and then find and copy either the text’s VBID or the text’s URL.

Select the VitalSource article option in the Hypothesis picker during the assignment creation process and paste the VBID or URL into the text field. Click the right arrow and then the “Select Book” button.

In the next screen select the starting point of the assignment (for example, you may have a specific assignment start on the book’s 2nd chapter instead of starting at the beginning of the book for every assignment).

With the starting point selected, click the Select button.

Enter URL of a Youtube Video

Choosing the YouTube option enables an instructor to create an assignment where users can watch the selected YouTube video and annotate its transcript simultaneously. Here’s what a YouTube assignment in Hypothesis looks like:

Click here to view the detailed steps on how to set up a Youtube video assignment in Hypothesis .

Select Content from Canvas Studio

Choosing the Canvas Studio option enables an instructor to create an assignment where users can play the selected Canvas Studio content and annotate its transcript simultaneously. Here’s what a Canvas Studio assignment in Hypothesis looks like:

Click here to view the detailed steps on how to set up a Canvas Studio assignment in Hypothesis.

You have the option to allow the creation of reading groups based on a pre-existing group set. To enable this, check the box to indicate This is a group assignment , then select the appropriate existing group set from the drop-down list.

If you do not want to designate the reading as a groups assignment, leave the  Group assignment  box unchecked.

Click the  Continue  button.

5. You will be returned to the Configure External Tool window

Notice that the URL text box is now populated.

Tip: We recommend checking the “Load In A New Tab” option. This will allow for a better reading experience for students, especially those who magnify the contents of their screen for accessibility purposes. 

Click the Select button.

6. Edit the Assignment name, instructions, due dates, and any other settings you wish to change

Scroll down and click Save  or  Save & Publish

7. Preview your Hypothesis-enabled reading

The reading should now open with the Hypothesis sidebar loaded.

You and your students will now be able to select text and annotate.

Related Articles

• Using the Hypothesis integration with Canvas Sections
• Finding the Hypothesis LMS app in your course
• Hypothesis Student License Integration – Student article
• Enabling the Canvas Studio Integration in the Hypothesis LMS app
• Troubleshooting LMS App Error Messages in Moodle
• Using Hypothesis With Moodle Course Content Files

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