Hidden Mysteries of Canvas Revealed! Tips and Tricks for using Canvas more effectively

Dear Colleagues,

This month I share with you some not-so-spooky “hidden mysteries of Canvas,” which may help you to create a better learning experience for your students. 

As an example, recently I was feeling a bit concerned that my students hadn’t viewed the individual feedback that I’d offered to each on their recent writing assignments. So I wanted to know if there was a way for me to see whether the students had, indeed, looked at my feedback. I hunted around a bit but didn’t find any obvious menu or option to see that. So I dropped into the Virtual Tech Hub and shortly thereafter learned how to do this. In the “SpeedGrader” view in Canvas in the upper right hand corner it tells you if and when the student has viewed their feedback, which looks like this:

Here are a few more “hidden” Canvas secrets that you might find helpful:

• Grade Posting Policies 
• Adding Module Requirements
• Understanding Course Settings
• Comparing Graded vs. Ungraded Discussions
• Searching in and across courses
• Using the Canvas Chat
• Filtering Gradebook Content