Canvas Tools for Early Student Engagement

Canvas Tools for Early Student Engagement

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Early student interaction and feedback is critical to student success, and Canvas has tools that can provide metrics on that interaction within the LMS. For in-person students, this could mean having them check the Syllabus for course expectations and Calendar for semester due dates. In an online course, early and ongoing engagement is vital to building meaningful learning experiences and students’ success. Check out the interactive “Blazing New Trails for Online Engagement” for examples in the online environment.

Below are some of the Canvas tools available to you to view student engagement in Canvas.

Course Analytics

The easiest way to access Couse Analytics is by going to your Home page of a Canvas course and then clicking on the 📊 Course Analytics button on the right side of your screen.

  • Alternatively, the Course Analytics course navigation menu can be enabled on the left side of your screen by going to your course Settings >> Navigation tab. Then, drag the Course Analytics button from the bottom (inactive) list to the top (active) list. See Configuring Course Navigation for more information.

Click on each accordion below to learn more about the tabs within Course Analytics.

Course Grade

A graph from the Course Analytics 'Course Grade' tab, showing the distribution of average grades for assignments. A central box plot displays the overall course grade distribution. A legend at the top defines icons for 'Assignments,' 'Discussions,' 'Quizzes,' 'Graded' (filled blue dot), and 'No Data' (hollow blue dot). Below the box plot, individual assignments are plotted as interactive icons, categorized by their type. Clicking a dot reveals details and a 'Message Students Who' option.

The Course Grade tab will show you the average course grade for various assignments in your course.

Click on any of the dots within the graph to view additional details about the assignment.

Use the “Message Students Who” button to send a message to students who:

  • fall within a specific percentage
  • have missing work
  • have late work
Weekly Online Activity

A screenshot of the Course Analytics 'Weekly Online Activity' tab. The page displays two line graphs, one for 'Average Page Views' and one for 'Average Participations,' plotted by week. Clicking a dot on the graphs will reveal details for that week, including student participation, resources viewed, and a 'Download CSV' option.

The Weekly Online Activity tab displays average page views, average participation, and a table of resource content in your course (Students, Page Views, and Participations).

Click on any of the dots within the graph to see additional information on page views, participation, and the resources that were viewed.

Use the Message Students Who button to send a message to students who:

  • viewed a specific resource
  • didn’t view a specific resource
  • participated in a specific resource
  • didn’t participate in a specific resource
Students

A screenshot of the Course Analytics 'Students' tab in Canvas, which lists enrolled students in a table. The table columns display each student's name, current grade, percentage of on-time submissions, last participation date, last page view date, total page views, and total participations.

The Students tab will show you a complete listing of all students enrolled in your course. The table also displays:

  • a student’s current course grade
  • percentage of assignments submitted on time or before a due date
  • the date when a student last interacted with the course
  • the date when a user last accessed the course
  • the count of total page views for a student within the course
  • the count of total participations for a student within the course

On this screen, the same options are available for Message Students Who that are available on the Course Grade tab.

Reports

A screenshot of the 'Reports' tab in Canvas Course Analytics. The page lists available report types, each with an 'i' icon to preview an example and a 'Run Report' button. The reports listed are: 'Missing Assignments,' 'Late Assignments,' 'Excused Assignments,' 'Class Roster,' and 'Course Activity.' A note at the top indicates that data latency is about 8 hours.

The Reports tab offers five reports that can be run from this screen. Click on the â„šī¸ information icon next to each name to see an example.

  • Missing Assignments: This report will produce a list of assignments that have not been submitted yet.
  • Late Assignments: This report will produce a list of assignments that have been submitted late.
  • Excused Assignments: This report will produce a list of assignments that are excused.
  • Class Roster: This report will produce a list of students enrolled in the course or section with student contact information such as email, SIS ID, etc.
  • Course Activity: The report provides a list of daily user interactions in course resources, where each report entry captures a summary of user views and participations. Account time zone is applied to facilitate daily views and participation aggregates. Calendar filter only accommodates for 30 days in the past.

After running the report, you can download a CSV file to your computer to look at the data.

Online Attendance

A screenshot of the Canvas 'Online Attendance' report. The page shows a table listing students and their engagement for the week. Columns include 'Students,' 'Days Not Met,' and the days of the week. A green checkmark indicates a student met the engagement criteria for a day, while a red 'X' indicates they did not. Red circles highlight two 'X' marks for 'Alfred Student,' who has '4' Days Not Met.

The Online Attendance report helps instructors identify students who may be disengaged or falling behind based on customizable engagement criteria. Criteria include:

  • Course Access: student views a page in a course
  • Posts: student posts a new comment to an announcement or a discussion
  • Assignments: student submits an assignment
  • Collaborations: student loads a collaboration to view/edit document
  • Conferences: student joins a web conference
  • Pages: student creates a page
  • Quizzes: student starts taking or submits a classic quiz or submits a classic quiz

If a student meets the requirements of any selected criteria, he/she will be marked as present for that day in the Online Attendance report.

Additional Resources

View Course Analytics in a Course
View Average Course Grade Analytics
Compare the Course Average Chart Graph
Send a Message to All Students Based on Specific Course Criteria
Send a Message to Individual Students
View Weekly Online Activity Analytics
Compare the Weekly Online Activity Chart Graph
Send a Message to All Students Based on Specific Course Participation Criteria
Send a Message to All Students Based on Specific Course Participation Criteria

How do I send a message to an individual student based on specific course participation criteria in Course Analytics?

00:07: How do I send a message to an individual student? Based on specific course, 00:11: participation criteria in new Analytics 00:14: In global navigation, click the courses link. 00:18: Then click the name of the course. 00:21: To open new analytics. Click the new analytics Link in course, navigation. 00:27: Or click the new analytics button in the course homepage. 00:31: Click the weekly online activity table. 00:35: In the filter field search for, and select the name of the intended student. 00:40: Then click the message icon. 00:43: Select a participation status to message the student about 00:47: In the resource, drop-down menu, select all a specific resource. 00:53: In the subject field enter a subject for your message. 00:57: In the message field, enter the description of your message. 01:01: Click the send button. 01:03: This guide covered how to send a message to an individual student based on specific 01:07: course. Participation criteria in new Analytics.

View and Download Reports