wiki assignments in canvas

Canvas How-To: Journals, Blogs, & Wikis

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Contact Information

Mary Stuart Rogers, MSR 380

Introduction

Canvas does not have a built-in equivalent tool for journal, blog, and wiki course activities. However, these activities can be undertaken in Canvas to some degree using existing tools and external tools.

Activity description:  Journals are an activity where students write successive entries in the same location that are visible only to the student and the instructor.

• Option 1:  Use Discussions Plus external tool to create private journals.
• Option 2: Use the Discussion tool to create private journals for each student using the Group Discussion feature.

Grading caveat:  In either solution, journals can be graded and assigned due dates, but the grade and due date apply to the whole activity.  In other words, it is not possible to grade individual entries or assign due dates to individual entries.

Option 1: Discussions Plus

Discussions Plus makes it easy to create a journaling activity in Canvas.

Part 1: Set up a Canvas assignment for the Discussions Plus activity

• Open the Assignments page in the course and create a new assignment (this is assuming the journals will be graded - see below if not)
• In the Submission Type menu, choose "External Tool" and click the Find button
• Locate and select "Discussions Plus" as the external tool
• When prompted, click the "Discussion" option, not "Poll".
• Click the red "Select" button and finish configuring any other assignment settings such as points, due date, etc.
• Click Save.  The Discussions Plus interface will automatically open.

Part 2: Configure Discussions Plus to be a journal

• In the Discussions Plus interface, click the "Post Settings" tab

• Scroll to the bottom and click Save & Close
• Publish the activity in Canvas

Part 3: Read the Journals

Return to the activity in Canvas to open the Discussions Plus environment.  Click on a student's thread to read their entries.

Option 2: Canvas Discussions

In this option, the instructor creates a standard Canvas discussion using groups and assigns each student to their own 'group'.

Part 1: Create the Discussions

• In the Course Menu, click on the  Discussion  link
• Click on the  +Discussions  button on the top right.
• Type "Journal" into the  Topic Title
• Add: instructions, grades, availability...
• Scroll down and choose the  This is a Group Discussion  option.
• Type a  Group Set Name  to describe the set of groups.
• In the Group Structure, choose to  Split student into (_) groups .
• Enter the same number of students you have in the course, so each student has their own discussion/journal. 

Part 2: Rename the Discussions for Each Student

• In the Course Menu, click on the  People  link.
• Click on the tab related to the Group Set you created in Part 1. 
• Click on the on the name of the discussion (journal 1) to reveal the student who has been assigned to this discussion thread.

• Rename of the group to  the student's name  so you can easily identify it in the list of Discussions.
• Click on the  Save  button.

The journaling activity is just another Discussion in the course.  It is available from the Discussions home page in the course, and a link to it can be added to the course Modules page.

Blogs in Canvas

Activity description:  Blogs are an activity where students write successive entries in the same location that are visible to the whole class and the instructor.

Solution:  Use the Discussions Plus tool for maximum ease-of-use.  Each student's blog will occupy one 'thread' in the class-wide discussion activity.

Steps to complete:

• Create a new assignment in Canvas if the activity will be graded.  Note that the final grade will encompass the totality of the activity, not specific blog posts.
• Type the content of the prompt that will guide the blog entries.
• In the Submission Type, choose "External Tool".
• Click the "Find" button and select "Discussions Plus".
• Choose "Discussion" at the prompt.
• Click "Save". The Discussions Plus interface will open.
• If desired, configure specific settings in Discussions Plus that are relevant to your activity.
• Click "Save & Close" to finish the set up
• Make the assignment link available in Canvas.  Remember to publish the item!

Wikis in Canvas

Activity Description:  A wiki is a small collection of web pages that are editable by multiple people. 

Solution:  Canvas Pages. Students can use a series of Pages created by the instructor and linked together as the environment for their wiki project.

Grading Caveat:  This solution cannot be directly graded.

Part 1: Create blank pages

In this solution, the instructor creates a series of empty pages for the students to use in the wiki activity. For example, if the instructor expects six total pages from a group of students, she will create six blank pages for that group (and six more for another group, and so on).

• In the Course Menu, click on the  Pages  link.
• Click on the  + Page  button. 
• Type the name of the page into the  Topic Title . Note: students cannot change this title!

• Click on the  Save & Publish  button.
• Repeat these steps for any other page that is part of the wiki activity.
• Add a link to the first page of the activity in the Modules area of the course, if desired.

Part 2: Students edit page, add links to other pages, etc

Student are directed to click the link for the first page of the wiki from the Modules area of the course or are directed to the Pages silo in the course menu to find the correct page.

Students click the  Edit  button on a page to begin editing. In addition to supplying the content for the page, students should be encouraged to use the  Links  tab to make links to other pages in the wiki activity:

• Type the name of the link (this is the text users will read and click on) and  highlight it .
• Open the  Links  tab
• Open the  Pages  menu

After completing the edits, click  Save .  Note: students cannot change the title of a page.

Part 3: View the Page History

To check the contribution history of a single page:

• Click on the Options icon

The content on this page has been adapted from content created by the  Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology  at Cal Poly SLO.

Updated: October 11, 2022

Modal Title

Building a Wiki Page in Canvas

by Justina | Sep 13, 2021 | Assignments , Building Community , Building Curriculum , Canvas , Collaboration , Course Content , Course Design , Course Modality , Discussion , Group Work , Hybrid/Blended , Online , Students as Producers

by Rebecca Borowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, WWU

Getting bored with Discussion boards? Consider having students post to a wiki! A wiki is a website that can be edited by multiple users. Rather than discussion boards, where students reply directly to each other and conversations happen in small groups or threads, a wiki page shows all of the posts and comments on one main page.

For example, perhaps you want students to find an example of a graph and share it with the class for everyone to analyze and discuss. Rather than having students submit their graph to you via an assignment or post it to a discussion board, have students add it to an “Examples of Graphs” page. In addition to posting their graph, ask students to post 2-3 sentences about why they selected it or what they think is meaningful about it. Once everyone has posted, you can respond with your own feedback, or invite students to post feedback on each other’s graphs. Rather than being embedded in multiple threads, all of the work is displayed on this one page, almost as if it was written on the white board in your face-to-face classroom.

To set up a wiki page, create a new page in Canvas and select “teachers and students” to answer the question about who can edit the page. Then build questions/opportunities for posting onto the page, and let students add their work!

Learning how to use wikis can be labor intensive at first, but once they get the hang of it, the benefits are plentiful. Take a look at the attachments to see the directions I give students when they are learning to post to wiki pages within Canvas.

One caution: If multiple students are editing the page at the same time, some of the work may be “overwritten.” For the reason, I encourage students to compose their posts in a word document first, then just copy and paste their work into the Canvas page for a quick post.

For assistance with Canvas, see: Canvas Help at WWU .

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Lms support for staff.

• Staff guides

Wikis in the LMS

Wikis are a collaborative communication tool that allow students to work together in a private space that is easily editable to complete a piece of work together.

Wikis differ from blogs in that the writing is a collaborative effort where students can all edit the Wiki page to co-create the final piece of work. Typically, they are one or more pages that students design with a flat navigation to present a group project or piece of work.

Wikis can be used for a range of educational purposes, including:

• Group work or group projects
• Building community between students
• Co-creation of ideas and learning

Canvas LMS does not include a wiki tool specifically, however the Groups functionality in the LMS and Pages within groups provide wiki functionality. This guide outlines how to set up a wiki activity in Canvas.

Any Page in the LMS can be set to allow students to edit it, hence being able to be used as a wiki. (Note that students are not able to create their own Pages in the LMS). Similarly, Pages as wikis can also be used within Groups, providing the same functionality but allowing students to keep the wiki private to only the members of their Group. (To set up Groups, see below).

If a wiki activity is for the whole subject, a Group can be created including all the students in the subject, however, more typically wiki activities are assigned to individual Groups.

The following guide provides an overview of creating a wiki activity in Canvas LMS. If you would like to book a consultation for assistance, please submit a support request .

Creating Groups for a wiki activity

Creating group sets.

To create groups, you first create a Group Set (a set of common groups) in Canvas LMS, then create the associated Groups for the Group Set ; either:

• Automatically
• Via manual enrol
• Via self-enrol

Creating Groups

To set up Groups in your subject:

Enter a Group Set name, for example (Subject code and name) wiki activity

Note: We recommend you always include the subject code and name in a Group Set name and Group names. The reason for this is that students can access their Groups outside of their subjects via the global navigation area in Canvas and may end up with several groups with the same or similar names from several subjects unless the subject code/name is included.

• Allow self sign-up: students can self-enrol in Groups
• Split students into groups: students are automatically assigned to Groups
• I’ll create groups manually: students are manually allocated to Groups.

Note: For Allow self sign-up Groups you will need to ensure the People subject navigation link is available to students so they can sign-up to the Groups.

Note: If you choose I’ll create Groups manually , you can need to click + Group to create the different groups within your Group Set and then drag and drop student names into the appropriate group. Remember to use the subject code within the Group name as noted above.

See this guide for assistance: How do I add a group set in a subject (course)?

Student access to the Group Home Page

Once Groups have been created as above, the group automatically gets a Groups Home Page and the Pages tool where they can create a wiki. Students can access their Group Home Page via the Groups icon in the global navigation.

Once enrolled in a group, students can also access their subject Groups in the Subject Groups area on the home page of your subject in the right-hand sidebar.

Students's setup of Pages for their wiki activity within a Group

The Pages area in groups can be used for group wiki activity.

In Pages within the group, students can select a page to use as a front page for their group area. They can also use the linking functionality to make a logical wiki structure.

When viewing All Pages in a group, as a default the Pages are displayed in alphabetical order. It is recommended that students use numbers in the Page name to force the Pages to list in their preferred order.

Creating a graded group wiki activity

If you wish to track grades and give feedback on a group wiki activity, create a Group Assignment with the  Online setting and Website URL submission instructing students to submit their Group wiki URL.

Instructions are given to the student to copy the Group Front Page URL from the navigation bar in the browser and submit that once the work is completed.

Ensure you select This is a Group Assignment for the Assignment so the wiki URL can be submitted once on behalf of the group and all group members can see the marks and feedback.

• Click on the subject navigation link Assignment

• Enter the Assignment Name for your Assignment (e.g. Group wiki activity)
• Write or paste the wiki activity instructions into the rich text editor. Include the instructions to the students that only one person needs to submit to the wiki Group Assignment on behalf of the Group. To copy the wiki URL, ensure the student is on the Front Page for the wiki (Pages) and copying the URL from the navigation bar in the browser.
• In the Points box, enter the points for the assignment. (It is recommended to grade the activity out of ‘100’ and weight the assignment according to its relative value in GradeBook later).
• In the Assignment Group box, choose the appropriate Assignment group or create a new one (suggestion: Group wiki activity)
• In the Display Mark as box, choose the appropriate method to display your grades

• Select This is a Group Assignment
• Either select the Group Set already created for the activity or create a new Group Set
• Complete the remaining Assignment settings as desired

Student guide: How do I enter a URL as an assignment submission?

Staff access to the Group Home Page for groups in your subject

As staff in a subject you can view the Group Home Page for groups in your subjects:

• Go to Subject Navigation: People>> Group Set Name

• Click Visit Group Homepage

Note: you can view the Page history of any Page to see who has contributed.

How do I view all groups in a subject (course) as an instructor?

This guide was last updated 12 Mar 2024. Please report any errors or omissions in this guide by submitting an LMS support request .

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Building a Wiki Page in Canvas

by Rebecca Borowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, WWU

Getting bored with Discussion boards? Consider having students post to a wiki! A wiki is a website that can be edited by multiple users. Rather than discussion boards, where students reply directly to each other and conversations happen in small groups or threads, a wiki page shows all of the posts and comments on one main page.

For example, perhaps you want students to find an example of a graph and share it with the class for everyone to analyze and discuss. Rather than having students submit their graph to you via an assignment or post it to a discussion board, have students add it to an “Examples of Graphs” page. In addition to posting their graph, ask students to post 2-3 sentences about why they selected it or what they think is meaningful about it. Once everyone has posted, you can respond with your own feedback, or invite students to post feedback on each other’s graphs. Rather than being embedded in multiple threads, all of the work is displayed on this one page, almost as if it was written on the white board in your face-to-face classroom.

To set up a wiki page, create a new page in Canvas and select “teachers and students” to answer the question about who can edit the page. Then build questions/opportunities for posting onto the page, and let students add their work!

Learning how to use wikis can be labor intensive at first, but once they get the hang of it, the benefits are plentiful. Take a look at the attachments to see the directions I give students when they are learning to post to wiki pages within Canvas.

One caution: If multiple students are editing the page at the same time, some of the work may be “overwritten.” For the reason, I encourage students to compose their posts in a word document first, then just copy and paste their work into the Canvas page for a quick post.

For assistance with Canvas, see: Canvas Help at WWU .

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Teach Smart with Technology: Using Wikis for Collaborative Learning

by Cecilia Lo | Aug 30, 2018 | Instructional design

What are Wikis? Why use them as Assignments?

Wiki is a collection of web pages that can be viewed and modified collaboratively via the internet.  It is usually used for repository or reporting information and has versioning capabilities.  Since it is an online tool, collaborators can access and edit the information at any location at any time; they can also view changes in real-time.  A well-known example of wiki is the  Wikipedia —a “self-organizing, self-correcting online encyclopedia anyone can edit” (Jimmy Wales, in “ Why Does Wikipedia Work? ”).  The fundamental tenant of wiki is the gathering of information from a community of participants with a shared interest as opposed to disseminating information by experts in a top-down model.

Instructors typically assign exercises involving the wikis to help students achieve pedagogical objectives such as:

• Expand student literacy in the field  through reading and summarizing relevant writings
• Build  research and writing skills
• Develop  critical thinking skills  when they evaluate others’ contributions
• Gain insight into the  process of constructing of knowledge  and the  instability of knowledge
• Create a learning community by  providing a peer-learning experience;  provide  students  an opportunity to  learn how to work  collaboratively— trusting each other, respect of each other, and making objective suggestions; give students  an alternative way to participate  in class
• Promote “ pride of authorship ” and  ownership  in the team’s activities. Further, students can show off their work in a public wiki with friends and family, and if their wiki pages has high readership outside of the class, it also gives them certain bragging rights.
• Learn how to write for and  engage a public audience , and practice good digital citizenship. Students learn essential  digital communication skills  and the visual rhetoric of digital writing (e.g. how images and other media are used in relation to the text).
• Help student recognize the  real-world relevance  of what they are learning through linking to internet resource, and through engaging with the larger public in the case of a public wiki.

Some Examples

Typical wiki assignments include:

• Collaborative glossary
• Collaborative class notes or textbook
• Group projects—share resources, track meeting notes, agenda items, and work progress
• Peer-review of student writing
• e-portfolios to reflect on learning progress

Specific Examples

• The Chicago School of Media Theory Wikipedia like entries of terms written by students
• Powerpedia A collaborative resource created by students in Richard Westerman’s  Power, Identity, and Resistance  Core Social Sciences course at the University of Chicago in 2010-11, and retained as a reference for future students in that course.
• Being Christian in the Roman Empire:  Midterm Site on UChicago Wiki  (CNetID log-in required) |  Final Site on Wikipedia Class wiki created by students in Brandon Cline’s  Being Christian in the Roman Empire  course in 2012 spring quarter
• Wikis in University Teaching and Learning  (YouTube Video) Richard Buckland of University of New South Wales discusses what wiki is, how it works, how he has used it successfully (collaborative class notes, assignments) in a presentation for the Foundations of University Learning and Teaching (FULT) program. The video is almost an hour long, but is worth watching.
• Brian Katz, “ Technology Supporting Innovative Pedagogy ,” AMS Graduate Student Blog, May 25, 2011 Katz describes asking his students to create WikiTextbook in the first part of the blog post.
• “ Wiki Brings a Class Together – Tim Paustian ,” Paustian of University of Wisconsin—Madison uses wiki to help microbiology lab students work collaboratively on a class lab project and help them see how their individual work fit into the bigger class project.
• “ Wiki Improves Peer Editing – Erica Halverson ” Halverson of University of Wisconsin—Madison assigned her education students to work on their instructional design group projects in a wiki so that students can get peer feedback from group members and from other groups.

As with any other assignments, the success of any assignment depends on having:

• Clear and transparent learning goals and expectation:  Students need to understand why they are doing the exercises, and what they will get out of them
• Clear and detail instruction, especially expected behavior when they work in groups : It should be clear to the students how to do the assignment and how they can work effectively as a group. Consider assigning roles and other collaborative learning strategies.
• Clear relevance : Students need to see how their work impact on their learning, discuss the work they do outside class meeting back into the classroom
• Clear assessment rubrics:  Students need to know what count as good work. Providing models often help.
• Safe learning environment  that makes participating, sharing, and collaborating mean something: Students need to feel safe to experiment on ideas and experience the effect of positive outcome of their work.

When your assignment involves using collaborative online tools such as wikis, consider:

• Student’s  familiarity with the wiki & potential learning curve : Do not assume students are tech-savvy. Factor in the time/effort students need to learn the tool when you consider appropriate workload. It is often a good idea to scaffold the exercise and assign a very short and easy first exercise with the tool to help students get familiar with it.
• Provide an example  of what you consider good work.
• Nurture continual participation  by discussing their work in class .
• Structure the initial content  for easy access. Since the content in a wiki is created by a group, it is easy for the content to become disorganized and difficult to navigate. This can be addressed by providing an organizational structure before everyone starts contributing.
• Privacy issues:  If you choose to have students work in a public wiki, remember that student information is protected by  FERPA —this is  federal law . For questions regarding FERPA, see the  University Registrar’s web page  or email them at  [email protected]  or call 773.702.7891.

Wiki Tools at UChicago

If you are interesting in wiki tools, please contact us .

• “ 7 Things You Should Know about Wiki ,”  Educause
• Andrea Novicki, “ Course wiki facilitates student participation and course design ,” Duke University Center for Instructional Technology Blog
• Andrea Novicki, “ Teaching with a wiki ,” Duke University Center for Instructional Technology Blog

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• Using Canvas Pages as a Wiki

A wiki is collaborative tool for editing a single document. In instruction, wikis can be used for group writing assignments, or projects, or simply to allow multiple authors to craft a page. This link explains more about using wikis as an instructional tool for creating and evaluating.

Canvas does not have a tool specifically called "wiki"; however, each page is able to be edited by multiple authors when designated by the instructor (See Fig. 1). To create a wiki for your class, follow this link  for instructions on how to create a new page in Canvas. Then change the settings on the page to allow anyone to edit. One important feature to note is that the Canvas Pages tool does not track participation and contribution statistics.

Figure 1 : Allow anyone to edit a Canvas page

This guide from Northwestern University provides step-by-step instructions on pages 3 and 4 for creating and using wiki pages in Canvas: http://lmsblog.it.northwestern.edu/2014/12/02/student-blog-and-journal/

Modified on: Wed, Jun 2, 2021 at 1:12 PM

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Using ELMS Group Pages for Wiki Projects

Wikis (websites that facilitate collaborative content contributions and editing) are a great tool for supporting student group work and creativity. Pages in ELMS-Canvas group spaces can provide a protected and intuitive infrastructure for building wiki content to support digital storytelling, research or other digital publication projects.

If you have never set up Groups in your ELMS course space before, see one of the following documents, depending on what level of control you wish to have over group membership.

• Create Groups Manually in ELMS-Canvas for Instructors
• Create Self-Enrollment Groups in ELMS-Canvas for Instructors

Students can click on the Groups tab made visible via the People tool and click on the Visit link associated with the group in which they are a member. They can use the same tools for developing Page content as are used by faculty in any ELMS-Canvas course. It is important to note, however, that students do not have the ability to make a group home page the starting point of the group environment experience.  The homepage  for a Group is always the Recent Activities  page. Once students have created at least one page within the Pages environment, they can then identify a specific page as the Front Page of the group space by clicking the 3 dots next to the Page title and selecting Set as Front Page.

Students additionally have access to ELMS-Canvas Design Tools to create and style wiki content with pre-built course themes and templates. The developed content is visible only to group members and course instructors and TAs. The wiki is not publicly viewable or accessible outside of the ELMS course space.

The DIT LTS team can provide support on strategizing wiki assignments. Email at [email protected] for assistance.

• EXPLORE Random Article

How to Use Canvas Student

Last Updated: June 23, 2020 References

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 12 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 24,481 times.

Canvas is a learning-management system that allows students to access their courses from their personal devices. It serves as a source of communication between students and their teachers in order to make their learning more hands on. While each university has a personalized version of Canvas, this wikiHow provides a general overview that will guide students from logging in all the way to properly using Canvas for their classes.

Logging onto Canvas

• Every institution that uses Canvas follows the same URL: canvas.[your institution name].edu.

• Every university provides students with a student identification number and password in order for them to access the university resources.
• Some universities will ask you to log into another domain before accessing Canvas. [1] X Research source

Personalizing Canvas

• Click on the "Account" icon on the left side of the navigation bar and click on "Profile."
• Click on "Edit Profile" in the upper right hand corner.
• Enter in your contact information, such as your email, and include a short biography about yourself. Link your e-portfolio to your profile to show your past accomplishments!
• Click on the "Save Profile" icon at the bottom of the screen once you’re done.

• Click on the "Account" icon on the left side of the navigation bar and click on "Notifications."
• Highlight the times that you would prefer an email notification based on the graphics provided at the top.
• Ensure the times you have chosen are highlighted in green, and it will automatically save for you.

• Click on the "Courses" icon on the left side of the navigation bar and locate the term "All Courses."
• Click a star next to your current or favorite courses to place them into your dashboard.
• Return to your dashboard to see the courses you selected.

• From the dashboard, click on the "Options" menu, which is indicated by three vertical dots.
• Rename your courses and choose a certain color that will help you distinguish it from your other classes.
• Click "Apply" once you are complete.

• Click on the "Account" icon on the left side of the navigation bar and click on "Files".
• Click on the "Upload" icon in the top right corner and upload your files from your computer.
• Click the "Folder" icon next to the Upload icon to place your files into specific folders.

• Click on the "Inbox" icon on the navigation bar.
• Compose an email by clicking on the icon with a pencil in the top right corner.

• Click on the "Calendar" icon in the navigation bar.
• Add any important dates by clicking on the + icon in the top right corner. Enter the dates and times and click submit once finished.

Using Canvas for your Courses

• In your dashboard, click on any specific course.
• Click on the "Syllabus" option located on the left bar of the course and read the information provided.

• Inside your course, click on the "Assignments" icon to locate your work.
• Complete the necessary assignments under the Upcoming Assignments section.
• Once complete, click the "Submit Assignment" icon in order to upload your work.
• Upload the necessary documents according to the direction of your professor and click "Submit Assignment".

• Inside your specific course, click on the "Quizzes" icon on the left bar. Sometimes quizzes can appear in your assignments tab.
• Some quizzes have multiple attempts or a specific time constraint based on the professor, so read the directions.
• Submit the quiz using the submit button. Canvas has a feature that will automatically submit your quiz if you exit without submitting it.

• Inside your specific course, click on the "Discussions" icon located on the left bar.
• Click on any available Discussion and write your comment in the Reply section.
• Make sure you have followed all of the directions provided by your instructor and post your comment once you are done.

• Click on the dashboard icon in the navigation bar on the left.
• Click on the "View Grades" icon in the bottom right-hand corner to view grades for all of your enrolled courses.
• Another method to check grades is by going directly to the specific class and clicking on the Grades tab in the menu of the course. Here only grades for that class will be shown.

• Inside of your course, click on the "Chat" icon located on the left bar.
• Type in your message to your professor in the empty bar and press send when complete.

• Inside of the course, click on the "Collaborations" icon.
• Choose between using Google Doc or Office 365 and create a new document by entering in the title.
• Select the people from your roster that you want to collaborate with.
• Once you have selected the people you want to work with, select the "Start Collaborating" icon on the bottom right corner.

Expert Q&A

• Using an updated browser, such as Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, will allow you to use Canvas smoothly. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Downloading Flash Player, Acrobat Reader, and Java might be necessary in order to view certain course content. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1
• Strong connection to the internet is also recommended when using Canvas. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10726-67952720322
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/a-must-do-update-your-profile?module_item_id=5727
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/choices-notification-preferences?module_item_id=5519
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/manage-your-personal-files-2?module_item_id=5730
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/the-canvas-calendar?module_item_id=5782
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/assignments-overview?module_item_id=5528
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/quizzes-overview?module_item_id=5532
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/discussions-overview?module_item_id=5530
• ↑ https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10722-67952720327

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Keedin Reyes

Jan 8, 2021

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Assignments and Quizzes in Canvas

Use Assignments and Quizzes to challenge students' understanding and assess comprehension by using a variety of media.

Assignments

Assignments include Quizzes, graded Discussions, and online submissions (i.e. files, images, text, URLs, etc.)

Click To Show More

What are the different assignment types.

Assignments can be placed within different assignment types: Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, External Tools, and Not Graded.

How do I add Assignment Groups?

Using Assignment Groups allows you to organize the assignments in your course.

How do I add content to my Assignment?

You can add different types of content to Assignments, such as images, videos, documents, and links as part of your assignment description. You can also edit the assignment details.

What are the different online submission types?

Instructors can enable a variety of different online submission types, including file uploads, rich content, website URLs, and media files.

How do I create a peer review assignment?

A peer review assignment enables students to comment and provide feedback to other students in the course.

What is the difference between due dates and availability dates?

In addition to setting a due date for an assignment, instructors can specify a specific date range that students can submit the assignment. These dates are called availability dates.

See also Instructure's videos: "Assignments Overview" and "Assignment Creation"

Quizzes and Surveys

The quiz tool in Canvas is used to create and administer online quizzes and surveys. You can also use quizzes to conduct and moderate exams and assessments, both graded and ungraded.

What are the different types of Quizzes?

The steps to create quiz content are the same for each quiz type.

How do I create a File Upload question?

You can create a question for students that requires a file upload and can be used for PDFs, images, audio files, video files, etc. This question type requires manual grading.

Once I publish my Quiz, how do I make additional changes?

Changes can be made to a quiz after it has been made available to students - however, students who have already opened or completed the quiz will not see any changes you make.

How do I create a Question Bank?

Question Banks are a place to house questions that can be added to quizzes across courses or accounts.

How do I move multiple questions from one bank to another?

Questions may be moved/copied one at a time or in a batch.

See also Instructure's videos: "Quiz Creation - Settings" and "Quiz Creation - Questions"

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Canvas Guide Topics

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• Canvas at Evergreen
• Technical Requirements
• Designing Your Canvas Course
• Canvas Site Templates
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• Assessment and Grading Tools

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Assignments.

Assignment submissions | Feedback overview

Assignments include Quizzes , graded Discussions , and online submissions (i.e. files, images, text, URLs, etc.). Assignments in Canvas can be used to challenge students' understanding and help assess competency by using a variety of media. The Assignments page shows students all of the Assignments that will be expected of them and how many points each is worth. Assignments can be assigned to everyone in the course or differentiated by section or user. The Assignments page supports keyboard shortcuts. To view a window with a list of keyboard navigation shortcuts, press the Shift+Question Mark keys simultaneously on your keyboard.

From Canvas Basics Guide > What are Assignments?

Closest LumiNUS equivalent: Files (Submission)

Video overviews reflect current feature functionality in Canvas.

They are updated based on workflow changes, not on minor or non-functional interface enhancements.

The Canvas interface for NUS may display differently than shown in this video, but the functionality is the same.

Video by Instructure Canvas Community , reproduced under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license ​.

• View Assignments
• Filter assignments by type
• Use DocViewer in Canvas assignments
• View my Roll Call Attendance report
• Manage confetti animations in Canvas

Assignment submissions

View this video on Vimeo .

• Submit an online assignment
• Upload a file as an assignment submission
• Submit a media file as an assignment submission
• Submit an assignment on behalf of a group
• Submit a text entry assignment
• Enter a URL as an assignment submission
• Use my webcam to take a photo for an assignment submission
• Annotate a file as an assignment submission
• Upload a file from Microsoft Office 365 as an assignment submission
• Submit a cloud assignment with Microsoft Office 365
• How do I know when my assignment has been submitted?
• How do I know when my instructor has graded my assignment?
• Download assignment submissions from all my courses
• Upload a file from Google Drive as an assignment submission (not available in NUS)
• Submit a cloud assignment with Google Drive (not available in NUS)

Feedback overview

Comments, annotations and rubrics

• View assignment comments from my instructor
• View annotation feedback comments from my instructor directly in my assignment submission
• View the rubric for my assignment
• View the rubric for my external tool assignment
• View rubric results for my assignment

Peer review assignments

• How do I know if I have a peer review assignment to complete?
• Submit a peer review to an assignment
• View my peers' feedback for peer reviewed assignments

Canvas LMS - REST API and Extensions Documentation

Courses api.

API for accessing course information.

A Term object looks like:

A courseprogress object looks like:, a course object looks like:, a calendarlink object looks like:, list your courses coursescontroller#index, get /api/v1/courses.

Returns the paginated list of active courses for the current user.

Request Parameters:

List courses for a user coursescontroller#user_index, get /api/v1/users/:user_id/courses.

Returns a paginated list of active courses for this user. To view the course list for a user other than yourself, you must be either an observer of that user or an administrator.

Get user progress CoursesController#user_progress

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/users/:user_id/progress.

Return progress information for the user and course

You can supply self as the user_id to query your own progress in a course. To query another user’s progress, you must be a teacher in the course, an administrator, or a linked observer of the user.

Create a new course CoursesController#create

Post /api/v1/accounts/:account_id/courses.

Create a new course

Upload a file CoursesController#create_file

Post /api/v1/courses/:course_id/files.

Upload a file to the course.

This API endpoint is the first step in uploading a file to a course. See the File Upload Documentation for details on the file upload workflow.

Only those with the “Manage Files” permission on a course can upload files to the course. By default, this is Teachers, TAs and Designers.

List students CoursesController#students

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/students.

Returns the paginated list of students enrolled in this course.

DEPRECATED: Please use the course users endpoint and pass “student” as the enrollment_type.

List users in course CoursesController#users

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/users, get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/search_users.

Returns the paginated list of users in this course. And optionally the user’s enrollments in the course.

List recently logged in students CoursesController#recent_students

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/recent_students.

Returns the paginated list of users in this course, ordered by how recently they have logged in. The records include the ‘last_login’ field which contains a timestamp of the last time that user logged into canvas. The querying user must have the ‘View usage reports’ permission.

Example Request:

Get single user coursescontroller#user, get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/users/:id.

Return information on a single user.

Accepts the same include[] parameters as the :users: action, and returns a single user with the same fields as that action.

Search for content share users CoursesController#content_share_users

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/content_share_users.

Returns a paginated list of users you can share content with. Requires the content share feature and the user must have the manage content permission for the course.

Preview processed html CoursesController#preview_html

Post /api/v1/courses/:course_id/preview_html.

Preview html content processed for this course

Example Response:

Course activity stream coursescontroller#activity_stream, get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/activity_stream.

Returns the current user’s course-specific activity stream, paginated.

For full documentation, see the API documentation for the user activity stream, in the user api.

Course activity stream summary CoursesController#activity_stream_summary

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/activity_stream/summary.

Returns a summary of the current user’s course-specific activity stream.

For full documentation, see the API documentation for the user activity stream summary, in the user api.

Course TODO items CoursesController#todo_items

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/todo.

Returns the current user’s course-specific todo items.

For full documentation, see the API documentation for the user todo items, in the user api.

Delete/Conclude a course CoursesController#destroy

Delete /api/v1/courses/:id.

Delete or conclude an existing course

Get course settings CoursesController#api_settings

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/settings.

Returns some of a course’s settings.

Update course settings CoursesController#update_settings

Put /api/v1/courses/:course_id/settings.

Can update the following course settings:

Return test student for course CoursesController#student_view_student

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/student_view_student.

Returns information for a test student in this course. Creates a test student if one does not already exist for the course. The caller must have permission to access the course’s student view.

Get a single course CoursesController#show

Get /api/v1/courses/:id, get /api/v1/accounts/:account_id/courses/:id.

Return information on a single course.

Accepts the same include[] parameters as the list action plus:

Update a course CoursesController#update

Put /api/v1/courses/:id.

Update an existing course.

Arguments are the same as Courses#create, with a few exceptions (enroll_me).

If a user has content management rights, but not full course editing rights, the only attribute editable through this endpoint will be “syllabus_body”

If an account has set prevent_course_availability_editing_by_teachers, a teacher cannot change course , course , or course here.

Update courses CoursesController#batch_update

Put /api/v1/accounts/:account_id/courses.

Update multiple courses in an account. Operates asynchronously; use the progress endpoint to query the status of an operation.

Reset a course CoursesController#reset_content

Post /api/v1/courses/:course_id/reset_content.

Deletes the current course, and creates a new equivalent course with no content, but all sections and users moved over.

Get effective due dates CoursesController#effective_due_dates

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/effective_due_dates.

For each assignment in the course, returns each assigned student’s ID and their corresponding due date along with some grading period data. Returns a collection with keys representing assignment IDs and values as a collection containing keys representing student IDs and values representing the student’s effective due_at, the grading_period_id of which the due_at falls in, and whether or not the grading period is closed (in_closed_grading_period)

The list of assignment IDs for which effective student due dates are requested. If not provided, all assignments in the course will be used.

Permissions CoursesController#permissions

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/permissions.

Returns permission information for the calling user in the given course. See also the Account and Group counterparts.

Get bulk user progress CoursesController#bulk_user_progress

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/bulk_user_progress.

Returns progress information for all users enrolled in the given course.

You must be a user who has permission to view all grades in the course (such as a teacher or administrator).

Remove quiz migration alert CoursesController#dismiss_migration_limitation_msg

Post /api/v1/courses/:id/dismiss_migration_limitation_message.

Remove alert about the limitations of quiz migrations that is displayed to a user in a course

you must be logged in to use this endpoint

Get course copy status ContentImportsController#copy_course_status

Get /api/v1/courses/:course_id/course_copy/:id.

DEPRECATED: Please use the Content Migrations API

Retrieve the status of a course copy

API response field:

The unique identifier for the course copy.

The time that the copy was initiated.

The progress of the copy as an integer. It is null before the copying starts, and 100 when finished.

The current status of the course copy. Possible values: “created”, “started”, “completed”, “failed”

The url for the course copy status API endpoint.

Copy course content ContentImportsController#copy_course_content

Post /api/v1/courses/:course_id/course_copy.

Copies content from one course into another. The default is to copy all course content. You can control specific types to copy by using either the ‘except’ option or the ‘only’ option.

The response is the same as the course copy status endpoint

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This guide explains how to setup an assignment in Canvas to utilize the Google Assignments Originality reporting to detect possible plagiarism. Originality reports compare students' work with all pages accessible by Google Search and Google Books. Student work is also compared with previous NCSSM student submissions that were submitted through Google Assignments.

Instructions

Create an assignment in Canvas as you normally would, assigning it a point value, etc.

Under the submission type, choose External Tool

Use the Find button.

Select the Google Assignments LTI (1.3) external tool

Ensure you are logged in to the correct Google account, and press the Continue button.

Create the assignment, choosing from the following options:

Toggle the Check Plagiarism switch to enable originality scans. Students' work will be scanned for originality against all pages available to Google Books, Google search, and NCSSM student submissions that were submitted through Google Assignments previously.

(optional) Choose to attach a Google drive file if you wish for students to each be given a copy of it they can edit and submit.

Select whether you wish to grade the assignment using Google Assignments' built-in grading tools, or Canvas SpeedGrader. We recommend choosing SpeedGrader .

Press the Create button.

You will be taken back to the “Configure External Tools” window where you must press the Select button.

You have the option to load the assignment in a new tab. We recommend unchecking this option .

Save and publish the assignment.

Using the Originality Report as a Student

Each student can view their originality report to ensure they have quoted and cited sources correctly.

If they make edits to their work, students can choose to run a new originality report. They can do this up to three times for each submission.

Using the Originality Report as a Teacher

After clicking on the assignment, you will have several options:

A: You can use SpeedGrader to grade the assignment as normal.

B: View the originality report for each submission.

Please note that no information about the originality report will show in SpeedGrader, so if you wish to view the report prior to grading, click on the originality report prior to clicking on SpeedGrader.

To view the originality report, click on the link in the window that opens after clicking each originality report link.

The originality report will give you a summary of all flagged passages.

Although the originality reports will help you determine students' use of citations, please practice caution in determining whether plagiarism is intentional.

Official Guides

How an Originality Report is Created

View an Originality Report - Teachers' Guide

Originality Reports - Official Information Page from Google

Tutorial Video

Using Google Assignments and Originality Reports in Canvas - NCSSM Tutorial Video

 Related articles

• Page: Add a Google Drive file to a Canvas Module