Student Data
Student course data can be beneficial to the instructor as you teach your course. This information can indicate how much time a student is spending on your course and where in the course they are spending the majority of their time.
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Inside the People option in your course menu is a listing of all the people enrolled in your course including students and parent observers.
You can filter who is listed inside People by using the drop down menu to see people only by each type of user such as student or observer. By each type of user you can see when they last accessed the course and how much time they have spent inside the course. Each student's name is active so that you can click on it to see their Canvas account information which includes their Biography, Current Course List and Profile Picture.
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At the right side of the student's page are several options for data you can see about the student:
- a summary of their grades for your course
- an interaction report showing the last time you communicated with a student through canvas
- an access report with a listing of all the items in your course that the student accessed with information on how many times they accessed that item, the last time they accessed that item and the number of times they participated with that item. Number of times participated means that they student submitted work, posted a discussion reply, etc
- analytics is a visual overview of student course activity, communication with the instructor, student submissions and timeliness and a graph of grades from the course
Quiz Data & Question Analytics
Quiz data can provide information on where students need assistance either individually or as a small group. It can also show which questions might need revision to better assess student knowledge or align with content taught.
To access quiz data open the quiz and use the links at the right side of the screen.
Quiz statistics provides information on each quiz question, each student and the quiz results overall. Moderate this quiz shows each student in your course, with how much time they spent on the quiz and how many times they have taken the quiz, if multiple attempts was allowed. |
Student Quiz Data
Inside Moderate Quiz you can see a list of students in your course. At the right of the student name you can see how many attempts the student has made on the quiz, how long they spent on the quiz and their score on the quiz.
Using the pencil icon on this screen is where you can give student additional time and/or additional attempts on the quiz. If students are currently taking the quiz and require more time than what was set in the quiz you can give additional time while students are taking the quiz. |
Quiz Question Data
Inside quiz statistics you can see an overview of the quiz results overall. You can also download a student analysis or item analysis.
The Student Analysis report is a spreadsheet with each student listed and their performance on each question, their total correct/incorrect and their total quiz score. The Item Analysis report is a spreadsheet with information about each quiz question. The information on the Item Analysis report is the same as what is displayed visually in the quiz statistics. For each question is a breakdown of how many students got the question correct and how many chose an incorrect answer.
For each question there is also the discrimination index for the question based on student results. Canvas explains discrimination index as: "Lower discrimination scores (in red) are scored +0.24 or lower; good scores (green) are +0.25 or higher. An ideal discrimination index shows students who scored higher on the quiz getting the quiz question right, students who scored lower on the quiz getting the quiz question wrong, and students in the middle range on either side. A discrimination index of zero shows all students getting the quiz question right or wrong." |
Quiz Log
The Canvas Quiz Log feature shows when students stopped viewing a quiz. This is indicated with the red X icon and when the student resumed the quiz is indicated with a green check icon. Each action a student takes in the quiz is noted with a timestamp. This allows the teacher to see how much time passed between each event.
The red X icon is recorded in the log on three occassions:
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Quiz Log Interpretation
When looking at a student's quiz log the most important thing to consider is the time between stopping and resuming.
If the time interval is only a few seconds it is possible the student accidentally clicked a new tab or clicked onto the desktop. If the time interval is longer then it is appropriate to raise questions. The image at the right shows a 30 minute and 15 minute interval. Especially in the classroom setting, this could potentially be the student looking online or in the textbook for an answer. However, if the student was taking the quiz at home it could be that the student left the quiz to eat dinner. |
Quiz Log Information for Multiple Choice Questions
Quiz Log Information for Essay Questions
For essay questions the quiz log shows the students progress in typing the answer to the question. The image at the right shows how much the student had written at intervals during the process of answering the question. Notice the change in the amount typed between 4 and 5. This shows that the student was typing at a pace which indicates that they were using their own words.
If a large section of words typed appeared between 4 and 5, this would raise suspiscion of copying and pasting answers from another source. |
Using the quiz log to definitively prove cheating is difficult. The log will report that a student stopped taking the quiz if they must leave the room for water or restroom break. Using the quiz log to see when a student stopped in conjunction with the information provided by examining how many times a student changed their answer might by evidence to support cheating suspiscions.
What the quiz log can inform the teacher of is if a student truly requires more time on a quiz. If a student requests more time to finish a quiz as they did not finish in the alloted time, the quiz log will show if the student did work diligently or if the student did not use their time wisely.
What the quiz log can inform the teacher of is if a student truly requires more time on a quiz. If a student requests more time to finish a quiz as they did not finish in the alloted time, the quiz log will show if the student did work diligently or if the student did not use their time wisely.
Designing for clarity & Ease of Use
Common Directives
Students respond to repetition. When teachers across a grade level all have their online courses set up differently it can cause confusion and ultimately frustration for students. One way to make navigating your online course simpler for the student, who is your end-user, is to use the same directions within the course.
A common directives document can streamline this process. As a grade level compose the directions you will use for different types of assignments such as discussions or Google Document submissions.
Creating a common directives document will make creating items in your course easier as you can simply cut and paste directions from the document into your course.
A common directives document can streamline this process. As a grade level compose the directions you will use for different types of assignments such as discussions or Google Document submissions.
Creating a common directives document will make creating items in your course easier as you can simply cut and paste directions from the document into your course.
Organizing
Organizing is...
Content Page VS Assignment
Content Pages
A content page is used to communicate information to students. You should use this type of page anytime you want to provide students with something to read, a site to visit, directions for class, etc.
A content page is where you can post:
Assignments
Assignments are used to inform students what they need to do. An assignment equals student action required. An assignment is where you provide the directions and resources for work that you will be checking.
An assignment is where you can post:
Assignments do not have to be submitted through Canvas but because they appear on the calendar parents will be checking with their child to ensure those things are completed.
A content page is used to communicate information to students. You should use this type of page anytime you want to provide students with something to read, a site to visit, directions for class, etc.
A content page is where you can post:
- what you would write on your website
- what you might write on your whiteboard
- what you would project onto a screen
- directions for in class activities
Assignments
Assignments are used to inform students what they need to do. An assignment equals student action required. An assignment is where you provide the directions and resources for work that you will be checking.
An assignment is where you can post:
- an embedded video for students to watch and respond to
- a text for students to read and answer questions
- a handout for students to download and fill out
Assignments do not have to be submitted through Canvas but because they appear on the calendar parents will be checking with their child to ensure those things are completed.
The Use of Modules
Modules
Course modules let you organize your assignments, pages, files, etc. into smaller sections or units. Using modules organizes you and therefore makes your content follow a more logical progression for your students.
Think of Modules as an outline of your course. It is a way to organize your course. You could organize by the week, theme, unit or topic. You will then add your assignments, pages, files, etc. into each section of your modules.
You can organize your course information in a way that students can sequentially move through the directions, objectives, instruction, assignments, quizzes, activities without requiring lengthy directions from the teacher. This will free the teacher from answering logistical questions to work with students on content and mastering course objectives.
Course modules let you organize your assignments, pages, files, etc. into smaller sections or units. Using modules organizes you and therefore makes your content follow a more logical progression for your students.
Think of Modules as an outline of your course. It is a way to organize your course. You could organize by the week, theme, unit or topic. You will then add your assignments, pages, files, etc. into each section of your modules.
You can organize your course information in a way that students can sequentially move through the directions, objectives, instruction, assignments, quizzes, activities without requiring lengthy directions from the teacher. This will free the teacher from answering logistical questions to work with students on content and mastering course objectives.
Setting Your Homepage
Home Page
The default homepage for a course shows a feed of course activity which might be meaningless to students. To help students efficiently navigate your course you can set a homepage which students will be the first thing students see when they go into your course.
Think about what you put on the board each day so students know what to do when they come into the classroom. You will follow a similar process with your course home page.
Remember that within your homepage you can easily link within your canvas course. This way you can provide students with a clickable list for the day or with a calendar to take them to the appropriate content page for the day's classwork.
The default homepage for a course shows a feed of course activity which might be meaningless to students. To help students efficiently navigate your course you can set a homepage which students will be the first thing students see when they go into your course.
Think about what you put on the board each day so students know what to do when they come into the classroom. You will follow a similar process with your course home page.
Remember that within your homepage you can easily link within your canvas course. This way you can provide students with a clickable list for the day or with a calendar to take them to the appropriate content page for the day's classwork.
Homepage Example 1
This type of homepage shows the information that is traditionally written on the board for students when they come into class. By setting this as your Canvas homepage you can link the the specific activities and pages to which students will need to visit in class that day.
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Homepage Example 2
This type of homepage is setup as a calendar so that students can easily see what they need to click on for class that day and they can easily revisit the homepage to see what is their homework assignment. Additionally this way absent students can look at what was missed in previous lessons. |
Homepage Example 3
This type of homepage is useful in conjunction with modules as this page is not updated daily. This style directs students to their work for the week and other relevant information for the course.
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Homepage Example 4
This type of homepage aligns to school colors and branding. The Modules and Announcements are buttons on the homepage thus they are active for students to click. This style allows students quick access to course sections which they will likely visit on a regular basis. At the bottom of this page is a section that can be updated with daily or weekly items that the teacher wants to be at the forefront for students.
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