This document (last updated 2021-12-09) provides a summary of the New Analytics, which was originally introduced in the Canvas Release Notes (2019-10-19). For specific release updates within this document, please see the releases change log.
New Analytics provides a richer analytics experience for course grades, weekly online activity, and individual student view. All analytics also include mobile page views.
New Analytics includes improved analytics for tracking student data in published courses using an interactive chart or table. Analytics Beta will eventually replace current course and account analytics. However, New Analytics and the current course Analytics functionality can be used concurrently.
- Community Resources
- Feature Releases
- Customer Feedback
- KnownIssues
- Feature Documentation
- Feature/Integration Setup
- Feature Preview
- Account Analytics
- External Apps (LTI)
- App Configuration Settings
- App Attendance Criteria
- Permissions
- Release Schedule
- Course-Level Setup
- Feature Preview
- Instructor Features
- Course Buttons
- Analytics Data
- Course Grade
- Weekly Online Activity
- CSV Reports
- Attendance Report
- Student Features
Community Resources
Feature Releases
This document outlines up-to-date functionality for this feature. This document will continue to receive additional updates as indicated in the feature's release change log. Releases are subject to change.
Customer Feedback
User feedback is welcome in the New Analytics User Group Forum.
Known Issues
Several behaviors have been identified in New Analytics. Known behaviors are being triaged by the Canvas engineering team—feature ideas do not need to be submitted regarding their functionality. For details about these behaviors, please see New Analytics: Known Issues.
Feature Documentation
How-to documentation for this feature is included in the New Analytics User Group Knowledge Base.
Affected user roles:
- Instructors
- Students
Additional resources:
Lesson comments are welcome for functionality clarification. Lessons will also be updated with all future enhancements as indicated in this document.
Feature/Integration Setup
Feature Preview
The New Analytics project includes the New Course and User Analytics course-level feature preview, which allows the feature to be enabled on a course-by-course basis or turned on for all courses across the entire account. Canvas admins can manage this feature preview in Account Settings. By default, this feature preview is set to Off and Unlocked.
When the feature preview is On and Unlocked at the account level, instructors can enable the New Analytics feature for their courses in Course Settings.
This feature enhances the Canvas experience within course analytics. When this flag is enabled, early access to ongoing improvements will be displayed automatically with every release. Customers who choose to enable this feature in the production environment should follow the New Analytics User Group to stay current with upcoming features and their release dates.
Note: When the feature preview is on for the entire account, Course Navigation link may take some time to update throughout all courses in the account.
Account Analytics
To view account-level analytics, ensure the Analytics checkbox is still selected in Account Settings, as New Analytics does not yet support the account level. Account-level analytics will be updated in a future release.
External Apps (LTI)
New Analytics involves both a feature preview and an LTI tool.
Unless manually removed by a Canvas admin, the New Analytics LTI tool is available in all Canvas courses. (If this LTI tool has been removed from an account, please contact a Customer Success Manager to re-add the tool.)
Note: Enabling the feature preview will not display New Analytics unless the New Analytics LTI tool is also installed.
Note: New Analytics can only be configured at the root account level and is not available for subaccounts.
App Configuration Settings
Within the Account Settings Apps tab, admins can select the New Analytics configuration menu and view the option to enable or disable the Attendance tool. By default, this feature is turned off. To enable the Online Attendance Dashboard, admins should ensure the Enable Online Attendance Dashboard option is turned on.
Additionally, if admins want to allow instructors to set online attendance criteria, admins should ensure the Allow Instructors to Set Online Attendance Criteria at the Course Level option is turned on. When enabled, instructors can set online attendance criteria as noted in the Attendance Report section.
App Attendance Criteria
When enabled, admins can select the online attendance criteria for all courses. If a student meets any of the criteria in a given day, that student will be marked as attended.
The following criteria can be set within the Attendance Report:
- Course Access: Student views a page in a course (default)
- 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 (based on BigBlueButton only)
- Pages: Student creates a page
- Quizzes: Student starts taking a quiz or submits a quiz (based on classic quizzes only—new quizzes support coming soon)
Permissions
New Analytics honors the same permissions as existing analytics.
For students to view their own analytics, the Analytics - view pages permission must be enabled in the account-level Permissions page.
For users to view student analytics in course analytics, Grades - view all grades and Grades - edit must be enabled in the account-level Permissions page.
To view student analytics from the course People page, Users - view list must be enabled in the account-level Permissions page.
Release Schedule
New Analytics can be enabled in the production environment at any time. When enabled, New Course and User Analytics replaces the previous course and user analytics functionality.
Course-Level Setup
Feature Preview
When New Analytics is allowed at the course level, New Course and User Analytics can be turned on for the course in the Course Settings Feature Previews tab. This feature allows admin, instructor, TA, and designer roles to view improved analytics functionality in published courses and provide functional feedback for additional analytics development.
When the feature preview is turned enabled, the following functionality applies:
- All existing Analytics buttons are renamed to New Analytics, which directs to the new functionality
- The New Analytics Course Navigation link displays in the Course Settings Navigation Menu.
Additionally, when New Course and User Analytics is enabled—and after the page is refreshed—the New Analytics Course Navigation link will be visible by default in the Course Settings Navigation Menu. The link can be hidden for New Analytics data to display in the course, but the navigation link provides quick access to analytics data for users with viewing permissions.
Note: The Course Navigation link can be hidden in the Course Navigation Menu in Course Settings by an instructor (if needed). The link is not required to be displayed in Course Navigation, but the navigation link provides quick access to analytics data for instructors (and students, if they have permission to view analytics).
Instructor Features
Course Buttons
When New Analytics is enabled for the account by a Canvas admin, Canvas directs all existing analytics buttons and links to New Analytics content, which includes analytics links in the Student Context Card, People page, and admin-level User Details page. All buttons are renamed from Analytics to New Analytics.
Additionally, the Course Home Page button is also renamed from Course Analytics to New Analytics.
Instructors can access the Course Navigation Menu for a direct link to access new analytics from anywhere in Canvas.
Analytics Data
New Analytics displays both course grade and weekly online activity data, as selected in the analytics menu.
Course Grade
In published courses, Course Grade allows instructors to view the average course grade for all course data using an interactive chart or table. Additionally, instructors can filter analytics results to compare the average course grade with a specific section or student and quickly access assignment data.
- For details about Course Grade functionality, please see the Course Grade Analytics summary.
Course Grade data also includes a student table, which displays all students within a specific filter below the chart. For each student, the table displays the student's name, number of page views, and number of participations. Clicking the student’s name opens the individual student view, which displays the average course grade, submission information, participation metrics for the student, and communication data between the teacher and student using an interactive chart or table.
- For details about student analytics, please see the Student View Analytics Tabs summary.
Weekly Online Activity
In published courses, Weekly Online Activity allows instructors to view the average number of page views and participations for a course using an interactive chart or table. Additionally, instructors can filter analytics results to compare the average course activity with a specific section or student.
- For details about Weekly Online Activity functionality, please see the Weekly Online Activity Analytics summary.
Weekly Online Activity data also includes a student table, which displays all students within a specific filter below the chart. For each student, the table displays the student's name, number of page views, and number of participations. Clicking the student’s name opens the individual student view, which displays the average course grade, submission information, participation metrics for the student, and communication data between the teacher and student using an interactive chart or table.
- For details about student analytics, please see the Student View Analytics Tabs summary.
CSV Reports
In published courses, CSV files can be downloaded that display data for missing assignments, late assignments, excused assignments, the class roster, and course activity data. Using APIs, all reports provide real-time data except for the Course Activity report, which includes data that may be delayed up to 24 hours. Additionally, all report data is verified against user permissions.
- For details about CSV reports, please see the CSV Reports summary.
Attendance Report
The Attendance report allows admins to set online attendance criteria for students in published courses. Instructors can view the criteria set for the course, which can include posting a comment to an announcement or discussion, submitting an assignment, or viewing a page. This change allows criteria to update online attendance information for individual courses and remove manual attendance tracking.
- For details about the attendance report, please see the Attendance Report summary.
Student Features
If students have permission to view their own analytics, they can view their own analytics for course grade and weekly online activity using an interactive chart or table. Additionally, students can see an overview of the number of messages sent between them and their instructor(s) in the Canvas Inbox.
When allowed, access to analytics is located in the following locations:
- Course Home Page button
- Course Navigation Menu link (unless hidden in Course Navigation)
- People page student name link
For details about individual student view, please see the Student View Analytics Tabs summary.
