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Admin Analytics Feature FAQ

Admin Analytics Feature FAQ

 

What is Admin Analytics?

Canvas Admin Analytics dashboards organize and present Canvas adoption and engagement data with enrollment and grade data in interactive charts that make it possible for administrators to see and understand the data that matter most to them. Key features include: 

  • Crisp and interactive dashboards that make it easy for anyone to see and understand data
  • Institution-wide view with multiple filters to personalize data by subaccount, time period or course
  • Power to drill down to see or export details and link to details or courses within Canvas

Admin Analytics surfaces data about Canvas adoption, course engagement and student outcomes so administrators can ask and answer questions such as: 

  • What value are we receiving from our investment in Canvas LMS and where is additional training or support required to drive adoption and success?  
  • Where should we target interventions across our campus to improve Canvas adoption?
  • Which best practices can we learn from courses that effectively use Canvas features?
  • How are students engaging with Canvas across courses? Where might we want to intervene with students based on performance. 

When will upcoming features be available?

  • Mar 29, 2023 Admin Analytics is available as a Feature Option. It is turned off by default. 
  • Q2 2023
    • Admin Analytics filter enhancements 
    • Language packs available
  • Q4 2023 Admin Analytics improved data latency < 4 hours 

Where do I see known issues for Admin Analytics?

Reference the Known Issues page.

How do I find out about the latest updates for Admin Analytics?

For a complete overview of this feature, reference the Feature Overview document. You can also view specific feature updates in the Change log.

How can I learn more about how to use Admin Analytics?

All information about how to use this feature is available in the User Guides.

Is Admin Analytics supported in beta and test environments?

Admin Analytics will be available in beta environments after it is deployed in Canvas on Mar 29, 2023 and after beta has been cut from production on Saturday April 1. Because Admin Analytics is an LTI tool that uses production data, it will not be available in the beta environment before that. 

Admin Analytics will be available in Customer Sandbox environments on March 29, 2023, and the analytics will show data produced by that instance. 

What user roles are supported for Admin Analytics?

Admin Analytics is available for Canvas users with the root account administrator role and to sub-account administrators with both of the following permissions enabled: 

  • Grades - view all grades 
  • Analytics - view pages

Are all features supported in the Canvas mobile apps?

These are for admin roles only and are not supported in the Canvas mobile apps. 

How do I enable Admin Analytics?

Admin Analytics is a Feature Option. It is off by default, but you can enable this Feature Option in Settings > Feature Options > Admin Analytics.  

How do I access Admin Analytics

When you enable the Admin Analytics Feature Option, if you are a root account admin or sub-account admin with the correct permissions, you will see Analytics (New) as a menu item in your left navigation when you go to Admin from the global navigation. 

How is Admin Analytics different from the existing Analytics page for admins?

Admin Analytics allows you to filter your data by subaccount, term, instructor, and/or course. You can select multiple items within each category and you can create compound filters. 

You have access to more data about your Canvas environment overall, and you have access to data about Canvas courses and student engagement. Almost every data point in the Admin Analytics dashboards can be drilled into for specific details. 

The charts that exist in the legacy analytics page are all replicated in Admin Analytics, with some differences: 

  • The course grades chart on the legacy page shows every student’s grade in every course for the subaccount you’re viewing. Average Course Grades chart shows course averages for every course that’s related to your selected filters. This allows you to view grade distribution and compare across subaccounts or terms, if you wish.
  • The Activity by Category chart in Admin Analytics shows more granular categories 

How long does it take to see data in Admin Analytics?

You will be able to see data for your institution immediately after enabling Admin Analytics.

Does Admin Analytics use Canvas Data 2? 

Not yet. Admin Analytics currently uses the same data source as Canvas Data. The data in Admin Analytics may be 24-48 hours old. Using Canvas Data 2 is on our roadmap for the second half of 2023. 

Does Admin Analytics have a public API?

Admin Analytics does not have a public API.

Does Admin Analytics use Looker?  

Instructure has engaged Looker to provide database analytics services to support the customer reporting function in Canvas LMS. Looker is a business intelligence software tool that processes data in a cache layer for 24 hours. Looker does not permanently store customer data in their application. Looker uses AES 256 bit encryption to secure database connection credentials and cached data stored at rest. Looker processes data regionally in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, Germany, or the United States, depending on where your instance of Canvas LMS is hosted.

How far back does my data go in Admin Analytics?

Admin Analytics’ submission, page view, and participation data goes back to August 2019. Therefore, the data related to course activity, student activity, and student engagement should only be viewed as far back as August 2019. 

What are the data sources used in Admin Analytics?

Admin Analytics uses data from the Canvas database, request logs, and mobile apps. Admin Analytics processes request log data to determine page view and participation data

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Comments

Might there be a field for User Agents in the near future?

As a growing instructional design team, and working within our university Bring Your Own Device policy, it would be helpful for us to get a hard-coded look at what devices students are using often. Building for consistent access using the HTML allowlist will support our endeavors. (Unless we can get the new design language up and running at some point...)

Thanks for considering.

This is a great idea! Would love love love for you to submit it in ideas and themes!

Hi,

Love the new Admin Analytics! Thank you!

In the Course Status Report and other places, it appears Course dates are used. Should I create an Idea to have the course "start at" and "conclude at" dates use section dates if they are not blank, and only use course or term dates if there are no section dates?   Maybe I am wrong, if so I'd appreciate knowing where the dates come from.  We have a problem with courses that haven't yet opened looking like they are. 

I like that the course status report indicates cross-listings, and having section dates would be very helpful to us.

@Nancy_Webb_CCSF I agree with you. Including an option for reports to have the course start and end dates use section dates if they are not blank and only use course or term dates if there are no section dates. 

Our institution has term-based courses and non-term-based courses and specifically non-term-based courses that are self-paced and have no end dates at all.

This idea would be helpful.

We are not able to use the "Sub-account" filter in Admin Analytics the way that we would like. I'm not sure if it just works differently or if we are experiencing user error. 😉 We have program chairs who have admin (account) level access to a group of courses (program). They can view Admin Analytics for their entire program but cannot filter by course subaccount. For example, the program chair of Accounting can view Admin Analytics for all accounting courses but cannot use the "Sub-Account" filter to select one individual course (they'd like to be able to look at analytics across all sections of a given course). (They are able to use the "courses" filter to view an individual section of a course). 

Appreciate any guidance or advice!

The analytics work great, but when I try to download a dashboard, all the filters are removed. 😕

SJF

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