Use of Stylus with DOCViewer

[GideonWilliams]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

This idea is applicable to any 2-in-1 / hybrid device with stylus capacity eg Chromebook, Surface Pro 4, Yoga, ASUS etc.

Microsoft's recent education event (May 2017) highlighted the increasing opportunities for schools to invest in low cost 2-in-1 hybrids running Windows 10. Since then at least 5 new devices have been released - 5 Budget Windows Hybrids 2-in-1 Tablets and Laptops for Schools – Colour My Learning . Many schools, including our own, are now looking at these as viable alternatives to 1-1 iPads.

The potential of inking is huge, not just in the hands of students but for teachers and marking.

Canvas has just released DOCViewer in Beta. As yet it is not possible to annotate work inline using the stylus (at least on my Surface Pro).

We would love to see inking/hand-written/stylus based annotations being available for those using Canvas via the browser.

This idea has been added to our product plan for Q1 2019 and will influence development within Canvas. Follow this idea to receive updates as they are available.

:smileyinfo: Adding this idea to our product plan means we will be working on it, but it does not guarantee that it will be developed exactly as defined by the idea, or that it will be added to the production environment.

Read more about the feature idea process:

• Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes‌
• How does the feature idea process work in the Canvas Community?
• What is the feature development process for Canvas? ‌

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-16291-canvas-release-notes-2019-02-16 .

[gbaxley]

Laurie, I've tried Bamboo, HP, and MS pens on HP, MS, Lenovo, and Samsung laptops running several internet browsers and no combination worked well. Some combos were worse than others, but nothing was any where near usable. There are multiple problems with the current system that I mentioned in a previous post. I don't even bother any more, but I have another  class starting next week and I would be very grateful if Canvas has this issue resolved.

[GideonWilliams]

Frustrating that the ability to annotate is available via the App on iPad on PDFs.

[schenk]

just adding my two cents - after getting feedback from one of our faculty members who wanted to use a stylus to create annotations while using a Wndows 10 device, it seems that the biggest issue at the moment is, that the document autoscrolls while you are writing. It that were fixed (even a manual scroll lock should work), I think it should be ok to use.

[saqib_safdar]

What we also need are Canvas apps in the Microsoft store which users using Surface etc can use for marking with Surface

[jlloyd]

This is a great idea Saqib. 

[h_g_e_meijer]

Grading and commenting would be so much more natural with this feature. It is about Math, simple figures and visuals where text simply is inadequate.

My University just switched to Canvas. While it is nice as an ELO, the support for the Surface Stylus is just horrible at the moment. The appearance of what I write is just scrumbled.

[michael-espey]

This is probably the best idea I have come across on the community, the lack of touch support here is borderline laughable. If you can't get it done in the browser (I get it, OneNote is quite bad in the browser) there are other options, make a Windows app for speedgrader if nothing else, the "open in speedgrader" button could open in the desktop app even. I don't think you need Mac support as even Apple doesn't really support touch very well on MacOS, and from what I have seen those users don't want it/wouldn't use those devices for it. They either have a Surface and download everything and work in OneNote or Acrobat or they grade from an iPad.

I don't think that leaving it how it exists is an option at this point, speedgrader works beautifully, but without pen support I am having quite a few faculty move off platform for much of their grading and that is a step in the wrong direction.

Please Canvas, I beg of you. Let's make this a selling point for users to employ Canvas as more than just a gradebook. When I have users that would rather print everything out, grade, scan and upload every assignment 60+ times there is a problem.

-Michael

[gramos]

I know this topic is originally about DocViewer/speed grader, but I was wondering if any of you have used a OneNote Class notebook that has been linked to Canvas? I think this would work for me - letting me leverage OneNote on my Surface & upload grades to Canvas. See the this article for more info:  Connect Class Notebook to your LMS or SIS - Office Support   

[GideonWilliams]

Our students have Surface pros and I have used this a little. Whilst it takes care of the stylus issue albeit with rather limited reporting back to Canvas, my main concern is that it is another system to use. The pull of OneNote because of its stylus capability is very strong and when you add in the potential of OneNote Class Notebook then there is genuine competition (and conflict!)

Adding drawing capability to SpeedGrader would solve many issues. 

Allowing a more flexible Doc Viewer or the ability to view documents in native cloud  would also be welcomed....

I wish we could have Microsoft Docs previewer in Canvas - al la Google:

[GideonWilliams]

Can you imagine this......?

19 months on from the Idea......

Frustrating..