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 .

[GideonWilliams]

Whilst we are on the subject of the stylus, we have now found (for our particular instance) that student inking is not visible on Speedgrader and only visible when you download the work! Took a while to find this issue and not great for teachers or students alike!

We are slowly losing staff to OneNote for assignments because as one teachers said, it just works!

[canvashelp22]

In particular, the annotations do work (sort of) on a touchscreen Chromebook.   However, the tool does not differentiate between the stylus touch and the fingertip touch.  When a user attempts to enlarge the screen by using fingers to expand, the annotation tool draws lines on the page.

[luc_vancauwenbe]

An article on device usage in K-12 (with a separate view for US and 'rest of the world'). Not really relevant for our school, but I assume K-12 is also a target audience for the Canvas platform?

https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/02/apple-ios-market-share-k-12-education-chrome-os/

[GideonWilliams]

This also interesting... https://techpinions.com/microsoft-surface-is-the-only-apple-competitor-in-the-pc-market/51457

[tperrin]

Please make the surface pen usable in speedgrader!!

[luc_vancauwenbe]

 @canvashelp22 ‌ There is more that doesn't work (I assume also when working with a stylus on a chromebook, haven't tested it) than just not making a distinction between stylus and touch. The ultimate ambition for docviewer should be to outperform correcting on and giving feedback to paper assignments. Ok you can give video and audio feedback, ok you can use rubrics,... certainly not ok to have to use your fingers to make annotations directly on to the students assignments..

[luc_vancauwenbe]

Btw... you wouldn't correct assignments on paper with your fingers as well 🙂

[cc_armidale]

A big, "Yes, please!" for this one. With tablet notebooks becoming increasingly common, this would be a very helpful feature. Two thumbs up!

[GideonWilliams]

This from March 2017 is well worth a read - https://www.futuresource-consulting.com/Press-K-12-Education-Market-Qtr4-0317.html particularly the comment about the growth of 2-in-1 devices. Also this:

There is a clear difference between the US and the rest of the world in terms of device choice. If Canvas is aimed at the global education market then should it not try to provide the same tools for the three main OS?

[cc_armidale]

I can't agree with you more, Gideon. And let's also think about how software developers are moving in this area. Microsoft and Adobe, for example (and there are plenty more out there), are marketing their products on the basis that they have features that allow us to use a stylus (or finger or tablet) for markup and even intuitive editing (Microsoft Office). Really, all I'm asking for is markup, so that I can quickly use my stylus (or finger or tablet) to comment on student work, or circle or tick things. I could do so in Moodle's PDF submission module (a rather clunky beast, if I'm honest) some years ago. I'm genuinely surprised (and I'm not being the slightest bit disingenuous here, I promise) that Canvas is lagging in this area.

SpeedGrader is almost there. I think you'd be surprised how much kudos you would gain for Canvas were you to make this feature available. Cheers!