Editable Pdf to Write Assignment within Canvas Space

[aumurad]

Dear Altruists

Currently, I am working as an LMS coordinator with a vocational institute. Our trainers asked for a facility to allow students to write their assignment in an Editable PDF opened within the Canvas. 

 At present, our student downloads a document, complete it then upload it again into Canvas; of course, this is not the best practice.

Thank you so much for your kind patience. Any help appreciated. 

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hello there, @aumurad ...

In Canvas, you can integrate either (or both) the Google Apps or the Office 365 LTI external tools.  Both of these tools then allow both instructors and student to connect their own Google or Office accounts and submit work.  There are ways that, as an instructor, you can share a file with students, they can work on the file in an "online" capacity (without having to download), and then they can submit it back to the instructor.  Here are a couple "how to" Guides on how this all works:

• How do I create a cloud assignment with a Microsof... - Canvas Community
• How do I create a cloud assignment with a Google D... - Canvas Community

Do you think that one of these options might meet your needs?

[aumurad]

@Chris_Hofer Thank you so much for your reply. The process you explained serve our purpose partially. We want exactly the following things:

1. An instructor will create an assignment that will be visible to all students accounts. When a student clicks, the assignment will be opened in a new window as an editable pdf. The student will write their response and save it (the form). Then the student can have the scope to submit it or pool it to submit without the need to upload it again. Then the teacher will see the submitted filled up pdf.

[Chris_Hofer]

Good morning, @aumurad ...

I think I understand what you are describing.  But, just for clarification...  the PDF that you want students to use is actually a fillable form?  I've actually not tried that in either the Google Apps or the O365 LTI.  The Guides that I gave you list the specific types of documents that can be created in their platforms so that students can modify their own copy directly online.  By chance, is the PDF form that is in question something that could be re-created in Google or O365 as a fillable form rather than using the PDF?  If that was the case, then you would be able to harvest the embed code from either Google or O365 and place the embed code on a content page in your Canvas course.  The results of the form would be housed on Google or O365.  But still, everything is submitted online to you...nothing downloaded.

Just some other thoughts for you...

[aumurad]

@Chris_Hofer All vocational qualifications have an assessment template where students need to write their response in the space provided after each question. Currently we provide the assessment template in our assignment area. Students download it, fill it up and upload it. We want student can be able to fill the assessment without the need to download it. It could be a word or pdf. But the student should be able to fill it up from the template link (opened in a new window or same window) and save it automatically and send it to the instructor by clicking submit button from the same window. We want them to need not upload anything to submit. They will be able to write a response when they click the assignment link. If we provide just one drive or google drive file (assessment template) link, only same file is saved and modified. We want students to access the same assessment template link, write on the template, and automatically upload it as a pdf as his/her own assessment keeping the original template link intact.

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/16FRFUL8U3Lzt8n3-gXTmUDm_PRHhTPhK/view?usp=sharing

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello there, @aumurad ...

Yes, I think your workflow that you are describing sounds very similar to how Google cloud or O365 cloud assignments work in Canvas.  I wasn't able to access the link that you provided (because I would need to request access to that file), but that's okay.  So, I'm not sure if you are a Canvas administrator or not at your school, but if you aren't, then I would recommend talking with someone who is...or someone from your school's Online Learning/eLearning department.  They would be able to tell you if either the Google Apps or the Office 365 LTIs are integrated with your school's Canvas environment.  Maybe both are...who knows.  Then, the process in a course would be to follow one of those Guides that I initially provided for you to create a cloud assignment.  Obviously, you might want to do some testing of this before you make a "live" assignment for your students.  The cloud assignment creates a copy of your document and saves it to the student's Google or O365 account.  It never modifies the file that is in your own account.  I searched YouTube, and I found a couple good examples of how this would work:

Hope this helps a bit.  Good luck!

[JakeStuckey]

Do students need to have a 365 or google account to access the assignments?

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi there, @JakeStuckey ...

Although the videos do a pretty good job of describing how Google cloud and O365 cloud assignments are initially set up by the instructor and how students would be able to submit the assignment within Canvas, it might not be as clear as to whether or not you need an associated account.  The answer is: yes.  If you are the instructor and you want your students to complete an assignment using either Google cloud or O365 assignments, your students will need a Google or O365 account.  This is because the students are looking at the instructor copy of the assignment in the course, but when they begin working on the assignment, it is creating a copy of that document and saving it in their Google Drive or O365 OneDrive account.  It never overwrites the instructor's original document.  It's only creating a copy of the document so that students can make edits to it.

I hope this helps clear things up.  Let Community members know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

[JakeStuckey]

@Chris_Hofer Thank you. This will be an issue for some of our course participants. Do you know if its possible to embed an editable PDF?

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @JakeStuckey ...

I'm not sure about that, unfortunately.  The best thing I can recommend is for you to try this out on your own.  Do you have a "sandbox" course available to you within your Canvas environment where you can play around with this to see what may or may not work?  If not, you might want to ask your school's local Canvas administrator or someone from your school's Online Learning/eLearning department about this.  They might also have some suggestions for you as well.  Good luck!