How to tell what content has been viewed?

[viwilson]

I am in a completely online program and our school just switched to canvas. I have found workarounds for  some of the issues with the new platform but one of my main issues is that there doesn't seem to be a way to determine which content has already been viewed. The prerecorded lectures in my program are all split into several videos each week with some classes having 15 or 16 videos to watch each week. Most people I have talked to work very sporadically through the videos and on our previous platform we were able to mark each video as complete to help keep track of where we were but I can't seem to find a similar feature anywhere in canvas.  I have checked the guides and in previous questions but I might be missing the answer entirely. 

[viwilson]

I should note that I have seen the recent history button. It would be okay if I only had one class but isn't exactly a user friendly option for managing five classes. 

[Chris_Hofer]

Good morning, @viwilson ...

It is possible for your instructor to set up your course so that you can "check off" things as you complete them.  For example, if each of the videos in your course were on separate content pages, and those pages were all included in a single module in your course, your instructor could set it up so that you could "check off" those items once you are finished with them.  Here is a Student Guide on the topic:

How do I mark a module item as done for a module r... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

This would be something you'd need to talk with your instructor about more, though.  See the information in the light blue box at the top of the Guide.  You can contact your instructor directly in Canvas by following the steps in:

How do I get help with Canvas as a student?

Hope this helps a bit!

[ProfessorBeyrer]

Instructors can also view which pages students have clicked on via their access report, which may be an option on your instance of Canvas. The Canvas Guides has a document on this:

How do I view the course access report for an indi... - Instructure Community

This won't tell whether students have actually watched the videos, only that they have clicked on the page. Instructure has another product called Canvas Studio that records how long each user watches each video including which parts of a video each student watches. 

Even if there is evidence that students have watched videos, that still doesn't tell whether they have learned anything from those videos. I like to use assignments, whether discussions or quizzes, to assess what students have learned.