Total Activity Accurate if students are viewing videos posted in Canvas

[scott_therkalse]

Hello,

My question is about the total activity area in "people". Will that activity time continue if students remain on one canvas page watching videos. 

For example, if I have 2 hours of lectures for students on one canvas page and students watch them all will 2 hours be added to their total time. Said another way, if they only have one hour of "Total Activity" can I accurately assume there is no way they could have watched those two hours of videos (there is no "speed option" on the videos)? 

Thank you.

[greydon]

Hello @scott_therkalse 

Thank you for contacting the Instructure Community. The short answer is if the student has 1 hour of their activity under the people tab, then they have spent an hour within the course navigating it. It is likely  that they did not spend the full two hours watching the video. If it is a Studio video, there are analytics for that and it will tell you exactly  how much of a video they watched. If it was simply uploaded media or even a Youtube link, there isn't too much more "in depth" analytics for that. There's also the option for viewing student analytics:

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-view-analytics-for-a-student-in-a-cours...

If you want Canvas Support or your school admins to delve into it, they have access to more resources technically speaking and may be able to help. But no, if the student has one hour under their name in the people tab, then they've spent one hour navigating the course. 

[scott_therkalse]

Thanks for the reply, I do understand I can't know if the total activity was all spent on the "videos page" or not (unless it was the only page viewed).

My basic question is does the total activity clock continue to run if they sit on one page for two hours?

And is that "total activity" measure always accurate? That is if they do not have a "total activity" of at least 2 hours then I can accurately assume there is no way they could have watched all of the videos that total 2 hours. 

[scott_therkalse]

Thank you for the reply. 

My issue is that I now know (after repeated semester with the problem) that the "time spent in canvas) is not ALWAYS accurate. That is, I have had students who's time shows one hour but can clearly show me information that proves they have spent much more time in Canvas. 

Can you explain why that time logged might SOMETIMES NOT BE ACCURATE?

Thanks!