Creating Individual Lessons With Embedded Reflection Questions Throughout/New to Canvas

[KJoseph]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to Canvas and attempting to use canvas as the platform for a professional development course. One core feature of our professional development lessons is that attendees can work through lesson content and answer reflection questions throughout. Pre-canvas, we had these lessons in powerpoint format and once attendees got to a slide with a reflection question, they entered their response in the notes section of that powerpoint. 

We are wondering if there is a way to create lessons in canvas that attendees can go through and respond to reflection questions embedded within the lessons. So far, I have tried creating a canvas assignment for each reflection question and pasting the respective assignment link in the powerpoint slide so that attendees can click on the link and navigate to the assignment page where they can complete and submit. They would then have to navigate back to the powerpoint lesson to continue. We are hoping there is a more user friendly way to embed questions within a lesson within canvas without having to click on a link and navigate to a different page. We realize that uploading powerpoints may not be the way to do so and are open to any formatting options available in canvas.

I would also appreciate general support with canvas (e.g., methods to design a good looking home page with tiles with a free for teacher account) and would appreciate it if someone with knowledge on these topics would be willing to meet with me or point me in a helpful direction.

Thank you!

[KevinMeredith]

Hi @KJoseph for your reflection assignment question, I would suggest creating a Canvas quiz, where you can upload a PowerPoint or other document to quiz questions (or in the details of the quiz) so that learners can respond to individual questions without leaving the page. They can also answer questions sequentially, making it more intuitive for learners, too. In the rich content editor, you can upload your PowerPoint as seen here:

For other instructional design help, you can leverage Canvas Commons, our Community articles here, as well as plenty of YouTube videos on best practices. Hope this helps. 

Kevin

[KJoseph]

Hi @KevinMeredith,

Thank you very much for your suggestion! I have tried this and this may be an option to move forward with. With this option, the learner can have the file open at the top of the screen and scroll through slides, but then they would have to scroll down on the quiz page each time they get to a reflection slide so that they can find the canvas quiz question corresponding to the question on that slide. Do you know if there is a way to embed the questions within a set of sides or some other document so that learners can respond to individual reflection questions directly in the relevant slide? For example, a lesson could have 30 slides. On slide 5 there is a reflection question we would want the learner to be able to respond to directly within slide 5, then there may be another question in slide 15 we would want the learner to respond to directly in slide 15, so on so forth. I hope my question is making sense as it is a bit difficult to describe. If there is a way to embed lessons into canvas instead of uploading a file and having that lesson be interactive so that learners can respond to questions within the lesson as they scroll through, that would be the ideal way, but I am not sure if that is a possibility.

Thank you!

[reid_mclain]

Since many of the "slides" are not actionable by the learner (i.e., don't have to turn anything in), I would use a "modules" set up and have pages for each of the slides of the lessons (instead of normal  "slides"), and then learners can go in sequence in the module; you would have an assignment--instead of a page-- for the "slide 5" where you want them to reflect and turn something in. Then the reflection would appear in speed grader so you can interact with it. 

Here is a Blog Post from the Canvas Team on How to Use Modules to Build Courses in Canvas

Some more information from here in the community : 

What are Modules? 

How do I add a module? 

How do I add course content as module items? 

How do I view Modules as a student? 

If that's not what you were looking for, you can embed Google slides or other material on a page, but then the input from the students would be outside of canvas and outside the Speed Grader.

[SeanDuffy1]

Hi there!

As a learning designer who's spent years wrestling with these exact challenges, I completely understand your current frustration. That's actually why we founded Stackle - to solve the precise problem you're describing.

What you're looking for is a way to make your professional development content interactive and seamless, without forcing learners to jump between pages or platforms. With Stackle, you can embed reflection questions directly into your Canvas content, creating a fluid, engaging learning experience.

With Stackle you can;

• Embed reflection activities directly within Canvas pages
• Multiple question types to match your content needs
• Responses saved and tracked within the same view
• Flexible grading options (graded or ungraded)
• Fully integrated with Canvas assignments and SpeedGrader

Particularly for professional development, we've designed features like:

• Quick reflect activities for immediate insights
• Comprehensive learning journals for deeper reflection
• Easy engagement tracking
• Seamless content integration

Your current PowerPoint to separate assignment workflow is exactly the problem we set out to solve. Stackle transforms static content into interactive learning experiences, right where the learning happens.

Cheers,
Sean Duffy
Book a demo: https://stacklehq.com/book-a-demo/