Book and Reading Reports

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End of last year, I met a librarian who was keen to get book and reading reports captured in Canvas. I reached out to our APAC team, and we brainstormed and worked through a couple of options. Thanks to Deactivated user,  @rsakai , pmillar, Debbie Thompson, and Deactivated user for your contributions to this article!

Here are some options you might want to consider if you’re also looking to capture book and reading reports in Canvas.

Option 1: Assignments in a Module

Create as many Assignments as needed in a dedicated reading Module, and students complete them as needed.

So that the number of book reports does not affect the final mark, either

1. use the “does not count towards the final mark” check box option to inform the student that it’s not counted; or
2. add these Assignments into an Assignment Group and add a 0% weighting.

Students submit their reading reports either

1. using Text Entry submission, where they can add details about the book, and can also include a picture of it; or
2. using URL submission, where they can keep track of all their reports in an external document to log their reports (ex. Google doc)

Pros:

• Students have flexibility with capturing their reading reports (i.e. text, picture, URL)
• Teachers can track individual Assignment submissions in the Gradebook so that every column with a score/submission icon can be clearly seen to indicate progress

Cons:

• Some explanation needed in this Module to explain that not all Assignments in this Module need to be completed - this can easily be resolved by adding a page at the beginning of the Module, or adding a note in a Module Text Header

Option 2: Assignment submission with multiple attempts

Create an Assignment that allow multiple attempts. Tick the box so that it doesn't count towards the final mark. There will still be an entry in the Gradebook to input number of reading reports completed.

Students submit as described in Option 1.

You can also add a recurring Calendar Event with a link to this Assignment as a reminder for students to complete it weekly.

Pros:

• Single Assignment for all reading reports, so it's easy to know where to go to submit their reading report
• Students can submit multiple times so not limited to how many they can submit
• Teachers can view number of submissions to indicate number of reading reports completed

Cons:

• Students can only see their last submission
• In the Gradebook, it would only be one entry (potentially a manual number that the teacher includes to indicate how many reading reports have been submitted)

Option 3: Survey with multiple attempts

Create an unmarked Survey and allow multiple attempts.

Students fill out the Survey.

Pros:

• Students have clear fields to fill out
• They can submit multiple times so not limited to how many they can submit
• Teachers can view number of attempts to indicate number of reading reports completed

Cons:

• Students can only see their last Survey results
• Would not show up in the Gradebook if an unmarked Survey. Alternatively, you could make this a marked Survey so it shows up in the Gradebook, then put it in an Assignment Group with 0% weighting. However, like Option 2, it would only show one column in the Gradebook.

Option 4: Group Discussion

Create a Group Set for Reading Reports, and assign students into their own Groups within that Group Set. Up to 200 Groups can be created in each Group Set, which means you can auto-assign up to 200 students into their own Groups using this method.

Create a Group Discussion, and select the appropriate Group Set for Reading Reports. You may need to create multiple Group Sets and Group Discussions to capture all students who will be submitting reading reports.

Students add a post for each reading report in a Group Discussion that only they can see.

Pros:

• Unlimited number of posts/reading reports in a Discussion
• Teachers can easily see the number of posts corresponding to number of reports when looking at the Discussion
• Teachers can comment directly by replying to the post related to each reading report

Cons:

• Extra administration work to set up Groups for each student.
• If unmarked, would not show up in the Gradebook. Alternatively, you could make this a marked Discussion so it shows up in the Gradebook, then put it in an Assignment Group with 0% weighting. However, like Options 2 and 3, it would only show one column in the Gradebook.

Have you set up book or reading reports in Canvas? How did you do it?

Have you tried one of our options above, or a modified version? We'd love to hear your ideas and thoughts.