- What is Smart Search?
- How does the Search feature work?
- What AI is being used?
- What regions are currently supported?
- What content is searched?
- How is content searched?
- Will Smart Search be a paid-for feature to Canvas?
- What languages are supported?
- Has this feature been vetted for accessibility?
- Will Search be available in Concluded Courses?
- How can my institution gain access to Smart Search?
- How can I help with the development of this feature?
- Smart Search is available in my Canvas instance. How do I enable it in a course?
- How do I use the Search feature?
- How will Smart Search work if my institution uses another vendor’s tool for searching?
- Does Smart Search work when Canvas for Elementary/Homeroom View is applied to a course?
- Is Smart Search available on the mobile apps?
- Why don’t I see any search results returned immediately after enabling the feature?
- How will we be notified of UI Changes?
- Will Smart Search search across an entire account?
What is Smart Search?
Smart Search is a feature of Canvas that is currently in development. Leveraging semantic algorithms and AI, the new Smart Search feature understands the context of queries, providing more accurate and relevant results without the need for traditional boolean operators or other search tools. This approach is an improvement over traditional keyword-based searches, and will enable users to swiftly and efficiently navigate the vast array of educational resources available on Canvas.
How does the Search feature work?
Our Smart Search feature relies on an AI-adjacent technology called “embeddings.” This technology “reads” the course content and creates a complex mathematical representation of each piece of content. When you perform a search, the technology “reads” your query and converts it into a complex mathematical representation. The tool then compares the mathematical representations of both your search and course content to return relevant results; this result is returned with a “Confidence” rating.
Because the search operates on “understanding” both the content and the queries, you can type in keyword(s), content, or just give a general gist of what you are looking for (“guitar”, “what are the steps of photosynthesis?”, “math to turn a function into frequencies“). We think you will be surprised at how well the system understands the intent of your queries and returns results accordingly.
What AI is being used?
Our Smart Search feature relies on an AI-adjacent technology called “embeddings.” It currently uses the Cohere Embed Multilingual model hosted on AWS. The “nutrition label” below answers some key questions at-a-glance related to the AI model, data, privacy and security.
What regions are currently supported?
The Cohere Multilingual Model is supported in all Instructure regions except the Canadian Region (YUL).
What content is searched?
As of April 10, 2024, the Search feature is querying the following items within a course: content pages, announcements, discussion prompts and assignment descriptions. The intention is to expand this scope as the Smart Search tool continues development.
How is content searched?
In the latest release, we do on-demand indexing within the course. That means when the search is initiated within a course the very first time, users will see a status indicating that results are being prepared. See screenshot below. This indexing will only be seen on the initial launch of Search and may take a few minutes to load; subsequent searches will return results instantly.
Will Smart Search be a paid-for feature to Canvas?
When it reaches General Availability, Smart Search will be a feature option, defaulted to disabled, that Admin can choose to make available in their instance of Canvas at no additional cost.
What languages are supported?
Smart Search supports a multilingual model. This allows for a non-native speaking user of the course language to search for course content using their native language. The supported languages can be found here. Please note that performance may vary across languages.
Has this feature been vetted for accessibility?
The UI is a work in progress. In its current iteration, it has passed basic accessibility checks.
Will Search be available in Concluded Courses?
If a course is concluded, a user with view access to that concluded course could use the Smart Search feature.
How can my institution gain access to Smart Search?
The Smart Search feature is currently classified as a feature preview (available July 17, 2024). We want to provide opportunities for users to provide feedback as often as possible. Clicking thumbs up and thumbs down on your search results and telling us why the results are good or bad will help us determine when results should or shouldn’t be shown to you. Additionally, posting to the Smart Search group in the community is another way to share your feedback.
How can I help with the development of this feature?
The Smart Search feature is currently classified as a feature preview. We want to provide opportunities for users to provide feedback as often as possible. Clicking thumbs up and thumbs down on your search results and telling us why the results are good or bad will help us determine when results should or shouldn’t be shown to you. Additionally, posting to the Smart Search group in the community is another way to share your feedback.
Smart Search is available in my Canvas instance. How do I enable it in a course?
As of July 17, 2024, Smart Search is a feature preview option that your institution can unlock or enable. To enable at a course level, go to Course Settings > Feature Options > enable the Smart Search feature option. You may want to manage course navigation to ensure Search is visible to users.
How do I use the Search feature?
If Smart Search is available in one of your courses, select the Search area of Course Navigation.
In the search box, type in keyword(s), content, or just give a general gist of what you are looking for (“guitar”, “what are the steps of photosynthesis?”, “math to turn a function into frequencies“). We think you will be surprised at how well the system understands the intent of your queries and returns results accordingly.
How will Smart Search work if my institution uses another vendor’s tool for searching?
Smart Search is intended to be available free of charge within core Canvas. The current functionality searches within a course, scoped to specific item types. While we intend to expand this over time, if other search tools better meet your institution's needs, you are welcome to use those alongside smart search.
Does Smart Search work when Canvas for Elementary/Homeroom View is applied to a course?
At this time, Smart Search is not visible in the Canvas for Elementary/Homeroom View. We look forward to adding support for this view in the future.
Is Smart Search available on the mobile apps?
At this time, Smart Search is not visible on Canvas mobile apps. We look forward to adding mobile support for this feature in the future.
Why don’t I see any search results returned immediately after enabling the feature?
For an initial search within a course, it may take a little bit of time for your results to load. Subsequent searches should return results quicker, as the content has already been indexed.
How will we be notified of UI Changes?
Updates to Smart Search will be shared in the change log of the community group. Please subscribe to be notified when updates are posted.
Will Smart Search search across an entire account?
Not at this time. We are aware that account-level/cross course searching is desired functionality, but we are prioritizing search within the context of a course and exploring expansion in the future.
