Good afternoon!  We love the Canvas for Elementary layout and appreciate all the hard work your team has put into this experience! Currently, when a teacher grades an assignment in Speedgrader, they have the option to Reassign the assignment.  Normally I believe this shows in the student's To-do list, however in C4E it shows as "Redo" in the schedule tab on the due date of the assignment.  This makes it very easy for students to miss that the assignment has been reassigned unless they are looking back through completed assignments on their schedule tab. Are we missing an easy way for students to see that assignments were reassigned, or is there a way to get these assignments to repopulate under "Missing" assignments for each course? Thank you for your support and guidance! ... View more

Rational for integrating external apps into Canvas ecosystem. Canvas as the Hub:   There are so many great apps out there which enrich our teaching and learning experiences, but asking students to navigate away from Canvas for any reason may be challenging, confusing, and distracting for many.  By integrating your apps you are creating a one-stop-shop for your scholars and saving time, energy, and concern for yourself as an instructor. Auto Gradebook Updating:  When a Canvas "assignment" leveraging an installed app using the "external tool" option is published a gradebook instance is automatically created.  The gradebook is also populated with scores as student responses are marked in "SpeedGrader. Streamlined Workflow:   Because content creators and consumers engage with all materials in the Canvas environment workflow efficiencies are gained creating time for other important tasks while reducing unnecessary stress. Step 1: Installing External Apps into Canvas Course. Choose a course page. Navigate to "Settings".  Select the "App" tab.  Search for "edpuzzle and select the app's icon. Click the "Add App" button under the app logo.  Input "Consumer Key" and "Shared Secret" into dialogue box.  Find  "Consumer Key" and "Shared Secret" under your name from your Edpuzzle account information tab in the upper right-hand corner.    From your profile page navigate to the “School” tab. NOTE: This feature lies behind a paywall.  Your institution will need to set up a “School” plan through Edpuzzle.com in order to retrieve the codes.  Here is a link about Edpuzzle account tiers from Free to Pro: Free vs Pro – Edpuzzle Help Center. On the “School” tab scroll to the bottom of the page to find the “LMS” selector, s elect “Canvas” from the drop down menu and Copy and Paste the provided codes into the proper places in the Canvas "Add App" section.      A new "Edpuzzle" option is now available in the "Navigation" tab of the "Settings" page.  Drag and Place the link to the desired location before clicking "Save" at the bottom of the "Navigation" page.  Selecting the new "Edpuzzle" tab in the left hand navigation will reveal the instructor's Edpuzzle.com dashboard.   To confirm the integration was successful search "classes" from the Edpuzzle dashboard.  Step 2: Setting up an Assignment leveraging the newly installed Edpuzzle App. In the case of Edpuzzle all content must first be Created or Collected in Edpuzzle.com.  The Edpuzzle External Tool only makes videos from the instructor's Edpuzzle "My Content" section available for assigning. Here is a link to a beginners course for content curation designed by Edpuzzle:  Edpuzzle Level 1.  Once your content is created and ready to go navigate back to your Canvas course and commence the assignment creating process by selecting the "Assignment" tab in the left navigation menu and clicking the "+Assignment" button.  After you add your instructions in the assignment content management panel scroll down to the “Submission Type” section, s elect the “External Tool” option, and search for and select the Edpuzzle tool.    After clicking the "Select" button a new window is displayed prompting the instructor to select the desired video from their Edpuzzle.com course content section.  To choose select the eye (watch) icon which appears while hovering the cursor over the middle of the video. Once selected another window appears displaying more video details as well as a new "Assign" button.  Once assigned the Canvas + Edpuzzle assignment is set for publishing. QUICK TIP: Don’t forget to add a “Due” Date and “Save and Publish”.  This ensures that your new assignment appears on your student’s Canvas Calendar as well as their “To-do” list automatically.  When students engage with the "Assignment" they will see not only the teacher's written and/or video instructions they will also see the embedded Edpuzzle.com Video. Step 3: Grading Edpuzzle Canvas Assignments  The joy of leveraging Edpuzzle as an "Assignment" in Canvas is that an instructor doesn't have to worry about logging scores from Edpuzzle.com into Canvas #Grades; this is done automatically.  Nevertheless, you may still assign a grade, leave written comments, or even produce a video response.  The only feature which is not integrated for "External Tool" submissions are "Rubrics".  For a prolific user of Rubrics this is not ideal, but new developments occur everyday.  Always keep your eyes peeled for updates. Teachers receive performance details from Edpuzzle displaying “score”, date completed, date/time started, as well as an “options” button to reset score, if so desired.  Scores are automatically posted to Gradebook. Step 4:  Keep an eye on the Gradebook because it will make you smile. When leveraging Edpuzzle as a Canvas "Assignment" a gradebook instance is automatically created.  Scores also magically populate the gradebook as students complete the work alleviating the need for double entry and screen swapping while streamlining instructor workflow and improving accuracy.  In short; everyone wins :smileygrin:. **Please keep in mind the timing of this post.  Processes and outcomes mentioned above could change at anytime as Canvas and Edpuzzle continue to improve their integrations.  I also look forward to hearing from the Community.  Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or observations.  I'm always happy to help.** Kindest regards, Brandon K. Risenhoover ... View more

  In North America, many schools are wrapping up their academic year. I’m usually intentional about writing, reflecting, and setting goals. This year more than ever, I find myself encouraged and motivated to make changes...when I also feel I should allow myself to simply collapse into summer because of exhaustion. It’s been “a year” jam-packed with learning, juggling, and reflecting. We’re all exhausted, but I can’t help but notice passionate educators still finding time to ask the BIG questions and investing in students’ well-being and educational journeys in immeasurable ways. I devoured books and articles about student engagement, problem-based learning, personalized learning, unique assessment methods, and educator growth. Looking back on my year, I see that this deep-rooted desire to learn helped me to face the challenges of constantly reinventing my classroom. It was a mission full of value - not only for learners but for myself as an educator. I know other educators learned more this year than ever...in so many aspects, too!  At times, this desire to “get it right” pushed me nearly to my breaking point. There was no “answer” or “ideal solution” as I sought to find ways to empower students to invest in their learning experiences while also allowing them to connect activities and projects to their interests and current events. However, every time we collaborated, built activities, wrote class norms, reflected, revised...together...it was the sense of accomplishment and excellence I sought. Even if no more than ⅓ of our class was on-campus during any given class meeting and even if there always seemed like there was room for growth, I felt we did the best we could provide everything that was constantly in flux. Our work was constantly unfinished, but eventually, I accepted it.   Over the weekend, a colleague and friend of mine shared a reflection that was published by the Lasallian Region of North America. What's Done is Finished: A Time to Recharge has a wonderful visual and a reminder to accept things as they are and allow yourself to recharge and look forward. You also need to express gratitude for the colleagues who have become friends who are alongside you, accepting the ups and downs of your passionate investment into your career. I hope that others can find a connection to it too, regardless of where you are an educator. So many of us are ready to return to “normal”, but what if “normal” isn’t the best solution anymore? I know I’m not the only one who has posed this question! In this year full of juggling, adaptability, responsiveness, and emotions, I can’t help but see the beautiful creativity and collaboration that surfaced during so much uncertainty. I’m exhausted, but renewed and actually more in sync with colleagues than I have been at the end of other school years. Like the reflection, I hope that eventually we can look back and recognize everything that was accomplished and identify it with more and more confidence. Is it possible to maintain our current pace of planning, assessment, research, reflection, adjustments, etc? No, probably not. Were some of the systematic disparities and inequities exacerbated during this year?  Yes, sadly. However, there are some amazing solutions, approaches, and principles that should stick around, far longer than our quarantines and pandemic anxieties. It’s time to take this momentum to find our way and address all students’ needs in ways that are current, creative, flexible, and student-driven. Even while completely exhausted, I’m excited and empowered to do better in cooperation with those who enter the classroom and look at me as a guide.. ...after the opportunity to rest, of course, but still soon enough to turn the emotions of “the year” into something that will feed positive changes. Here’s my challenge for you. Take five minutes to think about your year, in your role in education. Find a post-it or your favorite notes app and jot down some ideas. (If you’d like to share this in the comments so the entire Community can celebrate and uplift together, please do!) What are three things you accomplished this year that you initially had thought would be impossible? These could be pedagogy, content, or technology-related. What are two Canvas features or tools you adopted or increased your utilization of this year that you want to keep active in your practice? What is one goal for the future you’d like to make for yourself or your classroom? It may be the end of an exhausting year full of (constant) learning, but it’s also the beginning of another phase of continual reflection and growth we accept as educators. How you look back on this year will change over time, but I hope that the frustrations and emotions make all of us stronger, more adaptable, and accepting of teaching and learning in ways we don’t expect.    ... View more

Did you know that ReadSpeaker can read New Quizzes using our TextAid extension?  Watch this video to see it in action! Not sure if your institution has a TextAid license? Contact us for more info on adding this product to your ReadSpeaker Suite of Learning Tools. ... View more

Anyone using OUTCOMES for grading within canvas at their elementary schools? Looking into making this happen at my district, but I want to make sure we roll it out smoothly. I am sure this will not happen this year, but I may get a few pilot teachers. ... View more