wiki assignments in canvas

Canvas How-To: Journals, Blogs, & Wikis

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Contact Information

Mary Stuart Rogers, MSR 380

Introduction

Canvas does not have a built-in equivalent tool for journal, blog, and wiki course activities. However, these activities can be undertaken in Canvas to some degree using existing tools and external tools.

Activity description:  Journals are an activity where students write successive entries in the same location that are visible only to the student and the instructor.

• Option 1:  Use Discussions Plus external tool to create private journals.
• Option 2: Use the Discussion tool to create private journals for each student using the Group Discussion feature.

Grading caveat:  In either solution, journals can be graded and assigned due dates, but the grade and due date apply to the whole activity.  In other words, it is not possible to grade individual entries or assign due dates to individual entries.

Option 1: Discussions Plus

Discussions Plus makes it easy to create a journaling activity in Canvas.

Part 1: Set up a Canvas assignment for the Discussions Plus activity

• Open the Assignments page in the course and create a new assignment (this is assuming the journals will be graded - see below if not)
• In the Submission Type menu, choose "External Tool" and click the Find button
• Locate and select "Discussions Plus" as the external tool
• When prompted, click the "Discussion" option, not "Poll".
• Click the red "Select" button and finish configuring any other assignment settings such as points, due date, etc.
• Click Save.  The Discussions Plus interface will automatically open.

Part 2: Configure Discussions Plus to be a journal

• In the Discussions Plus interface, click the "Post Settings" tab

• Scroll to the bottom and click Save & Close
• Publish the activity in Canvas

Part 3: Read the Journals

Return to the activity in Canvas to open the Discussions Plus environment.  Click on a student's thread to read their entries.

Option 2: Canvas Discussions

In this option, the instructor creates a standard Canvas discussion using groups and assigns each student to their own 'group'.

Part 1: Create the Discussions

• In the Course Menu, click on the  Discussion  link
• Click on the  +Discussions  button on the top right.
• Type "Journal" into the  Topic Title
• Add: instructions, grades, availability...
• Scroll down and choose the  This is a Group Discussion  option.
• Type a  Group Set Name  to describe the set of groups.
• In the Group Structure, choose to  Split student into (_) groups .
• Enter the same number of students you have in the course, so each student has their own discussion/journal. 

Part 2: Rename the Discussions for Each Student

• In the Course Menu, click on the  People  link.
• Click on the tab related to the Group Set you created in Part 1. 
• Click on the on the name of the discussion (journal 1) to reveal the student who has been assigned to this discussion thread.

• Rename of the group to  the student's name  so you can easily identify it in the list of Discussions.
• Click on the  Save  button.

The journaling activity is just another Discussion in the course.  It is available from the Discussions home page in the course, and a link to it can be added to the course Modules page.

Blogs in Canvas

Activity description:  Blogs are an activity where students write successive entries in the same location that are visible to the whole class and the instructor.

Solution:  Use the Discussions Plus tool for maximum ease-of-use.  Each student's blog will occupy one 'thread' in the class-wide discussion activity.

Steps to complete:

• Create a new assignment in Canvas if the activity will be graded.  Note that the final grade will encompass the totality of the activity, not specific blog posts.
• Type the content of the prompt that will guide the blog entries.
• In the Submission Type, choose "External Tool".
• Click the "Find" button and select "Discussions Plus".
• Choose "Discussion" at the prompt.
• Click "Save". The Discussions Plus interface will open.
• If desired, configure specific settings in Discussions Plus that are relevant to your activity.
• Click "Save & Close" to finish the set up
• Make the assignment link available in Canvas.  Remember to publish the item!

Wikis in Canvas

Activity Description:  A wiki is a small collection of web pages that are editable by multiple people. 

Solution:  Canvas Pages. Students can use a series of Pages created by the instructor and linked together as the environment for their wiki project.

Grading Caveat:  This solution cannot be directly graded.

Part 1: Create blank pages

In this solution, the instructor creates a series of empty pages for the students to use in the wiki activity. For example, if the instructor expects six total pages from a group of students, she will create six blank pages for that group (and six more for another group, and so on).

• In the Course Menu, click on the  Pages  link.
• Click on the  + Page  button. 
• Type the name of the page into the  Topic Title . Note: students cannot change this title!

• Click on the  Save & Publish  button.
• Repeat these steps for any other page that is part of the wiki activity.
• Add a link to the first page of the activity in the Modules area of the course, if desired.

Part 2: Students edit page, add links to other pages, etc

Student are directed to click the link for the first page of the wiki from the Modules area of the course or are directed to the Pages silo in the course menu to find the correct page.

Students click the  Edit  button on a page to begin editing. In addition to supplying the content for the page, students should be encouraged to use the  Links  tab to make links to other pages in the wiki activity:

• Type the name of the link (this is the text users will read and click on) and  highlight it .
• Open the  Links  tab
• Open the  Pages  menu

After completing the edits, click  Save .  Note: students cannot change the title of a page.

Part 3: View the Page History

To check the contribution history of a single page:

• Click on the Options icon

The content on this page has been adapted from content created by the  Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology  at Cal Poly SLO.

Updated: October 11, 2022

Modal Title

Building a Wiki Page in Canvas

by Justina | Sep 13, 2021 | Assignments , Building Community , Building Curriculum , Canvas , Collaboration , Course Content , Course Design , Course Modality , Discussion , Group Work , Hybrid/Blended , Online , Students as Producers

by Rebecca Borowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, WWU

Getting bored with Discussion boards? Consider having students post to a wiki! A wiki is a website that can be edited by multiple users. Rather than discussion boards, where students reply directly to each other and conversations happen in small groups or threads, a wiki page shows all of the posts and comments on one main page.

For example, perhaps you want students to find an example of a graph and share it with the class for everyone to analyze and discuss. Rather than having students submit their graph to you via an assignment or post it to a discussion board, have students add it to an “Examples of Graphs” page. In addition to posting their graph, ask students to post 2-3 sentences about why they selected it or what they think is meaningful about it. Once everyone has posted, you can respond with your own feedback, or invite students to post feedback on each other’s graphs. Rather than being embedded in multiple threads, all of the work is displayed on this one page, almost as if it was written on the white board in your face-to-face classroom.

To set up a wiki page, create a new page in Canvas and select “teachers and students” to answer the question about who can edit the page. Then build questions/opportunities for posting onto the page, and let students add their work!

Learning how to use wikis can be labor intensive at first, but once they get the hang of it, the benefits are plentiful. Take a look at the attachments to see the directions I give students when they are learning to post to wiki pages within Canvas.

One caution: If multiple students are editing the page at the same time, some of the work may be “overwritten.” For the reason, I encourage students to compose their posts in a word document first, then just copy and paste their work into the Canvas page for a quick post.

For assistance with Canvas, see: Canvas Help at WWU .

Building a Wiki Page in Canvas

by Rebecca Borowski, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, WWU

Getting bored with Discussion boards? Consider having students post to a wiki! A wiki is a website that can be edited by multiple users. Rather than discussion boards, where students reply directly to each other and conversations happen in small groups or threads, a wiki page shows all of the posts and comments on one main page.

For example, perhaps you want students to find an example of a graph and share it with the class for everyone to analyze and discuss. Rather than having students submit their graph to you via an assignment or post it to a discussion board, have students add it to an “Examples of Graphs” page. In addition to posting their graph, ask students to post 2-3 sentences about why they selected it or what they think is meaningful about it. Once everyone has posted, you can respond with your own feedback, or invite students to post feedback on each other’s graphs. Rather than being embedded in multiple threads, all of the work is displayed on this one page, almost as if it was written on the white board in your face-to-face classroom.

To set up a wiki page, create a new page in Canvas and select “teachers and students” to answer the question about who can edit the page. Then build questions/opportunities for posting onto the page, and let students add their work!

Learning how to use wikis can be labor intensive at first, but once they get the hang of it, the benefits are plentiful. Take a look at the attachments to see the directions I give students when they are learning to post to wiki pages within Canvas.

One caution: If multiple students are editing the page at the same time, some of the work may be “overwritten.” For the reason, I encourage students to compose their posts in a word document first, then just copy and paste their work into the Canvas page for a quick post.

For assistance with Canvas, see: Canvas Help at WWU .

Learning Management System

Lms support for staff.

• Staff guides

Wikis in the LMS

Wikis are a collaborative communication tool that allow students to work together in a private space that is easily editable to complete a piece of work together.

Wikis differ from blogs in that the writing is a collaborative effort where students can all edit the Wiki page to co-create the final piece of work. Typically, they are one or more pages that students design with a flat navigation to present a group project or piece of work.

Wikis can be used for a range of educational purposes, including:

• Group work or group projects
• Building community between students
• Co-creation of ideas and learning

Canvas LMS does not include a wiki tool specifically, however the Groups functionality in the LMS and Pages within groups provide wiki functionality. This guide outlines how to set up a wiki activity in Canvas.

Any Page in the LMS can be set to allow students to edit it, hence being able to be used as a wiki. (Note that students are not able to create their own Pages in the LMS). Similarly, Pages as wikis can also be used within Groups, providing the same functionality but allowing students to keep the wiki private to only the members of their Group. (To set up Groups, see below).

If a wiki activity is for the whole subject, a Group can be created including all the students in the subject, however, more typically wiki activities are assigned to individual Groups.

The following guide provides an overview of creating a wiki activity in Canvas LMS. If you would like to book a consultation for assistance, please submit a support request .

Creating Groups for a wiki activity

Creating group sets.

To create groups, you first create a Group Set (a set of common groups) in Canvas LMS, then create the associated Groups for the Group Set ; either:

• Automatically
• Via manual enrol
• Via self-enrol

Creating Groups

To set up Groups in your subject:

Enter a Group Set name, for example (Subject code and name) wiki activity

Note: We recommend you always include the subject code and name in a Group Set name and Group names. The reason for this is that students can access their Groups outside of their subjects via the global navigation area in Canvas and may end up with several groups with the same or similar names from several subjects unless the subject code/name is included.

• Allow self sign-up: students can self-enrol in Groups
• Split students into groups: students are automatically assigned to Groups
• I’ll create groups manually: students are manually allocated to Groups.

Note: For Allow self sign-up Groups you will need to ensure the People subject navigation link is available to students so they can sign-up to the Groups.

Note: If you choose I’ll create Groups manually , you can need to click + Group to create the different groups within your Group Set and then drag and drop student names into the appropriate group. Remember to use the subject code within the Group name as noted above.

See this guide for assistance: How do I add a group set in a subject (course)?

Student access to the Group Home Page

Once Groups have been created as above, the group automatically gets a Groups Home Page and the Pages tool where they can create a wiki. Students can access their Group Home Page via the Groups icon in the global navigation.

Once enrolled in a group, students can also access their subject Groups in the Subject Groups area on the home page of your subject in the right-hand sidebar.

Students's setup of Pages for their wiki activity within a Group

The Pages area in groups can be used for group wiki activity.

In Pages within the group, students can select a page to use as a front page for their group area. They can also use the linking functionality to make a logical wiki structure.

When viewing All Pages in a group, as a default the Pages are displayed in alphabetical order. It is recommended that students use numbers in the Page name to force the Pages to list in their preferred order.

Creating a graded group wiki activity

If you wish to track grades and give feedback on a group wiki activity, create a Group Assignment with the  Online setting and Website URL submission instructing students to submit their Group wiki URL.

Instructions are given to the student to copy the Group Front Page URL from the navigation bar in the browser and submit that once the work is completed.

Ensure you select This is a Group Assignment for the Assignment so the wiki URL can be submitted once on behalf of the group and all group members can see the marks and feedback.

• Click on the subject navigation link Assignment

• Enter the Assignment Name for your Assignment (e.g. Group wiki activity)
• Write or paste the wiki activity instructions into the rich text editor. Include the instructions to the students that only one person needs to submit to the wiki Group Assignment on behalf of the Group. To copy the wiki URL, ensure the student is on the Front Page for the wiki (Pages) and copying the URL from the navigation bar in the browser.
• In the Points box, enter the points for the assignment. (It is recommended to grade the activity out of ‘100’ and weight the assignment according to its relative value in GradeBook later).
• In the Assignment Group box, choose the appropriate Assignment group or create a new one (suggestion: Group wiki activity)
• In the Display Mark as box, choose the appropriate method to display your grades

• Select This is a Group Assignment
• Either select the Group Set already created for the activity or create a new Group Set
• Complete the remaining Assignment settings as desired

Student guide: How do I enter a URL as an assignment submission?

Staff access to the Group Home Page for groups in your subject

As staff in a subject you can view the Group Home Page for groups in your subjects:

• Go to Subject Navigation: People>> Group Set Name

• Click Visit Group Homepage

Note: you can view the Page history of any Page to see who has contributed.

How do I view all groups in a subject (course) as an instructor?

This guide was last updated 12 Mar 2024. Please report any errors or omissions in this guide by submitting an LMS support request .

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• Using Canvas Pages as a Wiki

A wiki is collaborative tool for editing a single document. In instruction, wikis can be used for group writing assignments, or projects, or simply to allow multiple authors to craft a page. This link explains more about using wikis as an instructional tool for creating and evaluating.

Canvas does not have a tool specifically called "wiki"; however, each page is able to be edited by multiple authors when designated by the instructor (See Fig. 1). To create a wiki for your class, follow this link  for instructions on how to create a new page in Canvas. Then change the settings on the page to allow anyone to edit. One important feature to note is that the Canvas Pages tool does not track participation and contribution statistics.

Figure 1 : Allow anyone to edit a Canvas page

This guide from Northwestern University provides step-by-step instructions on pages 3 and 4 for creating and using wiki pages in Canvas: http://lmsblog.it.northwestern.edu/2014/12/02/student-blog-and-journal/

Modified on: Wed, Jun 2, 2021 at 1:12 PM

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Teach Smart with Technology: Using Wikis for Collaborative Learning

by Cecilia Lo | Aug 30, 2018 | Instructional design

What are Wikis? Why use them as Assignments?

Wiki is a collection of web pages that can be viewed and modified collaboratively via the internet.  It is usually used for repository or reporting information and has versioning capabilities.  Since it is an online tool, collaborators can access and edit the information at any location at any time; they can also view changes in real-time.  A well-known example of wiki is the  Wikipedia —a “self-organizing, self-correcting online encyclopedia anyone can edit” (Jimmy Wales, in “ Why Does Wikipedia Work? ”).  The fundamental tenant of wiki is the gathering of information from a community of participants with a shared interest as opposed to disseminating information by experts in a top-down model.

Instructors typically assign exercises involving the wikis to help students achieve pedagogical objectives such as:

• Expand student literacy in the field  through reading and summarizing relevant writings
• Build  research and writing skills
• Develop  critical thinking skills  when they evaluate others’ contributions
• Gain insight into the  process of constructing of knowledge  and the  instability of knowledge
• Create a learning community by  providing a peer-learning experience;  provide  students  an opportunity to  learn how to work  collaboratively— trusting each other, respect of each other, and making objective suggestions; give students  an alternative way to participate  in class
• Promote “ pride of authorship ” and  ownership  in the team’s activities. Further, students can show off their work in a public wiki with friends and family, and if their wiki pages has high readership outside of the class, it also gives them certain bragging rights.
• Learn how to write for and  engage a public audience , and practice good digital citizenship. Students learn essential  digital communication skills  and the visual rhetoric of digital writing (e.g. how images and other media are used in relation to the text).
• Help student recognize the  real-world relevance  of what they are learning through linking to internet resource, and through engaging with the larger public in the case of a public wiki.

Some Examples

Typical wiki assignments include:

• Collaborative glossary
• Collaborative class notes or textbook
• Group projects—share resources, track meeting notes, agenda items, and work progress
• Peer-review of student writing
• e-portfolios to reflect on learning progress

Specific Examples

• The Chicago School of Media Theory Wikipedia like entries of terms written by students
• Powerpedia A collaborative resource created by students in Richard Westerman’s  Power, Identity, and Resistance  Core Social Sciences course at the University of Chicago in 2010-11, and retained as a reference for future students in that course.
• Being Christian in the Roman Empire:  Midterm Site on UChicago Wiki  (CNetID log-in required) |  Final Site on Wikipedia Class wiki created by students in Brandon Cline’s  Being Christian in the Roman Empire  course in 2012 spring quarter
• Wikis in University Teaching and Learning  (YouTube Video) Richard Buckland of University of New South Wales discusses what wiki is, how it works, how he has used it successfully (collaborative class notes, assignments) in a presentation for the Foundations of University Learning and Teaching (FULT) program. The video is almost an hour long, but is worth watching.
• Brian Katz, “ Technology Supporting Innovative Pedagogy ,” AMS Graduate Student Blog, May 25, 2011 Katz describes asking his students to create WikiTextbook in the first part of the blog post.
• “ Wiki Brings a Class Together – Tim Paustian ,” Paustian of University of Wisconsin—Madison uses wiki to help microbiology lab students work collaboratively on a class lab project and help them see how their individual work fit into the bigger class project.
• “ Wiki Improves Peer Editing – Erica Halverson ” Halverson of University of Wisconsin—Madison assigned her education students to work on their instructional design group projects in a wiki so that students can get peer feedback from group members and from other groups.

As with any other assignments, the success of any assignment depends on having:

• Clear and transparent learning goals and expectation:  Students need to understand why they are doing the exercises, and what they will get out of them
• Clear and detail instruction, especially expected behavior when they work in groups : It should be clear to the students how to do the assignment and how they can work effectively as a group. Consider assigning roles and other collaborative learning strategies.
• Clear relevance : Students need to see how their work impact on their learning, discuss the work they do outside class meeting back into the classroom
• Clear assessment rubrics:  Students need to know what count as good work. Providing models often help.
• Safe learning environment  that makes participating, sharing, and collaborating mean something: Students need to feel safe to experiment on ideas and experience the effect of positive outcome of their work.

When your assignment involves using collaborative online tools such as wikis, consider:

• Student’s  familiarity with the wiki & potential learning curve : Do not assume students are tech-savvy. Factor in the time/effort students need to learn the tool when you consider appropriate workload. It is often a good idea to scaffold the exercise and assign a very short and easy first exercise with the tool to help students get familiar with it.
• Provide an example  of what you consider good work.
• Nurture continual participation  by discussing their work in class .
• Structure the initial content  for easy access. Since the content in a wiki is created by a group, it is easy for the content to become disorganized and difficult to navigate. This can be addressed by providing an organizational structure before everyone starts contributing.
• Privacy issues:  If you choose to have students work in a public wiki, remember that student information is protected by  FERPA —this is  federal law . For questions regarding FERPA, see the  University Registrar’s web page  or email them at  [email protected]  or call 773.702.7891.

Wiki Tools at UChicago

If you are interesting in wiki tools, please contact us .

• “ 7 Things You Should Know about Wiki ,”  Educause
• Andrea Novicki, “ Course wiki facilitates student participation and course design ,” Duke University Center for Instructional Technology Blog
• Andrea Novicki, “ Teaching with a wiki ,” Duke University Center for Instructional Technology Blog

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In many classrooms, the instructor provides most of the course content. With wikis, students have an opportunity to create – together – much of the course content.  Wikis shift your students from ‘consumer of knowledge’ to ‘creators of knowledge,’ which is a great way to encourage your students to develop critical thinking skills, to learn from one another, and to improve their ability to work in groups.

When to use a wiki

As you’re beginning to see, wikis are ideal for group projects that emphasize collaboration and editing. Some common uses include:

• Mini research projects in which the wiki serves as documentation of student work
• Collaborative annotated bibliographies where students add summaries and critiques about course-related readings
• Compiling a manual or glossary of useful terms or concepts related to the course, or even a guide to a major course concept
• Maintaining a collection of links where the instructor and students can post, comment, group or classify links relevant to the course
• Building an online repository of course documents where instructors and students can post relevant documents
• Creating e-portfolios of student work

Wikis work best when individual authorship is less important than the outcome that is created. Also, wikis are most appropriate for content that doesn’t need to be protected from accidental editing.

Curious about how other instructors are using wikis? Take a look at these real life examples:

• Chris Paris, lecturer at Vanderbilt Divinity, used a wiki in his “Bible in American Culture” class as a way to have students share pop culture references to the Bible, creating a shared class resource. In his “Literary Analysis of the Hebrew Bible” course, he asked students to take turns taking notes on class discussions and to share those notes on the class wiki. See more about his wiki use here .
• Lou Rossi, Professor at the University of Delaware, used wikis in his Calculus undergraduate course and his Applied Mathematics graduate course. Using a wiki helps students spend time on solving problems outside of the classroom in a motivating collaborative environment. Publishing in a wiki gets students aware of the fact that they are writing for an audience, which usually results in using common mathematical language and formulas instead of plain English. Hear more about his work on this podcast .
• Columbia University Lecturer Jutta Schmiers-Heller created two separate wikis (one in the fall semester and one in the spring semester) to help the same set of Intermediate I German language students practice and recycle vocabulary and grammar, and learn culture in a fun, interactive way. Both wikis were embedded in the course curriculum and used for specific projects.  See more about her wiki use  here .
• Associate professor of English at Barnard, Derrick Higginbotham, used his course wiki as a presentation space and tool for text analysis for students. His course assignments included a close reading of texts within the wiki followed by student discussion in the discuss section of the wiki page. In the discussion section of each page, students responded to each others thoughts and analysis of the text, thus creating discourse outside of class and fueling the discussion in class. See more about his wiki use  here .

Why use a wiki?

One of the primary reasons to use wikis is because they help your students reach Bloom’s higher order skills – things like creating and evaluating. Additionally, wikis achieve many of Chickering and Ehrmann good teaching practices including cooperation between students, active learning, prompt feedback from peers, time on task, the articulation of high expectations, and support for diverse talents.

Practically, we also think that wikis are a good tool to use because access and editing can be controlled by the instructor thus making a wiki public or private. Additionally, wikis are accessible online and include user friendly features that require little training. It’s likely your students will know exactly what to do!

How to get started with wikis

There are a variety of free and easy to use wikis that make it quick and easy to get started using wikis.  For example, try starting with:

• EditMe https://www.editme.com/ ​The simplest wiki solution for your business or classroom. Share content and files, capture knowledge and manage processes.
• For some other alternative sites, please also check out some of these links; https://www.pbworks.com/education.html https://moodle.org/ https://education.weebly.com/

Each of these options has example wikis that you can view to get an idea of the possibilities the tool.

Once you’ve chosen a tool, you’ll also want to:

• Make instructions explicit and provide clear expectations
• Build in time for practice
• Publish due dates for multi-phase projects
• Start with a simple wiki assignment before attempting a large, collaborative project

What does the research say about wikis?

Research on wikis is still emerging, here we’ll provide a brief annotate bibliography of recent articles:

• Bold, M. (2006).  Use of wikis in graduate course work. Journal of Interactive Learning Research , 17(1), 5-14.In the “Use of Wikis in Graduate Course Work,” the researcher evaluates wikis as a viable tool for collaborative work.  Bold cites benefits of wikis including ease of collaboration (“A collaborative workspace that can display documents immediately, with a minimal working knowledge of HTML tags”) and ease of use (“wikis require little to no institutional support, financial or technical”). Further,  Bold believes wikis don’t just help the student learn the curriculum better, but they help the student learn how to improve their skills in online interaction.
• Deters, F. Cuthrell, K., & Stapleton, J. (2010).  Why Wikis? Student Perceptions of Using Wikis in Online Coursework. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching , 6(1). http://jolt.merlot.org/vol6no1/deters_0310.htm Elementary education professors at a large southeastern College of Education conducted a study for the purpose of exploring student perceptions regarding the use of wikis in online instruction and potential uses for wikis in the K-12 classroom as perceived by respondents. Participants in the study were 40 students enrolled in 1 of 3 graduate level social studies methods courses. Data were collected using surveys and written reflections. Though students reported initial hesitation at learning a new technology, their overall experience using the wikis was positive. The students felt that wikis were a great collaboration tool. Principle themes that emerged from the data were the potential uses of wikis as instructional tools, potential uses for information dissemination, benefits or advantages to using wikis, and limitations regarding the use of wikis. The authors provide a list of questions developed as a result of the study that, when used prior to implementing wikis as a learning tool, will minimize the limitations associated with their use.
• Elgort, I., Smith, A. G., & Toland, J. (2008). Is wiki an effective platform for group course work? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology , 24(2), 195-21.  This study reports on students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of using wikis as a platform for conducting assessed group projects in two postgraduate Master’s level university courses. The results highlight the fact that student attitudes to group work, in general, are mixed, and that the use of wikis per se is not enough to improve these attitudes. On the positive side, students found wikis useful for arranging information and sharing knowledge, while instructors thought wikis made managing and marking group work easier  and  more  effective.  Other  issues  related  to  using  wikis  as  a  collaborative learning tool in higher education are also considered.
• Ioannou, A. and ARtino, A. (2009).  Wiki and Threaded Discussion for Online Collaborative Activities:  Students’ Perceptions and Use. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Web Intelligence, 1(1), 97-106.  Researchers used a wiki with 15 graduate students in an online course. Students worked on two different group activities, first using the threaded discussion feature and then using the wiki. The researchers then investigated students’ attitudes about their experience, as well as differences in their processes, after using each technology. The findings suggest that there are clear benefits and limitations inherent to both technologies. The threaded discussion tool was preferred, yet students recognized the potential of the wiki to support collaboration. Practical implications and future directions are discussed, including the need for instructors to support and encourage discussion as a complement to wiki writing, scaffold and model the use of wikis, and create sufficiently complex group tasks to help make wiki use attractive and appropriate.

Common Concerns

A common concern among instructors new to wikis (as with blogs!) is how to evaluate a student’s work. We suggest that before implementing a wiki project in your course, you develop a rubric and explain to students how you will be evaluating their contributions to the wiki. Take a look at some of the existing wiki rubrics, like this  one  or this  one , and adapt it to fit your needs.

Consider how (or if) you will evaluate the wiki’s:

• Content and writing quality Consider if the content is interesting and engaging. Does it include images and videos or slideshows? Has it been proofread?
• Use and accuracy of citations and references Are there links to reliable outside resources that document student thinking?
• Appearance Is the wiki easy to navigate? Is it organized?
• Collaboration among your students The wiki will provide you with clues about collaboration on the “Page History” – you’ll be able to see if the wiki has changed significantly over time as member of the course added new content or revisions to existing content.

As with other types of assignments and projects, the more clear you are with your expectations, the more likely students will be able to meet them. To this end,  Dave Foord created a simple acronym to get good results with wiki projects: STOLEN.

More Resources

Wikis in Higher Education (A Report by the University of Delaware):  http://udel.edu/~mathieu/wiki/resources/2008-5-23_Wikis_in_Higher_Education_UD.pdf

Wikify Your Course: Designing and Implementing a Wiki for Your Learning Environment: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2010/9/wikify-your-course-designing-and-implementing-a-wiki-for-your-learning-environment/

50 Ways to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom

Ideas for using blogs and wikis in your course from Duke Center for Instructional Technology http://cit.duke.edu/2009/01/blogs-and-wikis-in-your-course/

Should you use a wiki or a blog?

Wikis are often compared to blogs because, in many ways, they’re similar: they’re easy to edit, are used to collaborate, and each is easy to set up.

The difference between a wiki and a blog is that wikis are designed for collaboration among groups of users. Anyone with the shared wiki password can edit the content on a wiki at any time. Wikis also provide discussion boards for every page, enabling users to engage in ongoing conversations about their developing project.

So how do you choose? We suggest that you consider what you’re hoping to achieve by using a technology in your course. For instance, are you wanting your students to write collaboratively or do you want submissions by a single author? For the former use a wiki, and the latter a blog.

Ready to get started?

The possibilities for using wikis to engage students both inside and outside of the classroom are immense.  Don’t hesitate to  contact the CFT if you are part of the Vanderbilt instructional community and would like to talk to one of our consultants about incorporating wikis into your teaching.

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While you’ve been preparing for the back-to-school season—however it looks for you this year—we’ve been rounding up our best resources and raising our commitment to global support to ensure you have everything you need to use Canvas effectively and efficiently.

Just getting started? Check out our “ Quick Start Teacher Checklist ” for step-by-step guidance and support. We’ve also connected with countless schools, districts, and institutions to identify the top five support issues and have addressed them in our latest live stream series. To set you up for success, we’ve gathered the following five videos hosted by our powerhouse consultants and paired them with best practices from our Canvas super users.

#1 Create Quizzes

Need help setting up quizzes in Canvas LMS? Watch the video below to learn how to create a quiz, manage quiz settings in Canvas, create specific question types, use questions from a questions bank, and more.

Pro Tip: Looking to transfer your “classic quizzes” in Canvas to “new quizzes” without having to start from scratch? We have you covered! Click “Export Course Content,” select “Quizzes,” then import the content into new quizzes. 

#2 Grade Assignments & Export Grades Using Gradebook

Want to learn more about using Gradebook in Canvas LMS? Watch the video below to read icons, export files, excuse assignments, leverage settings and late policies, and use group weights in Gradebook.

Pro Tips: Viewing all assignments in your Gradebook at once can be overwhelming. To narrow your focus and view only your published assignments, click “View” and uncheck “Unpublished Assignments” to hide all assignments that haven’t yet been graded. To ensure all of your assignments are showing in chronological order, make sure to add a due date to each one.

#3 Create & Publish Assignments

Need a refresher on setting up assignments in Canvas LMS? Watch the video below to learn how to create an assignment, publish LTI assignments (with platforms like Google and Turnitin), assign an assignment to a specific section, and create extra credit assignments.

Pro Tip: Use Media Recorder assignments for presentations and demonstrations done outside of the classroom. For example: If you’re a music teacher, ask your students to upload a video of themselves playing their instrument directly into Canvas so you can easily provide personalized feedback using SpeedGrader.

#4 Cross-List Courses & Sections

Need to combine enrollment for two or more courses in Canvas LMS? Watch the video below to learn how to cross-list courses.

Pro Tip: To ensure courses are cross-listed without removing students or grades from your existing courses, choose one of the following options to begin your cross-listing process:

• Option 1: Cross-list courses before assigning activities to students. 
• Option 2: Export your Gradebook prior to cross-listing. 

#5 Import Course Content

Need help importing course content into Canvas LMS? Watch the video below to learn how to duplicate content from an existing course, import courses and content from another LMS, share a copy of a course, and edit course content.

Pro Tip: Create Canvas Sandbox courses and use them as collaborative spaces to share course content and resources between departments and teachers. A Sandbox keeps all shared resources in one place so individual teachers can select and import items into their own courses.

We hope you’ve found these videos and tips helpful as you prepare for fall start. For more resources, visit our COVID-19 resource page for our latest tips, guides, and videos to support distance, blended, and hybrid learning.

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How to Use Canvas Student

Last Updated: June 23, 2020 References

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 12 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 24,481 times.

Canvas is a learning-management system that allows students to access their courses from their personal devices. It serves as a source of communication between students and their teachers in order to make their learning more hands on. While each university has a personalized version of Canvas, this wikiHow provides a general overview that will guide students from logging in all the way to properly using Canvas for their classes.

Logging onto Canvas

• Every institution that uses Canvas follows the same URL: canvas.[your institution name].edu.

• Every university provides students with a student identification number and password in order for them to access the university resources.
• Some universities will ask you to log into another domain before accessing Canvas. [1] X Research source

Personalizing Canvas

• Click on the "Account" icon on the left side of the navigation bar and click on "Profile."
• Click on "Edit Profile" in the upper right hand corner.
• Enter in your contact information, such as your email, and include a short biography about yourself. Link your e-portfolio to your profile to show your past accomplishments!
• Click on the "Save Profile" icon at the bottom of the screen once you’re done.

• Click on the "Account" icon on the left side of the navigation bar and click on "Notifications."
• Highlight the times that you would prefer an email notification based on the graphics provided at the top.
• Ensure the times you have chosen are highlighted in green, and it will automatically save for you.

• Click on the "Courses" icon on the left side of the navigation bar and locate the term "All Courses."
• Click a star next to your current or favorite courses to place them into your dashboard.
• Return to your dashboard to see the courses you selected.

• From the dashboard, click on the "Options" menu, which is indicated by three vertical dots.
• Rename your courses and choose a certain color that will help you distinguish it from your other classes.
• Click "Apply" once you are complete.

• Click on the "Account" icon on the left side of the navigation bar and click on "Files".
• Click on the "Upload" icon in the top right corner and upload your files from your computer.
• Click the "Folder" icon next to the Upload icon to place your files into specific folders.

• Click on the "Inbox" icon on the navigation bar.
• Compose an email by clicking on the icon with a pencil in the top right corner.

• Click on the "Calendar" icon in the navigation bar.
• Add any important dates by clicking on the + icon in the top right corner. Enter the dates and times and click submit once finished.

Using Canvas for your Courses

• In your dashboard, click on any specific course.
• Click on the "Syllabus" option located on the left bar of the course and read the information provided.

• Inside your course, click on the "Assignments" icon to locate your work.
• Complete the necessary assignments under the Upcoming Assignments section.
• Once complete, click the "Submit Assignment" icon in order to upload your work.
• Upload the necessary documents according to the direction of your professor and click "Submit Assignment".

• Inside your specific course, click on the "Quizzes" icon on the left bar. Sometimes quizzes can appear in your assignments tab.
• Some quizzes have multiple attempts or a specific time constraint based on the professor, so read the directions.
• Submit the quiz using the submit button. Canvas has a feature that will automatically submit your quiz if you exit without submitting it.

• Inside your specific course, click on the "Discussions" icon located on the left bar.
• Click on any available Discussion and write your comment in the Reply section.
• Make sure you have followed all of the directions provided by your instructor and post your comment once you are done.

• Click on the dashboard icon in the navigation bar on the left.
• Click on the "View Grades" icon in the bottom right-hand corner to view grades for all of your enrolled courses.
• Another method to check grades is by going directly to the specific class and clicking on the Grades tab in the menu of the course. Here only grades for that class will be shown.

• Inside of your course, click on the "Chat" icon located on the left bar.
• Type in your message to your professor in the empty bar and press send when complete.

• Inside of the course, click on the "Collaborations" icon.
• Choose between using Google Doc or Office 365 and create a new document by entering in the title.
• Select the people from your roster that you want to collaborate with.
• Once you have selected the people you want to work with, select the "Start Collaborating" icon on the bottom right corner.

Expert Q&A

• Using an updated browser, such as Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, will allow you to use Canvas smoothly. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Downloading Flash Player, Acrobat Reader, and Java might be necessary in order to view certain course content. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1
• Strong connection to the internet is also recommended when using Canvas. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10726-67952720322
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/a-must-do-update-your-profile?module_item_id=5727
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/choices-notification-preferences?module_item_id=5519
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/manage-your-personal-files-2?module_item_id=5730
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/the-canvas-calendar?module_item_id=5782
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/assignments-overview?module_item_id=5528
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/quizzes-overview?module_item_id=5532
• ↑ https://canvas.wayne.edu/courses/20804/pages/discussions-overview?module_item_id=5530
• ↑ https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10722-67952720327

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Assignments and Quizzes in Canvas

Use Assignments and Quizzes to challenge students' understanding and assess comprehension by using a variety of media.

Assignments

Assignments include Quizzes, graded Discussions, and online submissions (i.e. files, images, text, URLs, etc.)

Click To Show More

What are the different assignment types.

Assignments can be placed within different assignment types: Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, External Tools, and Not Graded.

How do I add Assignment Groups?

Using Assignment Groups allows you to organize the assignments in your course.

How do I add content to my Assignment?

You can add different types of content to Assignments, such as images, videos, documents, and links as part of your assignment description. You can also edit the assignment details.

What are the different online submission types?

Instructors can enable a variety of different online submission types, including file uploads, rich content, website URLs, and media files.

How do I create a peer review assignment?

A peer review assignment enables students to comment and provide feedback to other students in the course.

What is the difference between due dates and availability dates?

In addition to setting a due date for an assignment, instructors can specify a specific date range that students can submit the assignment. These dates are called availability dates.

See also Instructure's videos: "Assignments Overview" and "Assignment Creation"

Quizzes and Surveys

The quiz tool in Canvas is used to create and administer online quizzes and surveys. You can also use quizzes to conduct and moderate exams and assessments, both graded and ungraded.

What are the different types of Quizzes?

The steps to create quiz content are the same for each quiz type.

How do I create a File Upload question?

You can create a question for students that requires a file upload and can be used for PDFs, images, audio files, video files, etc. This question type requires manual grading.

Once I publish my Quiz, how do I make additional changes?

Changes can be made to a quiz after it has been made available to students - however, students who have already opened or completed the quiz will not see any changes you make.

How do I create a Question Bank?

Question Banks are a place to house questions that can be added to quizzes across courses or accounts.

How do I move multiple questions from one bank to another?

Questions may be moved/copied one at a time or in a batch.

See also Instructure's videos: "Quiz Creation - Settings" and "Quiz Creation - Questions"

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• This page was last modified on 12 March 2020, at 16:57.
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