Today, I’m focusing on integrations with Canvas using the external tool feature in assignments. While there are lots of different integrations, I’m focusing specifically on the subscription products used in my district: Pear Deck, Newsela, and Edpuzzle. Even if your district doesn’t have these products, they are set up in a very similar way, so this episode will still be valuable to you. If you like this episode, don’t forget to hit the subscribe button and the little notification bell, so you can get notifications of when I have new videos available. Now, let’s jump in!
INTEGRATING EXTERNAL TOOLS
No matter which tool you are choosing to integrate with Canvas, you always start by creating an assignment. I like to do this by going through the modules, but you can also use the assignment button on the left-side navigation. Even if you are adding directions to the integration tool itself, take Pear Deck, where you may have direct instructions on each slide, it’s important to give an overview of the assignment and any specific steps students will take and put those in the rich text editor of the assignment itself. This helps students understand what is expected of them and how they are to complete the assignment, making things less frustrating for everyone.
Here’s my quick soapbox moment of the episode: Remember, in online learning, you aren’t there to guide your students like you would be in the classroom, so every step needs to be laid out for students so they understand. I can say from experience before the pandemic, in having worked with teachers teaching online classes and teaching online classes myself, if students don’t understand the assignment, they simply won’t do it. I know a lot of you have been confused by this during the first quarter and don’t understand why students just won’t reach out and ask for help. But for some, even adult students, which is mostly who I have taught, they won’t reach out to you for fear of being judged or being the only one who is asking. It’s a little easier in a classroom to see the faces of their other students not understanding something too or being able to walk up to a teacher after class. So, a gentle reminder to use short, concise sentences and bullet points or numbers to explain the steps.
Also, make sure to add in the total points and the due dates and availability dates. Again, with online teaching, your due date and availability dates can differ. Even if the assignment is due on a certain day, you can still make it available after the due date and allow the assignment to still be turned in later in the quarter.
Now, here’s how you connect the integration. Under submission type select “external tool”. Click the “Find” button and search for the integration you are using and select it. Some integrations will have you select other options at this point or will do it after you hit the “select” button and save or save and publish the assignment. It depends on the integration. I’ll talk about this more specifically next.
PEAR DECK
Pear Deck is an interactive presentation tool that actively engages students in learning. Teachers create lessons using Google Slides that allow students to interact with questions while teachers monitor individual and whole-class progress. Students can type, draw, drag objects, or answer multiple-choice questions to respond. Pear Deck allows for both teacher-paced and student-paced modes to be integrated through Canvas. Set up your slide deck ahead of time and set the external tool as I previously discussed.
This integration will pop up AFTER you hit save or save and publish. This is the only one of the integrations I’m showing you in this episode that happens after you click save or save and publish. You can then select the file you want from Google Drive and set it for teacher or student-paced and you’ll all set! You can stop student-paced mode right from here and name your session and publish takeaways without being on the Pear Deck website. However, you can also do this from the website and in either case will need to use the Pear Deck site to review student responses.
EDPUZZLE
Edpuzzle is a site that helps teachers customize video content from sites like YouTube, Khan Academy, and TED, or they can upload their own videos and makes it easy to edit video clips to include only the snippets they want students to see, as well as record audio notes and comments in the video clip and embed quizzes. Teachers can track students’ viewing history and quiz results. They can also directly embed videos as an assignment in Canvas.
Set up your assignment as normal. This integration will have you select the Edpuzzle options BEFORE you click save or save and publish. So when you select “External Tool” and click on EdPuzzle, you may receive a message about creating classes. Ignore this and click “OK”. Then your content will be in the pop-up window. Click the video you want to assign and select “watch”. Then scroll down and click the blue “assign” button. You can choose to turn on “prevent skipping” and “CC” for closed captioning. Click “assign”. This will bring you back to Canvas, where you will click “Select”. And then save or save and publish the assignment. If student names don’t appear in the area at the bottom, they will automatically come in when they finish the assignment.
Now, there are a few things to note with Edpuzzle’s integration.
First, if you or students have any weird issues or messages, they recommend refreshing the page. In most cases, this takes care of it.
Second, and the more important point is that Edpuzzle assignments are unique instances.
DO NOT DUPLICATE EDPUZZLE ASSIGNMENTS FROM MODULE TO MODULE.
DO NOT COPY ASSIGNMENTS TO ANOTHER COURSE OR IMPORT FROM THE COMMONS.
You must create assignments in Canvas the way I just showed you! So that means when you copy a course from one semester to another or one year to another, depending on when you get new students, you will have to re-setup that assignment in your Canvas course following these steps. Also, don’t use student view to preview assignments as this has a tendency to confuse Edpuzzle’s integration.
NEWSELA
Newsela takes articles from trusted sources and makes them aligned to state standards as well as accessible at 5 reading levels, with many articles available in both English and Spanish. Other activities such as comprehension quizzes, annotation exercises, and writing prompts are integrated directly into articles to help students engage with the content, demonstrate understanding, and give teachers actionable insights on students’ activity.
Just like Edpuzzle, Newsela will show its assignment options BEFORE you click save or save and publish. However, there are 2 ways you can assign Newsela articles.
The first way is to find an article from Newsela first. Select the resource and give instructions, including the specific activities you want students to complete. Then choose text level – what Newsela recommends for student or lock the specific level you want. Assign it to a Canvas course and embed it. I recommend unchecking open in new tab as I would want students to stay within the Canvas framework, but that may not be the best option for your students. You may want to try both ways and ask them which way they prefer. Once finished, then you can go into Canvas and create an assignment. After selecting, external tool and Newsela, select which article you want to assign and embed.
Or you may want to do everything straight from Canvas. After choosing the external tool option and finding Newsela, you can select an article, give instructions, choose the text level, and assign.
FLIPGRID
Flipgrid is a site that allows teachers to create groups to facilitate video discussions through topics and students can post video responses as well as record replies to classmates’ responses. Topics can be text-based or include a resource such as an image, video, or attachment. Responses can be 15 seconds to ten minutes, and a maximum recording time can be set.
While Flipgrid can integrate with Canvas assignments, I don’t recommend it. I’ve heard from teachers both in and out of my building about issues and I think it’s easier to just copy and paste the direct link and allow students to respond from Flipgrid’s site.
If any of these integrations are not set up in your Canvas account, talk to your Canvas administrator, and please note my district pays for the full subscriptions to Pear Deck and Newsela, which you need in order to integrate with Canvas.
All of the resources mentioned in today’s episode will be available in the episode notes on Wakelet.
What’s your favorite Canvas integration? Please share in the comments below!
Ms Priester EDU 