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Canvas Readings & Resources: Engagement and Analytics

Options for Engagement and Analytics

In order to increase student awareness and engagement with your resource list, you can:

You can also track how much students are engaging with your reading list through Analytics.

Add Notes, Tags, and Due Dates

You can customize your list to make it easier for students to get the most out of your assigned readings. Click on the item title in order to add tags, notes, and due dates to a single item.

book item in the reading list, with a public note, due date, and tag added

If you would like to add tags, due dates, or notes to multiple items at once, check the boxes for them, then the action buttons appear at the top of the list. 

multiple checkboxes for items are checked, and the Tags, Dates, and Public note options appear at the top of the list

 

Link Readings to Pages and To-do Lists

Once your Readings & Resources list has been created, you can link to readings from other parts of Canvas.

  1. Create a page in Canvas.
  2. Check the box to add the page to the student to-do list in order to notify them of reading due dates.
  3. Click the icon for External Tools (the plug icon) and select Readings & Resources. The first time you are here, you will need to choose to View All and then search for Readings & Resources to install that tool.
  4. You should now see the reading list associated with the course. Choose which readings you want by checking the box(es). 
  5. Choose the Bibliography style you prefer, and then Add.

create course page, select External Tool, and select Readings & Resources option

select items you want the students to read, then select citation style and Add to list

 

Link Readings to Modules

You can include links to individual items from your Readings & Resources list.

  1. Choose to add an item to a module, with the plus sign.
  2. Select External Tool as the type of item to be added. Scroll down in the list and choose Readings & Resources.
  3. You should see the reading list for the course. Check the box for which readings you want, and click Select. You can select individual readings or you can select an entire section -- for example, all of Week 3's readings.
  4. Click Add Item. There will now be a link to that item or section in the module.

add item to a module, and add an External Tool

Enable Class Discussions

You and your students can create and share annotations on PDF items in your list. 

  1. Open your Reading List and click Add Items.
  2. Select Add Manually. Click or drag to upload a file, then add any item details not captured automatically. Select which copyright status allows you to use this item. Save your document. Be sure to use PDFs that have searchable (OCR) text.

add item and select copyright clearance

Once you've added the PDF to your reading list, you will see the option to Read & Comment below it.

upload PDF and look for the Read and comment link

The PDF will open in a new tab. Choose the Class Discussion tab to share annotations with your students. Select some text, then choose to add a comment.
Discussion tab on a PDF and text box in order to share a comment

 

Create Assignments

If you want to track individual student engagement with readings, assign students to read and comment on a PDF from your Readings & Resources list. This is called a Read & Respond assignment. For general information on how much the class is interacting with your readings, use Analytics.

  1. Add the reading you wish to use for the assignment as a PDF to your reading list, as shown above.
  2. Create a new assignment in the Assignments section of Canvas or by adding a new assignment to a module.
  3. On the Details page, look for the section Submission Type. Select External Tool.
  4. Check the box to Load This Tool in a New Tab.
  5. Click Find to select Readings & Resources as the external tool.
  6. Title your assignment, add instructions, and then Create.

canvas assignment details page, showing section for External Tool and checkbox to open it in a new tab

Student view of Read & Respond Assignment

When you enter directions for the entire assignment, they are viewable at the top of the PDF (1). You can also enter directions for a specific section as an annotation (2). Students add their own comments (3) and can save them as a draft and return to edit before submission if desired. 

screenshot of instructor and student comments on a PDF, with instructor directions

Analytics

Readings & Resources offers some analytics on how much students are engaging with items on your reading list. If you want analytics on specific students' reading, you will need to gather that by creating an assignment.

Click on the bar-graph icon to view the class-level engagement with the list.

Analytics button on the right side of the screen

You can also view the usage of an individual item under Item Usage. If items have not been used, they will not appear. 

analytics section, selecting one item to view usage