Center for Teaching and Learning Blog

Author: Shane Sullivan

Canvas course file clean up with TidyUP from Cidilabs!

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Are you looking for a cleaner and a clutter free Canvas course? Our newest application, available only to instructors, is integrated with Canvas is TidyUP from Cidilabs! TidyUP scans the course looking for content that is no longer relevant, duplicated, or could not be accessible to some students; this content must be in use by being embedded or linked to a page in your Canvas course. A great use for this application is if a course is repeatedly copied from term to term and streamlining the content, files, folders files is needed.

The first step is to get Tidy Up in your Canvas course navigation menu. Choose Settings, Navigation, and scroll down and click the More Options (3 stacked dots) and choose Enable; choose Save when you’re done.

To get started, select TidyUP from your Canvas menu and that brings up the initial splash screen. Scans can be All content or Custom depending on your desired outcome.

Here is an example of an All content scan using my Canvas sandbox:

From these results I would be able to begin working with my Canvas course content!

For more information and training videos, see Cidilab’s TidyUP videos on their support hub!

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CTL Services!

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CTL Services
Ever wonder how the Center for Teaching and Learning can support your instructional needs? We are here with support for any questions you may have about Canvas, Huskycast, Gradescope, Turnitin, Zoom, or iClicker. Already familiar with these but would like to take a deeper dive into some of these technologies or maybe you have never used these and would like to give them a try in your classroom, we would be happy to provide some one-to-one training! Feel free to drop by during our walk-in hours from 10-noon and 1-4pm Monday through Friday. We can also provide in-person consultations in classrooms for classroom teaching technologies. No time to stop by the CTL? Be sure to check out our online resources that can be found on our site in our Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base, Canvas Instructor Guides, and the Getting Started With Canvas sections. Our CTL Blog is another great place to get information, especially for upcoming events and workshops!

We also have a wide range of devices for short-term instructional loan such as Surface Pros and iPads. If you’re in need of a microphone or portable document camera to hold a phone or iPad for recording, those are available as well!

iNSwan document camera
IPEVO Uplift Multi-Angle Arm for Smartphones
IPEVO VZ-R HDMI/USB Dual Mode Document Camera
IPEVO V4K Ultra High Definition USB Document Camera
Snowball Ice Plug and Play USB Microphone
Swivl Robot camera with tracking

Are you interested in taking a deeper dive into a specific instructional topic? We also have a periodical library available for checkout covering a wide range of topics! Feel free to stop in anytime and review the collection.

Feel free to contact us at 7-3000 or email us at elearning@mtu.edu.

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New tools in Canvas coming this Summer!

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Rich Content Editor – Find and Replace

A longtime requested tool from the Canvas community is nearly here! If you’re a Canvas user and you’ve created a quiz, discussion, or assignment, you’re probably familiar with the Canvas Rich Content Editor tool. Coming next month as a Canvas update, the RCE tool will have a new plugin tool Find and Replace which will work throughout Canvas wherever the RCE can be utilized. It will be similar in functionality to Find and Replace in other applications. When it’s available, choose Tools from any RCE toolbar and enter the text you’d like to find and replace; it’s quick and simple! 

Find and Replace tool in Canvas's Rich Content Editor toolbar.
Find and Replace interface.

Discussion Redesign

This video from Instructure will share with you the updated features to include Full and Partial Anonymity for Graded Discussions, Improved Accessibility, Split View, Reply Reporting, and Quoting and @ Mentions along with all the existing functions! Additional information is available from Canvas here! Whatever your role, this information will ensure you make the best use of the Discussion redesign; stay tuned for more information!

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Organizing the Canvas Gradebook

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The Canvas Gradebook helps instructors easily view and enter grades for students. Depending on the Grade display type, grades for each assignment can be viewed as points, percentage, complete or incomplete, GPA scale, or letter grade. Only graded assignments, graded discussions, graded quizzes, and graded surveys that have been published display in the Gradebook. Not Graded assignments are not included. (Source: more Gradebook information from Canvas)

Did you know there were several options within the Canvas Gradebook to make the grading process easier and the instructor’s gradebook more organized? Utilizing the Canvas Gradebook keeps your students apprised of their academic standing in the class and keeps the course grades organized and in one place.

Organizing Gradebook columns:

From the Canvas navigation menu, choose the Gradebook. Columns can be arranged to suit instructional needs. Place the mouse cursor over a column, press the left mouse button and hold it, and move the column to the desired location.

There are additional options under the three stacked dots (More Options) on the right hand side of the column header for coursework. Using the Sort by you are able to sort scores in ascending or descending order or by submission status.

From the More Options, instructors can adjust the Grade Posting Policy for that particular assignment or quiz.

Gradebook View Options:

From the Canvas navigation menu, choose Grades and then from the upper right hand choose the Gear\View Options.

The View Options tab allows filtering and sorting of the Gradebook according to viewing options:

  • Arrange By: arrange columns by default, assignment name, due date, points, or module.
  • Show: show or hide the notes column, the unpublished assignments column, the split student names column, hide assignment group totals, and hide total and override columns.
  • Status Color: view and change the color for a grading status (late, missing, resubmitted, dropped, and excused).

New column available in the Canvas Gradebook:

If you’ve looked at your Canvas Gradebook recently, you may have seen a new column just to the right of the student names; the new column is Major and lists the student fields of study.  Please note: the column is not able to be moved or hidden and will be available for Michigan Tech courses starting Spring 2024.

If you have further questions about utilizing the Canvas Gradebook, feel free to reach out to the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning at 487-3000 or email us at elearning@mtu.edu.

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Early Term Surveys

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Is your Early Term Survey ready for your students? The fourth and fifth week of the term is right around the corner and it’s your opportunity to gather valuable and constructive anonymous feedback from your students about your instructional processes; the survey results provide a roadmap for pedagogical adjustments early in the term. Both the Provost and the University Senate (Policy 505.1) advocate for distributing an Early Term Survey.


In each Canvas course shell, an Early Term Survey resides within the Quizzes section. Three default questions are provided; however, instructors have the ability to add, delete, or modify the survey questions based upon the type of feedback they are seeking. Creating a survey question is the same as creating a Quiz or Assignment.

Once an instructor is satisfied with their questions, the quiz can be published and accessed by the students during the allotted time frame. 

After the surveys are complete, instructors are able to see the results through Moderate This Survey.

For more information and general guidelines about the Early Term Survey, please refer to the Faculty Handbook.

If you have further questions about administering the Early Term Survey or would like to discuss ways that you can successfully apply the feedback to your course, feel free to reach out to the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning at 487-3000 or email us at elearning@mtu.edu.

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Canvas update: New Analytics replacing Course Analytics

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Canvas update: New Analytics replacing Course Analytics

New Analytics, the updated version of Course Analytics, will be available in this month’s Canvas release on December 16th! Are you curious about your student course engagement, coursework status, or keeping track of students who may need extra assistance (low scores or missing/late coursework) and desire the ability to reach out to them directly? New Analytics fulfills those instructional requirements by updating the New Analytics dashboard every 24 hours in published courses with Course Activity Reports taking approximately 40 hours. Special note: only active and completed student enrollments are included in data for New Analytics; deleted or inactive user enrollments do not generate data. 

Use New Analytics to:

  • View average course grade analytics as an interactive chart graph or a data table
  • Compare the course average with an individual assignment, course section, or student filter using the chart graph comparison or data table comparison
  • View average weekly online participation analytics as an interactive chart graph or a data table
  • Compare the course average weekly online participation analytics with an individual student or section using the chart graph comparison or data table comparison
  • Send a message to all students based on specific course grade or participation criteria
  • Send a message to an individual student based on specific course grade or participation criteria
  • View course grade and participation analytics for an individual student
  • View and download reports on missing, late, or excused assignments, class roster, and course activity.
  • View a report that displays if students have met online attendance criteria that has been selected by an admin.

Additional notes from Canvas:

  • In order for New Analytics to display in Canvas, third-party cookies may need to be enabled in your browser settings.
  • New Analytics data does not display for unpublished courses.
  • Because mobile page view data is based on device settings and network connection, it may vary from the time the page views actually occurred. Page view data should not be used to assess academic integrity.
  • Unposted assignments are not included in the New Analytics course grade tab.

If you wish to see what New Analytics will look like in a current course:

  • From your left hand navigation menu choose Settings
  • From the top menu choose Feature Options
  • Under Features, find New Course and User Analytics and from that option on the right hand side enable the feature by selecting the red circle/x and choose Enable

A Canvas designed How-To and what it can do for instructors can be found here. The Canvas Community has a FAQ on New Analytics here and if you’re curious what other New Analytic users are saying in the Canvas Community, direct your browser to this link!

Otherwise after December 16th, choose New Analytics located in the upper righthand corner from within your course shell. If you are currently using Course Analytics and wish to preserve course data, Canvas recommends taking screenshots of the course data prior to December 16th. (It should still be there, just in a different format.)

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CTL Services and Points of Interest

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CTL Services

Ever wonder how the Center for Teaching and Learning can support your instructional needs? We are here with support for any questions you may have about Canvas, Huskycast, Gradescope, Turnitin, Zoom, or iClicker. Already familiar with these but would like to take a deeper dive into some of these technologies or maybe you have never used these and would like to give them a try in your classroom, we would be happy to provide some one-to-one training! Feel free to drop by during our walk-in hours from 10-noon and 1-4pm Monday through Friday. We can also provide in-person consultations in classrooms for classroom teaching technologies. No time to stop by the CTL? Be sure to check out our online resources that can be found on our site in our Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base, Canvas Instructor Guides, and the Getting Started With Canvas sections. 

Are you interested in taking a deeper dive into a specific instructional topic? We also have a periodical library available for checkout covering a wide range of topics! Feel free to stop in anytime and review the collection.

Points of Interest

iClicker Cloud – Reminding you that iClicker Classic is being retired at the end of 2023 and iClicker Cloud will be the only supported polling software. The student experience will not change and students can still use either physical iClicker remotes or the mobile/web app. iClicker hardware – student remotes, instructor remotes, and bases – as well as the student mobile app will continue to be supported in iClicker Cloud. Visit the Center for Teaching and Learning’s iClicker resource page to get started using iClicker and for more information on transitioning to iClicker Cloud visit iClicker’s online resource page.

iClicker Groups (Beta) – iClicker Groups is now available in Beta, a new method of engaging your students with polling: promote discussion, open new lines of communication, and encourage collaboration. Utilizing this part of the iClicker suite divides your participants in groups to work on building a consensus for your polling. You can find the instructor guide at iClicker Groups (Beta). If you have any questions or would like to know more, visit the iClicker Groups Instructor FAQ or contact us at the Center for Teaching and Learning for more information.

Feel free to contact us at 7-3000 or email us at elearning@mtu.edu.

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