[SpeedGrader] Screen Capture with Audio as a Comment Option

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas LMS

I grade a lot of essays, but I believe this feature might be valuable for other disciplines as well.

 

Canvas currently has the ability to post comments in video (webcam) or audio form--though, the flash programs for these seem to be hit or miss for me.

 

For essay feedback, I want to be able to communicate what I'm seeing in a student's essay, but I don't necessarily need them to see my face. Far more valuable to me is to be able to point to aspects of the essay or assignment while I'm talking and to have the student see those specific aspects while they are hearing my comments.

 

I do this now using Camtasia. I open speedgrader and begin recording a screen capture with audio. I then have to save the file and upload it to Canvas using the media comment video upload option.

 

This works, but it is a bit clunky. My speed at grading would be greatly increased if I could press a button and simply begin recording the screen.

 

Again, I know the benefit of this with essays, but my guess is that it could be of benefit to almost any discipline. If an instructor is taking the time to record a comment of any sort, it is probably a comment that has something to do with the digital object that is right on the screen. The added benefit would be that if the recorder is capturing the screen and not just the current window, an instructor could use the video as a digital whiteboard. I can imagine a math instructor giving a just in time KhanAcademy style explanation for a problem on which a particular student seems to be having difficulties.

 

Since I have an android tablet with a stylus, if this could be incorporated into the android speedgrader app, that would be some wicked awesome future s%&t!!!

76 Comments
busey
Community Member

Six years and no progress on this? What a shame...

bryan_tayman
Community Explorer

Allowing teachers to quickly screencast their comments on a student's work right in speedgrader would be an awesome feature!  

LudwigDesmet
Community Member

I would love to see this as a possibility, talking from a photography teacher's viewpoint here, we could give clear visual feedback in stead of trying to explain all of it in words.

jean_ferguson
Community Member

I'm not sure if SpeedGrader and Canvas are separate or combined entities, but I am hoping that Canvas can make this improvement by itself or in concert with SpeedGrader. 

For Media Comments in SpeedGrader, please add screen recorder and screen capture options for assignment feedback. This would be a great tool to provide students with specific feedback on their uploaded assignments. 

Thanks!

ElanaReiser
Community Novice

Yes, this! I came here to make the same suggestion. I like being able to leave a voice comment but there's no need for them to see my face. I want to show their work as I talk. Right now I use Loom to do this and share a link in the comment box but it would be way nicer to have it all integrated into Canvas. 

JoM
Community Explorer

This would be a gamechanger for some of the teachers here!

jenn_stevens
Community Contributor

Our faculty was asking me for this today - they would love to be able to walk through their annotations. Right now they annotate the essay, and leave an audio comment talking about the annotations, and ask the student to follow along through the essay. It would be much better if they could screencast and visually show what they're talking about instead of trying to talk only through audio.

canvasid
Community Explorer

Another vote for a screen recording feature within the media comment tool in SpeedGrader, so that our instructors would not need to use third party tools for this.

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team
Status changed to: New
 
KristinL
Community Team
Community Team
Status changed to: New