Analytics to Show Time on Task?

[jcagley]

Is it possible to view how much time a student spends completing a task or viewing a page? This data would help instructors fine-tune the instructional hours per module or week in noncredit and CBE courses. 

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hello there, @jcagley ...

There is a course access report that you can view for each student in your course.  How do I view the course access report for an indi... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)  Keep in mind that the time that people spend on course pages may be a bit skewed because someone could start viewing a page and then walk away from his/her computer...all the while Canvas is keeping track of how long the student remains on the page.  New Analytics might have some useful information for you to look at, too.  Check out the information in these Guides:

• How do I view weekly online activity analytics in ... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)
• How do I view weekly online activity analytics in ... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)
• How do I compare the weekly online activity chart ... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)
• How do I compare the weekly online activity data t... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)
• How do I view analytics for an individual student ... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

Hopefully these Guides will be of some help to you.  Sing out if you have any questions about this...thanks!

[jcagley]

Thank you! This is a great start, but our workgroup is hoping for an enhancement that would provide more information that would be helpful to online noncredit faculty.

1. The answer gives us the information we already have about current limitations. The guides link out to New Analytics and tell us that Weekly Activity graphs are based on page views and participation in discussions and quizzes. Does it show on assignments?
2. The New Analytics isn't necessarily more helpful information; it's just the same information we already have access to but in a different layout. The new graph seems a bit more confusing than the way Analytics are currently presented. 

[hesspe]

@Chris_Hofer , your post reminds me of one of my longstanding wishes for the Canvas Guides.  I think it's fine that they are modularized, but it would be very helpful if there was also one document that was comprehensive - in this case containing all of the information in all of the documents you linked to (including the course access report).  The problem with the modular format is that there is a lot of redundancy, and if you're trying to get a detailed overview of a broad topic like analytics, or any other major Canvas feature, having to open multiple documents and mentally edit them to slough off the information you've already seen feels like a waste of time. In addition, having to scan multiple documents makes it harder to zero in on the information you need, either via a text search or a visual scan.  I know in some cases this is done via a PDF that is comprehensive and I'm always happy to find those.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi there, @hesspe ...

I could definitely see how your suggestion could be a benefit to people.  Since I am not an Instructure employee, I think the best way to make a suggestion like this would be to send the Documentation Team your proposal so that they could consider it for any possible revisions.  I know that @nathanatkinson recently posted this blog which describes how to send the Documentation Team a message: Guides Feedback: A Better Way - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com).  I would suggest using that "share your feedback" link at the bottom of a Guide.

I hope this will be of some help to you.  Let Community members know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

[CarynPanec]

We can see amount of time of last session on "People." Could we get analytics on past sessions?