uploading pdf secondary students can open, type on, and submit

[agleue]

Hello and thanks for helping.  I will be using CANVAS for the first time next year at a high school and am learning about setting up my class; I don't know much at this point about CANVAS.  I have many pdfs I have downloaded over the years, printed, given to students and then they return to me for grading.  I would like, though, to create a classroom without all the handouts and need to print.  What is the best and easiest method for a teacher to upload the pdf making it editable for the student.  The idea would be for the students to type in answers and then submit their edited pdf.  I have seen a few videos about this but wanted to ask the community.  By the way, we are. using chromebooks if it makes any difference.  Thank you!  Alan

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @agleue ...

There are a few different ways this could be accomplished:

• How do I create an online assignment? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com) -- See the section on "Select Online Entry Options" and then the "Student Annotations" portion of that topic.  There's additional information under the "Select Annotation File" heading, too.
• These next two options assume that your school has set up these two integrations inside of your school's Canvas environment (typically set up by the Canvas admin at your school)...but it's similar to the first bulleted item...but it uses Microsoft Office 365 or Google accounts.
  • How do I create a cloud assignment with a Microsof... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)
  • How do I create a cloud assignment with a Google D... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

In all these cases, students aren't editing your original file.  Rather, they are editing a copy of your file and then submitting it back to you for evaluation/grading.

Hopefully this will help to meet your needs.  Let Community members know if you have any questions about this...thanks!

[agleue · Accepted solution]

Chris,

Thank you for getting back with me and offering some possible solutions.  I will do some experimenting with your first bulleted point.  So, I would be able to upload a test pdf and then go into student view and see if I can edit it and submit.  Would that be the best way to experiment to see if it works with my 'practice' class?  If it works with my practice class, it should work 'live', correct?

In terms of your second bulleted point - I did send my question and your answer to one of our techies in our district.  However, would I be able to test the integration on my end with an experiment file?  

I do appreciate your help and support.  I know that there will be other teachers in our district who will benefit, too!

Alan

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@agleue ...

---

So, I would be able to upload a test pdf and then go into student view and see if I can edit it and submit.  Would that be the best way to experiment to see if it works with my 'practice' class?  If it works with my practice class, it should work 'live', correct?

---

There are a few different ways you could test this out on your own:

• If you have a "sandbox" course (a course that is different than your "live" course), you could create an assignment in there and do your testing.
• In your "live" course, you could create a completely separate assignment to do your testing.  Just know with this option that if your course is already published and there are students doing work in the course, they might see this assignment and think that they need to do something with it on their end...when, in fact, you are just using the assignment for testing purposes on your end.
• You also should have access to your school's Canvas "test" environment.  Normally, you are working if your school's Canvas "production" environment.  However, the "test" environment is a totally different environment where you can do any testing you want...and it won't affect anything in your "production" environment.  More information on this can be found at:
  • What is the Canvas test environment?
  • How do I access the Canvas test environment as an instructor?

---

In terms of your second bulleted point - I did send my question and your answer to one of our techies in our district.  However, would I be able to test the integration on my end with an experiment file?

---

In my experience as a former Canvas admin in higher education, the Microsoft Office 365 and Google external tools that can be integrated with Canvas are typically set up at the Canvas account level rather than the course level.  This means that if these LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) apps are installed at the account level, then all courses (not just yours) will have access to them.  So, I am not 100% sure if these tools can be set up at the course level or not.  It would be best to have a conversation with your school's Canvas admin to see if either or both of these LTIs are already set up ... or if there are plans in the near future to integrate them in your Canvas environment.

Hope this helps a bit.

[agleue · Accepted solution]

Hey Chris, thank you, very, very helpful.

I did upload a pdf assignment to my 'test' course.  I saved it with a submission type 'online' with "student annotations.'  I then published it to a module and opened it back up as a test student.  As a student I was able to edit the pdf and type on it.  In my original question, that represents the first link you sent me: How do I create an online assignment? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com) .  So that was successful, FYI. 🙂

One additional question about this procedure though (although I may need to just play around a bit longer): the student (me) was able to type, etc and then resubmit.  I as a teacher was able to see the typed on pdf is which good and grade it. 

However, it didn't seem that there was a method for 'saving' their work.  So, for example, on a longer homework assignment, the student might work on the pdf assignment over 2 or 3 evenings. Maybe I need to research this a bit more but since the student is grabbing a copy from CANVAS and then changing this copy with their edits, how can a student then save this specific edited copy within CANVAS and then come back to this same copy to work more on it and then submitting the final version when all the way done with the assignment? Does this make sense?  Many of my science hw assignments might take several evenings. 

Again, thank you so much for your helpful answers.  Alan

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@agleue ...

However, it didn't seem that there was a method for 'saving' their work.  So, for example, on a longer homework assignment, the student might work on the pdf assignment over 2 or 3 evenings. Maybe I need to research this a bit more but since the student is grabbing a copy from CANVAS and then changing this copy with their edits, how can a student then save this specific edited copy within CANVAS and then come back to this same copy to work more on it and then submitting the final version when all the way done with the assignment? Does this make sense?  Many of my science hw assignments might take several evenings.

---

A quick side note...there's no real need to capitalize all of the word Canvas.

Now...to your question.  Unfortunately, I do not believe there is a way that students can "save" their progress of an assignment before a final push of "Submit".  This link is a student Guide on how they would see things on their end:

How do I annotate a file as an assignment submissi... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

I would say the information under "View Submission" would be helpful...but it's not exactly what you are looking for.  😐

[agleue · Accepted solution]

Thank you, Chris for all of your help.  I did create several different assignments yesterday - uploading a google doc and a pdf.  I did some editing of both as a student and then 'canceled' out of it.  I came back today and open them up again,  It appears that my previous edits were saved.  I'm a bit unsure where the 'saved and edited' pdf/google doc is housed - in a canvas folder hiding behind the scene? 

When students are using canvas, do they have a folder that is created; maybe something similar to google classroom?   Maybe when a student goes back into the annotated assignment the program reaches out and grabs that doc or pdf that the student previously edit-ed. 

Well, anyway, thank you!  I think in August I will have students try it out and make sure it works then, too.

Alan

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @agleue ...

There are a few different ways this could be accomplished:

• How do I create an online assignment? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com) -- See the section on "Select Online Entry Options" and then the "Student Annotations" portion of that topic.  There's additional information under the "Select Annotation File" heading, too.
• These next two options assume that your school has set up these two integrations inside of your school's Canvas environment (typically set up by the Canvas admin at your school)...but it's similar to the first bulleted item...but it uses Microsoft Office 365 or Google accounts.
  • How do I create a cloud assignment with a Microsof... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)
  • How do I create a cloud assignment with a Google D... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

In all these cases, students aren't editing your original file.  Rather, they are editing a copy of your file and then submitting it back to you for evaluation/grading.

Hopefully this will help to meet your needs.  Let Community members know if you have any questions about this...thanks!

[agleue · Accepted solution]

Chris,

Thank you for getting back with me and offering some possible solutions.  I will do some experimenting with your first bulleted point.  So, I would be able to upload a test pdf and then go into student view and see if I can edit it and submit.  Would that be the best way to experiment to see if it works with my 'practice' class?  If it works with my practice class, it should work 'live', correct?

In terms of your second bulleted point - I did send my question and your answer to one of our techies in our district.  However, would I be able to test the integration on my end with an experiment file?  

I do appreciate your help and support.  I know that there will be other teachers in our district who will benefit, too!

Alan

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@agleue ...

---

So, I would be able to upload a test pdf and then go into student view and see if I can edit it and submit.  Would that be the best way to experiment to see if it works with my 'practice' class?  If it works with my practice class, it should work 'live', correct?

---

There are a few different ways you could test this out on your own:

• If you have a "sandbox" course (a course that is different than your "live" course), you could create an assignment in there and do your testing.
• In your "live" course, you could create a completely separate assignment to do your testing.  Just know with this option that if your course is already published and there are students doing work in the course, they might see this assignment and think that they need to do something with it on their end...when, in fact, you are just using the assignment for testing purposes on your end.
• You also should have access to your school's Canvas "test" environment.  Normally, you are working if your school's Canvas "production" environment.  However, the "test" environment is a totally different environment where you can do any testing you want...and it won't affect anything in your "production" environment.  More information on this can be found at:
  • What is the Canvas test environment?
  • How do I access the Canvas test environment as an instructor?

---

In terms of your second bulleted point - I did send my question and your answer to one of our techies in our district.  However, would I be able to test the integration on my end with an experiment file?

---

In my experience as a former Canvas admin in higher education, the Microsoft Office 365 and Google external tools that can be integrated with Canvas are typically set up at the Canvas account level rather than the course level.  This means that if these LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) apps are installed at the account level, then all courses (not just yours) will have access to them.  So, I am not 100% sure if these tools can be set up at the course level or not.  It would be best to have a conversation with your school's Canvas admin to see if either or both of these LTIs are already set up ... or if there are plans in the near future to integrate them in your Canvas environment.

Hope this helps a bit.

[agleue · Accepted solution]

Hey Chris, thank you, very, very helpful.

I did upload a pdf assignment to my 'test' course.  I saved it with a submission type 'online' with "student annotations.'  I then published it to a module and opened it back up as a test student.  As a student I was able to edit the pdf and type on it.  In my original question, that represents the first link you sent me: How do I create an online assignment? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com) .  So that was successful, FYI. 🙂

One additional question about this procedure though (although I may need to just play around a bit longer): the student (me) was able to type, etc and then resubmit.  I as a teacher was able to see the typed on pdf is which good and grade it. 

However, it didn't seem that there was a method for 'saving' their work.  So, for example, on a longer homework assignment, the student might work on the pdf assignment over 2 or 3 evenings. Maybe I need to research this a bit more but since the student is grabbing a copy from CANVAS and then changing this copy with their edits, how can a student then save this specific edited copy within CANVAS and then come back to this same copy to work more on it and then submitting the final version when all the way done with the assignment? Does this make sense?  Many of my science hw assignments might take several evenings. 

Again, thank you so much for your helpful answers.  Alan

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@agleue ...

However, it didn't seem that there was a method for 'saving' their work.  So, for example, on a longer homework assignment, the student might work on the pdf assignment over 2 or 3 evenings. Maybe I need to research this a bit more but since the student is grabbing a copy from CANVAS and then changing this copy with their edits, how can a student then save this specific edited copy within CANVAS and then come back to this same copy to work more on it and then submitting the final version when all the way done with the assignment? Does this make sense?  Many of my science hw assignments might take several evenings.

---

A quick side note...there's no real need to capitalize all of the word Canvas.

Now...to your question.  Unfortunately, I do not believe there is a way that students can "save" their progress of an assignment before a final push of "Submit".  This link is a student Guide on how they would see things on their end:

How do I annotate a file as an assignment submissi... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

I would say the information under "View Submission" would be helpful...but it's not exactly what you are looking for.  😐

[agleue · Accepted solution]

Thank you, Chris for all of your help.  I did create several different assignments yesterday - uploading a google doc and a pdf.  I did some editing of both as a student and then 'canceled' out of it.  I came back today and open them up again,  It appears that my previous edits were saved.  I'm a bit unsure where the 'saved and edited' pdf/google doc is housed - in a canvas folder hiding behind the scene? 

When students are using canvas, do they have a folder that is created; maybe something similar to google classroom?   Maybe when a student goes back into the annotated assignment the program reaches out and grabs that doc or pdf that the student previously edit-ed. 

Well, anyway, thank you!  I think in August I will have students try it out and make sure it works then, too.

Alan

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@agleue ...

Students do have a "Submissions" folder which is located in their "Account" >> "Files" screen.  The "Submissions" folder would be located in a student's "My Files" folder.  I'm not sure if annotated files are stored in there, but if a student is submitting something like a written paper or other files to the instructor, then those files get stored in that "Submissions" folder...and it doesn't count towards a user's personal file quota.