Canvas Insights

Canvas Insights is a new Canvas tool custom built by 快活林性息 allowing faculty to easily communicate with individual students in their classes based on an early alert. Alerts are important because they let you provide positive feedback to students who are doing well, and encouragement and support to students who need assistance. Faculty can access Canvas Insights using the link in the Navigation menu.

New for Spring 2025: Updated I Am Here to Help Template

The "I Am Here to Help" template in Canvas Insights has been updated with new resources for students including ;听 resources, a disaster response and crisis intervention service that works closely with and the ;听and available free of charge to 快活林性息 students, faculty, staff and immediate family.

New Feature: Find Students Who Have Not Logged into Canvas in the Past Two Weeks

This is a new feature in Canvas Insights that听allows faculty to quickly identify who has NOT logged into Canvas in the past two weeks for all your classes.

  1. Go to your Canvas shell for any course you teach
  2. Go to Canvas Insights in the side navigation
  3. Once in Canvas Insights, change the Course filter at the top to (All)
  4. All students for all your courses will show in the table to the left
  5. At the bottom of the Canvas Insights navigation, you will see 鈥淟ogged into Course in the past two weeks鈥 Yes / No 鈥 deselect Yes, have only No checked
  6. If there are students in any of your courses who have not logged into your Canvas course in the past two weeks, they will show up in the table
  7. From the table select 鈥淓mail this list鈥

You can self-enroll in the new听听and learn more about Canvas Insights. This course will cover a variety of topics on Canvas data, Canvas analytics, early alerts, and Canvas Insights.

To get started, from one of your Canvas courses, select听Canvas Insights听in the听Navigation听menu to open the Canvas Insights dashboard.

Canvas Insights Dashboard
  1. Select one of your courses in the听Courses听pull down menu, and you鈥檒l see a list of the students enrolled in the course
  2. Use the听Total Course Grade听two-way sliders to select low, middle-range or high-performing students
  3. Use the听Sort by听pull-down menu to sort the results by student name, 快活林性息 ID, email address, number or late or missed submissions, or Grade to Date
  4. In the听Assignment Group听menu, choose听All Assignments听or narrow them down by听Assignment Group
  5. In the听Assignment Name听menu, you can choose individual assignments within the听Assignment Group听you selected
  6. Use the听Assignment Score听two-way sliders to select a range of scores in assignments graded
  7. Use the听Late Online Submissions听and the听Missed Online Submissions听two-way sliders to select a range of late or missing submissions
  8. The听Checked Syllabus听section lets you narrow the list to students who have or have not accessed the Canvas-generated syllabus
  9. The听Checked Gradebook听section further refines the list based on students who have or have not accessed the gradebook
  10. The听Logged into Course in past two weeks听section lets you narrow the list to students who have or have not logged into the course in last two weeks from the current date
  11. Once you鈥檝e defined the list of students, select听Email this list

On the听Messaging听page, use the听鈥淪elect Message to Send鈥听pull-down menu to choose听鈥淣eeds Assistance鈥听or听鈥淧ositive Feedback鈥听messaging and the听Subject Line听and听Message Text听boxes will autofill with a corresponding message. You can edit or replace the text in the听Message Text听box, and then select the听鈥淪end Email鈥听button to send your personalized message individually to each student in the list.

This template offers students resources available at 快活林性息: links to COVID information, 快活林性息 with a Heart, technology help, and student life.

Remember these templates are completely editable, you can change the introduction:

For example:

"I hope this message finds you well. I noticed you have not signed in to our Canvas course and you have not had the opportunity to attend any synchronous Zoom meetings. I wanted to reach out with some resources."

Your early alert has been sent. Keep in mind when sending out an 鈥淚 am here to help鈥 personalize message, students will respond, so be ready to help.

Updated 鈥淚 am here to help鈥 Template for Spring 2022

The 鈥淚 am here to help鈥 template in Canvas insights has been updated. The update acknowledges the concerns students may have about returning to campus and offers instructor support. Additionally, the updated template provides a list of resources available to students both on campus and online. This template was crafted in partnership with Academic Affairs and Students Affairs along with input from students. You can find it in the drop-down 鈥渟elect messages to send鈥 menu in the email section of Canvas Insights.

Faculty can receive Canvas Insights support from the Faculty Technology Center (FTC) by contacting听ftc@csun.edu. Please check the听听or听.

For more information on Early Alerts, visit the听.

Use Canvas Insights to Send an Early Alert

The 快活林性息 Academic Technology team has created a customized alert tool that works right inside Canvas utilizing analytics called Canvas Insights. Research suggests early alerts have been recognized as effective in student retention (Villano, Harrison, Lynch & Chen, 2018).

There was a report published by 快活林性息 Institutional Research on The Importance of Timing of Early Alerts. In addition, the College of Science and Mathematics utilized Canvas Insights for data on Improving Student Success using Canvas Insights and Linking Interventions in CHEM 100.

Canvas Insights allows faculty to customize filters to quickly identify:

  • student engagement in the Canvas course
  • groups of students with high and low scores on assignments
  • students who are missing assignments
  • students who are doing well (or not) in your class

Once students have been identified based on the filters faculty choose, faculty can send out a personalized email through Canvas Insights to that group of students.

To send an early alert, first use the filters in Canvas Insights to identify students who would benefit from a little nudge in your course. These filters use the information (grades, missing assignments, late submission, and gradebook views) that you have already entered into the Canvas course.听 Data can determine who would benefit from an early alert (Bear et al., 2020).听 Using Canvas Insights allows you to scale up the alert to students in large classes or with multiple classes.

During week 2 of this spring semester, I used Canvas Insights to quickly identify two students from different courses who have not yet signed into the Canvas course.听 I used the 鈥淟ogged into Course鈥 Yes / No checked box to identify the students who had not checked into Canvas yet. Two students were identified out of 182 students overall. I clicked on 鈥渆mail this list鈥 and used the 鈥淚 am here to help鈥 email template to send a personalized message.听 I heard back from both students the same night as I was able to help them get started with the material in the Canvas course.

According to research, sending out timely alerts to students is a key component to intervention for retention (Bear et al., 2020; Jayaprakash et al., 2014). Here is a general idea for a timeline to send out early alerts:

Week 2 - have a simple assignment due early
Week 4 - more advanced assignment due
Week 6 - check in with students before midterms
Week 8 - midterm check in
Week 10 - not too late to still pass the class

In addition, send out an alert to students after major assignments are graded.

This template offers students resources available at 快活林性息: links to 快活林性息 with a Heart, technology help and student life.

Remember these templates are completely editable, you can change the introduction:

For Example:

鈥淚 hope this message finds you well. I noticed you have not signed into our Canvas course and you have not had the opportunity to attend any synchronous Zoom meetings. I wanted to reach out with some resources.鈥

Your early alert has been sent.听 Keep in mind when sending out an 鈥淚 am here to help鈥 personalize message, students will respond, so be ready to help.

To learn more about Canvas Insights check out the instructional videos on the听听or you can attend a weekly workshop Using Canvas Insights for Early Alerts.

To learn more on Early Alerts, check out the听.

By Joyce Marie Brusasco, EdD.

References.

Bear, L., Hagman, A., & Kil, D. (2020). Preventing a winter of disillusionment: Artificial intelligence and human intelligence in environment. Educause Review (1), 46-54.

Jayaprakash, S. M., Moody, E. W., Laur铆a, E. J. M., Regan, J. R., & Baron, J. D. (2014). Early Alert of Academically At-Risk Students: An Open-Source Analytics Initiative. Journal of Learning Analytics, 1(1), 6鈥47. https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2014.11.3

Villano, R., Harrison, S., Lynch, G., & Chen, G. (2018). Linking early alert systems and student retention: a survival analysis approach. Higher Education, 76(5), 903鈥920. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0249-y