Environment
Annoto
MiVideo
Canvas
Annoto is now available in all Canvas courses!
Quickly turn passive course videos into engaging and interactive experiences for students using Annoto!
Annoto is an add-on to MiVideo in Canvas that allows students to collaborate within the video or audio player.
Issue
How an instructor can use Annoto's Comments to provide a way for students to discuss videos created by other students. Students are only able to view videos submitted by other students in their group.
- Students can talk with each other and the instructor about the content.
- Everyone in the group can view all comments and replies.
- Instructors can view comments and grade the submission from within Speedgrader.
If students are not working in groups, use the Students Comment On Other Student's Videos article instead.
Resolution
Videos must be added to the MiVideo service to use Annoto.
There are several comment related features that can be enabled:
- Comments = allows students to add comments viewable by other students. Students can “like” each others comments. Mandatory participation can be enabled which requires a student to post a comment before they can see comments of others.
- Video Comments = allows students to comment with their own video (up to 3 minutes in length) using the built-in recorder. These video comments are saved to the student's My Media library.
- Anonymous Comments = allow students the ability to post comments anonymously, however instructors can see anonymous students names.
- Notifications = allows students to manage their notification preferences in the Annoto Widget.
- Managed Comments = every comment that is added to the discussion will be pending a moderator’s manual approval before becoming public in the discussion.
- See the Annoto User Guide for Instructor for more details about these features.
1. Enable Annoto Comments at the course level
All videos published in the course (including videos in the Media Gallery and embedded into course content) will have the Annoto Comments feature enabled. Once enabled for all videos, Comments can be disabled for individual videos such as video quizzes, videos used in assignments, or anywhere it would not be appropriate to allow students to write comments.
- Navigate to the Annoto Dashboard in the course:
- From the Media Gallery
- Media Gallery > Channel Actions in the upper right > Annoto Dashboard.
- From the left course navigation
- Settings > Navigation > enable Annoto Dashboard. Note: this only has to be done once to have the navigation link appear in the course.
- Click the Annoto Dashboard link in the left course navigation.
- From the Annoto Dashboard click the Preferences icon in the upper right.
- Enable the desired comment features. Click the Options button to further customize that feature.
Tips:
- To disable comments for an individual video navigate to the Preferences tab for a specific video in the Annoto Dashboard and disable any comment features.
- The ability to enable and disable Annoto features for specific videos provide instructors complete control over how students interact with course videos.
- To configure the Annoto widget to load in the open state navigate to Media Gallery > Channel Actions in the upper right > Annoto Dashboard > Preferences tab > User Experience tab > select an option for the Load state. Save.
2. (Optional) Create sections for each group
- In step #3 below the instructor will create a discussion for each group. If the class size is small, students can be manually assigned to a discussion. For large courses it may be more practical to create a section for each group and assign the section/group to a discussion.
- ITS-Canvas can create the sections and add students to the sections. Please contact the ITS Service Center and provide a spreadsheet with one column for student uniqnames and a second column with the student's assigned group name.
- Note: students will see they are enrolled in multiple sections in the People tool. Instructors may want to consider naming the group with the word "group" in it to differentiate between a registered section and the section used for this group assignment.
- It is not recommended to use People > Groups along with a group discussion, rather it is best to use one section for each group and assign an individual discussion for each section (more info below).
3. Create graded Discussions as Assignments
- Navigate to the Discussions tool and create a new discussion.
- Add a tile and description.
- Check the box to make the discussion graded, then remove the Everyone group from the Assign box.
- Add students from one group individually to the Assign box or add one section/group to the Assign box (see the step above to create sections).
- Select additional options and complete the assignment details as necessary.
- Save. Click Continue on the popup warning informing you not all students are assigned to this discussion.
- Create a discussion for each group.
Notes:
- Students only see the discussion they have been assigned to so they only see their group member's videos.
- In Gradebook, instructors will see all the discussions. Only students who have been assigned to the discussion can have a grade entered. Students not assigned to the discussion have that cell grayed out and that discussion will not apply to their final grade.
- By default embedded videos (such as those embedded into discussion replies) do not display in the Media Gallery (the setting "display embedded media in this Media Gallery" is unchecked by default (Media Gallery > Channel Actions button in the top right > Details tab)).
4. Students embed video as a discussion reply
- Students upload their video recordings to their My Media library (Account > My Media).
- Students embed a video into their discussion reply using the MiVideo icon in the text editor, see the How Students Can Embed a MiVideo Video As A Discussion Reply in Canvas article.
- Important: select the gear icon next to the video to embed then select a Max Embed Size of 960 x 540 or larger.
5. Students comment on group member's videos
- Students see submitted group member's videos when they access the discussion and can add comments in the Annoto widget.
6. Grade the assignment
- Instructors can view a student's video submission along with the Annoto widget in Speedgrader.
- In Gradebook, instructors will see all the discussions. Only students who have been assigned to the discussion can have a grade entered. Students not assigned to the discussion have that cell grayed out and that discussion will not apply to their final grade.
Annoto Guides
Unexpected Behavior Using Groups
It is not recommended to use People > Groups along with a group discussion or the following issues may occur.
Issue: Annoto widget does not appear
When students access a group discussion, Canvas navigates the student away from the course and into a mini version of the course only accessible to the teacher and group members. In step 1 above, Comments are enabled at the course level. However if a group discussion is used, this changes the context of the videos embedded in the discussion to the group level rather than the course level. Since the Annoto widget only appears when a feature is enabled, Comments would need to be enabled at the group level for the Annoto widget to appear.
Issue: Comments disappear or are not consistent
Depending on what context the comment was added (in the course vs in the group) and what context the comment is being viewed, comments may not always appear. Comments will not appear if they are being viewed from a different context from when they were added.
Resolution
To prevent these issues from happening, it is recommended to create one section per group and assign individual discussions to individual sections. Students accessing these discussions stay within the course context and therefore the Annoto features enabled at the course level apply and comments are always visible.
Resources and Questions
For additional questions, please contact the ITS Service Center