Annoto: Students Comment On Other Student's Videos In Canvas

Environment

Annoto
MiVideo
Canvas

Issue

How an instructor can use Annoto's Comments to provide a way for students to discuss videos created by other students.

• Students can talk with each other and the instructor about the content.
• Everyone in the course can view all comments and replies.
• Instructors can view comments and grade the submission from within Speedgrader.

If students are working in groups, use the Students Comment On Other Group Member'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.
• 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.

1. 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.
2. From the Annoto Dashboard click the Preferences icon in the upper right.
3. Enable the desired comment features.

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. Create a graded Discussion as an Assignment

1. Navigate to the Discussions tool and create a new discussion.
2. Add a tile and description.
3. Check the box to make the discussion graded.
4. Select additional options and complete the assignment details as necessary.
5. Save. 

3. Students embed a video as a discussion reply

1. Students upload their video recordings to their My Media library (Account > My Media).
2. 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.

4. 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.

5. Grade the assignment

• Instructors can view a student's video submission along with the Annoto widget in Speedgrader.

Annoto Guides

• Annoto User Guide for Instructors 
• Annoto User Guide for Students

Resources and Questions

• Check out the new Academic Technology@Michigan website for course planning resources from across U-M
• Visit the Canvas @ Michigan site for faculty including the U-M Instructor Guide with links to additional support resources from across campus
• Check out the Canvas and MiVideo tutorials

For additional questions, please contact the ITS Service Center