Canvas Studio

Canvas Studio is the video tool built into Canvas. You can record and upload videos, add captions, build video quizzes, and have students record and submit their own videos, all without leaving your course. Canvas Studio is available to all Citadel faculty.

Why Video Supports Learning

Well-designed video lets students learn at their own pace, pause and replay difficult ideas, and hear directly from you. Two research findings can help you make videos that work:

  • Keep videos short. In a study of millions of video sessions, students’ engagement dropped off after about six minutes, no matter how long the video was. Shorter videos also led more students to attempt the practice problems that followed (Guo et al., 2014).
  • Break content into segments. Students learn better when content is divided into manageable parts they can work through at their own pace (Mayer, 2020).

Get Started

  • There’s nothing to install. Canvas Studio is available in every Canvas course.
  • Open Studio from the Canvas navigation to manage your media library, or from the Rich Content Editor to add a video to a page, assignment, or discussion.
  • Record or upload. Record with your webcam or screen, or upload a video you already have.

Using Canvas Studio

Add Captions

All course videos need accurate captions. Canvas Studio can create captions automatically, and you can edit them before you publish.

  1. Add automatic captions to your video.
  2. Review the captions carefully, especially names, technical terms, and numbers.
  3. Correct any errors in the Caption Editor.
  4. Publish the captions so students can see them.

See How do I add auto-generated captions to my media file in Studio? and How do I use the Caption Editor to edit a caption file?

Add Video Quizzes

Add questions at key points in a video, so students check their understanding as they watch instead of only watching passively. You can see how students answered each question.

See How do I create a Studio video quiz? and How do I view Studio video quiz and item analysis results?

Create Student Video Assignments

Students can record or upload a video and submit it for an assignment. You can watch and grade the video in SpeedGrader.

See How do I add a Studio media assignment in a Canvas course as an instructor? and How do I grade Studio media submissions in SpeedGrader as an instructor?

Connect to Active Learning

Video works best when students do something with it.

  • Build in retrieval practice. Use video quiz questions so students recall and apply key ideas while they watch. See Evidence-Based Teaching Practices.
  • Prepare students for class. Assign a short video before class, and use class time for discussion, problem solving, and practice. See Active Learning Techniques.
  • Have students explain. Ask students to record themselves explaining a concept, solving a problem, or presenting a case. Explaining in their own words builds deeper understanding than watching alone.
  • Use video for feedback. Short video comments on student work can feel more personal and clearer than written comments alone.

Canvas Studio and AI

  • Show students’ own thinking. Video explanations and presentations let students show their reasoning in their own voice, which is harder to hand off to generative AI. See Teaching in the Age of AI.
  • Review automatic captions. Automatic captions are generated by software and often contain errors. Always review and correct them before you publish.
  • Check AI-assisted scripts. If you use AI to help draft a video script or outline, review it for accuracy and keep your own voice.

Make Your Videos Accessible

  • Publish accurate captions for every video.
  • Provide a transcript for audio-only recordings.
  • Describe important visual information out loud, such as what’s shown on a slide or diagram.
  • Keep videos short and clearly titled so students can find what they need.

For more, see Accessible Canvas Content.

Get Help

Sources

Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014). How video production affects student engagement: An empirical study of MOOC videos. In Proceedings of the First ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale. Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556325.2566239

Mayer, R. E. (2020). Multimedia learning (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Have a question? Contact CEITL by phone, email, or in person in Bond Hall, Room 363.