How do I use the Course Activity Stream as an instructor?

The Course Activity Stream shows you important recent activities from a single course including announcements, discussions, assignments, and conversations. This stream is similar to the Global Activity Stream in the Dashboard when you first log in to Canvas.

The following activities will cause notifications to appear in the Course Activity Stream:

  • New Announcements
  • Replies to Announcements
  • New Discussions
  • New Discussion Posts
  • New Assignments
  • Assignments, Quizzes, or Discussions Changed from Ungraded to Graded
  • Due Date Changes to Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions
  • New Graded Assignments
  • New Peer Review Assignments
  • New Conversation Messages

 

Notes:

  • Notifications in the Course Activity Stream will not appear for activity in Files, Collaborations, Grades, Pages, or Conferences; ungraded quizzes and surveys; or edits to Discussions.
  • Edits to Quizzes and Assignments will only appear in the Course Activity Stream when the Notify users that this content has changed button has been selected.
  • If your Course Home Page is already set to view the course stream, the View Course Stream link does not appear in the course sidebar.

Open Course

Open Course

In Global Navigation, click the Courses link [1], then click the name of the course [2].

Open Course Activity

Open Course Activity

In the Home Page sidebar, click the View Course Stream button.

Note: If your Course Home Page is already set to view the course stream, the View Course Stream link does not appear in the course sidebar.

View Course Activity

View Course Activity

The Course Activity Stream contains recent notifications in the course, including announcements, discussions, assignments, and conversations. This activity stream helps you see all recent activity in your course and easily ask questions and post to discussion forums. Unlike course cards on the Dashboard, the activity stream does not mimic visibility of Course Navigation links.

You can manage recent activity in a course the same way you can on the Dashboard. Activities are indicated by activity type and display an icon for the activity [1]. New activity in your account is indicated by a blue dot [2]. Discussions and Announcements indicate new activity items published in a course, and Conversations indicate a new message received from a user in a course. Recent Activity items remain for four weeks.

Note: To receive notifications for Discussions, you must actively post in the discussions at least once every two weeks. If you stop participating in a discussion after two weeks, Canvas will no longer display discussion notifications.

Expand and Collapse Notifications

Expand and Collapse Notifications

You can view the details of each activity by hovering in the notification area and clicking the Show More link [1]. To collapse recent activity, click the Show Less link [2].

Manage Recent Activity

Manage Recent Activity

You can directly access your recent activities by clicking the activity link [1]. To remove a notification, click the remove icon [2].

View Student View

View Student View

To view the course activity stream as a student, click the View as Student button.

Note: If the course navigation link for the page is disabled and hidden from students, the View as Student button does not display.