How Process Feedback works in Canvas

Seven steps, in screenshots, from setting up the assignment to reading a student's writing process

Step 1. Set the Submission Type to External Tool

While creating an assignment, the course instructor changes the Submission Type to External Tool and clicks Find to search for Process Feedback LTI.

Canvas assignment page with Submission Type set to External Tool and the Find button highlighted

Step 2. Select Process Feedback LTI

The instructor finds Process Feedback LTI in the list of configured tools and selects it as the LTI launch tool. Then the assignment is saved and published as usual.

Canvas Configure External Tool dialog listing Process Feedback LTI, with the Select button highlighted

Step 3. Check it from a student's perspective

The instructor switches to Student View to see what it looks like from a student's perspective, and tests the launch by clicking the Load button.

Canvas assignment page in Student View with the Load in a new window button highlighted

Step 4. The student writes and submits

This opens the assignment submission page in a new tab, where the student sees the assignment description and an editor to complete their work. They can click Writing Process Report at any time to explore their own writing process, and Submit to Canvas when they are done.

Process Feedback writing space showing the assignment description, the editor, and quick actions for Submit to Canvas and Writing Process Report

Step 5. Back in the teacher view, two ways in

Returning to the teacher view, the instructor has two ways to explore students' writing process and submissions: open the dashboard, or open a submission in SpeedGrader.

Canvas assignment page in the teacher view with the Load button and the SpeedGrader link highlighted

Step 6. One submission at a time, in SpeedGrader

In SpeedGrader, the instructor sees the submitted writing process report PDF next to the student's document, and a quick summary of the writing process posted as a comment. The PDF also contains a link to the full interactive writing process report.

Canvas SpeedGrader showing the submitted writing process report PDF, the Full Process Report link, and the automatic writing process summary comment

Step 7. The whole class, in the dashboard

In the dashboard view, the instructor sees class averages and can sort or rank students by metrics such as writing time, active days, last active, and paste events — and open any student's full report from the same row.

Process Feedback Writing Process Dashboard listing students with writing time, active days, last active, sentence count, paste count, and largest paste columns

Group of teachers discussing with laptop on table.

Want this in your Canvas courses?

Process Feedback is free for individual teachers and students. Institution-wide LTI deployment is arranged separately.

Options for Canvas Integration Book a Discovery Call