Canvas & Discovery Education

Access Discovery Education within Canvas as well as embed resources in assignments, quizzes, pages, and modules to keep all of your learning in a single place for students. 

Learn more about the technical integration setup for Canvas.

Access Discovery Education

Once your district has integrated Canvas with Discovery Education, you will find a Discovery Education option in the menu bar from any course in Canvas.

Clicking Discovery Education from the menu will open a window to access Discovery Education. From here, you can search for resources, access channels, and explore products your school has access to. While exploring Discovery Education from this window, you can assign resources (inside Discovery Education), share resources, and engage with Discovery Education as you would from its own window. If you assign students resources through this window, they will not appear in Canvas, but will appear within Discovery Education’s assignments.

Embed Resources in Canvas Modules

Discovery Education resources, such as videos, images, audio, text, and more, can be embedded into Canvas assignments, discussions, quizzes, and pages. The directions in this section will show how to add a resource to an assignment; but the same process can be followed for the other types of modules.

To create an assignment in Canvas with embedded Discovery Education resources:

1. Click Assignments from the vertical menu bar, then +Assignment. Give the assignment a title and enter any directional text.
2. On the second row of icons, click the Discovery Education logo to open a new window. Depending on how many integrations you have set up in Canvas, instead of the Discovery Education logo, you may see a plug icon. Select that first and then select Discovery Education.
3. If you have previously saved resources to QuickList or My Content, you can select the section and then resource. 
4. Or, click Search Resources. Then, use the search box in the upper right corner to type in a keyword for your search. A page of search results will open. These can be filtered to narrow down the resources. Click on the resource to view it. Click Back in the upper left corner to go back to the search results.
5. From the Search Results page, once you find a resource you want to use for the assignment, click +Embed. The resource will be embedded in the assignment.
6. Finish filling out the remaining assignment information including the due date and available dates. Failure to add these will cause an error for students.
7. Click Save & Publish so students have access to it.

Because the resource is embedded in a Canvas assignment, grades work like any other Canvas assignment a teacher would create. Students would engage with the Discovery Education resource and complete the Canvas assignment as directed by the teacher. The teacher would grade the Canvas assignment like any other assignment. 

Teachers can also share Discovery Education resources through the Modules section of the vertical toolbar. Teachers often use Modules to create categories of content for students. Previously made assignments can be added to any Module as well as other quizzes, files, and items created within Canvas. In order to add a Discovery Education resource to a module, select External Tool drop the drop down and follow the same steps as above. 

Share Studio Boards & Slideshows

Within Studio, teachers can create boards (digital posters) and slideshows (digital presentations). Within each type, teachers can also chose to include quiz modules or not. All Studio projects must be created within the Discovery Education platform (either via the webpage or the embedded access within Canvas.) Learn more about Studio. 

Studio boards or slideshows without quiz modules can be shared in a Canvas assignment (or other module type) by copying the Share URL for a Studio project and pasting it into the body of the Canvas module . This places all students on a single board as read-only. Learn more about sharing Studio projects. 

For board or slideshow to be collaborative, a teacher will need to share within the Discovery Education platform. Teachers generally use Canvas to alert students to log into Discovery Education to access the assignment. Learn more about creating collaborative Studio projects. 

Alternatively, all Studio projects can be assigned within the Discovery Education platform. A student would select Mark as Complete (if no quiz modules) or Submit Assignment (with quiz modules) in Discovery Education and a teacher could track results in Classrooms.

Embed Studio Quizzes and Assessment Builder Assignments

Studio Quizzes and assignments created in Assessment Builder can be embedded into Canvas modules with options for grade passback. 

To embed a Studio Quiz or Assessment Builder assignments in a Canvas assignment:

1. Click Assignments from the vertical menu bar, then +Assignment. Give the assignment a title and enter any directional text.
2. Scroll down to Submission Type and select External Tool from the drop down. Click Find, then Discovery Education.
3. Click Find Assessments.
4. Select My Assessments.
5. Locate the Studio Quiz or Assessment Builder assignment you would like to assign.  
6. Click Embed+ on the resource. The resource will appear as a separate item in the module. 
7. The URL will be automatically added to the box. Click Select to add it to the assignment.
8. Set a due date as well as available dates on the assignment. (These must be added in order to make the quiz interactive for students.)
9. Click Save & Publish so the assignment appears for students.

Students will complete the assessment directly in Canvas. Once the assessments are complete, the teacher can view the results in their Canvas gradebook. Assessments with Single or Multiple Selection questions will passback the grade directly into the Gradebook. Assessments with short answer questions must be graded using the SpeedGrader tool within Canvas. Learn more about Canvas SpeedGrader in the Canvas Help Center. 

Embed Techbook Assessments

Partners who have any of our Techbook products - Math, Science, Social Studies - have the option to embed Techbook assessments in Canvas with grade passback options. 

To embed Discovery Education Techbook Assessment in a Canvas assignment:

1. Click Assignments from the vertical menu bar, then +Assignment. Give the assignment a title and enter any directional text.
2. Scroll down to Submission Type and select External Tool from the drop down. Click Find, then Discovery Education.
3. Click Find Assessments.
4. Select your desired assessment using the filter dropdowns. Select a course and then a concept to drill down to the appropriate assessment.
5. Click Embed+ on the resource. The resource will appear as a separate item in the module. 
6. The URL will be automatically added to the box. Click Select to add it to the assignment. Click Save & Publish so the assignment appears for students.

Note: When you view an assignment with an assessment embedded through your teacher account, you will see the key and correct answers. Students have a different view. 

Students will complete the assessment directly in Canvas. Once the assessments are complete, the teacher can view the results in their Canvas gradebook. Assessments with Single or Multiple Selection questions will passback the grade directly into the Gradebook. Assessments with short answer questions must be graded using the SpeedGrader tool within Canvas. Learn more about Canvas SpeedGrader in the Canvas Help Center. 

Student View

Similar to a teacher, students can access Discovery Education from the menu. From here, students can search for resources, explore virtual field trips, or view any assignments you’ve assigned through Discovery Education. (Note: Assignments assigned through Discovery Education will appear on this screen. Assignments assigned through Canvas will appear in the Assignments section of Canvas.)

Students can access Assignments from the left menu bar. After clicking on the assignment with an embedded resource, students can engage with the resource and complete the assignment. If a Studio project link is shared in Canvas, it will open the board or slideshow in the Discovery Education platform. 

If the assignment includes a Studio Quiz, students can advance the pages/slides as necessary and answer the questions embedded in the board within Canvas. Once they are finished, they can click Submit Assignment. 

If the assignment includes an assessment from Techbook or Assessment Builder, students will click Take Assessment when ready and answer the questions. Students use the arrows at the top to move forward and backwards through the questions. From the final question, they can click Submit. The Students Results page will appear to let the students know how they did on the assessment.