Results of Canvas Survey for Students
(Year 2021/22)

Data Collection: 7 April - 21 May 2022

294 survey responses

Research Degree
3.7% (11)

Professional Doctorate
1.4% (4)

Taught Postgraduate
32.3% (95)

Undergraduate
60.5% (178)

Associate Degree in the College of Engineering (CENG)
1.7% (5)

Exchange and Visiting Studies
0.3% (1)

How would you rate your experience with Canvas?

(* Two respondents with no experience in online learning with Canvas are research degree and professional doctorate students respectively.)

online learning

0.7% (2) (*)

30.6% (90)

46.9% (138)

12.2% (36)

6.1% (18)

3.4% (10)

average score
3.96

online examination

8.8% (26)

19.4% (57)

34.4% (101)

23.1% (68)

9.5% (28)

4.8% (14)

average score
3.59

no experience

very satisfied
5

1
very dissatisfied

How do you access Canvas?

computers

78.5%

mobile devices
(smartphones & tablets)

21.5%

mobile devices (smartphones & tablets): 21.5%

computer only

109

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

computers

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

mobile devices
(smartphones & tablets)

Have you used the following built-in features / third-party services in Canvas courses in the academic year 2021/22 respectively? Do you find them easy to use?

(on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being "very hard" and 5 being "very easy")

very hard

very easy

Canvas built-in features

Announcements
4.12

Assignments
4.26

Calendar
3.58

Collaborations
3.43

Discussions
3.85

Files
4.32

Grades
4.11

Groups
3.79

Notifications
4.03

Quizzes
4.15

Syllabus
3.9

Files
4.32

289 responses

Assignments
4.26

292 responses

Quizzes
4.15

275 responses

Announcements
4.12

274 responses

Grades
4.11

278 responses

Notifications
4.03

275 responses

Syllabus
3.9

246 responses

Discussions
3.85

227 responses

Groups
3.79

234 responses

Calendar
3.58

192 responses

Collaborations
3.43

148 responses

Third-party services

Badgr
3.28

LockDown Browser
3.22

Panopto – lecture recordings
3.9

Panopto – video assignments
3.45

Turnitin
3.98

uReply
3.72

Zoom
4.28

290 responses

Turnitin
3.98

255 responses

Panopto
lecture recordings
3.9

178 responses

uReply
3.72

116 responses

Panopto
video assignments
3.45

88 responses

Badgr
3.28

67 responses

LockDown Browser
3.22

207 responses

What other web services / mobile apps / technologies have you used for online learning in 2021/22?

cloud storage

268

feedback collection / classroom assessment tool

211

immersive technology

instant messaging

247

language tool

244

MOOC / online learning platform

online references

254

Q&A web service

117

social media / network

185

video service

239

visual collaboration / whiteboard

cloud storage

91.2% (268)

Google Drive

74.8%
(220)

Microsoft OneDrive

51.4%
(151)

iCloud

20.4%
(60)

Dropbox

8.8%
(26)

Adobe Document Cloud 0.3% (1), Baidu Netdisk 0.3% (1), Discord file storage 0.3% (1), Proton Drive 0.3% (1), SpiderOak 0.3% (1), Tencent Cloud 0.3% (1), WPS Cloud 0.3% (1)

online references

86.4% (254)

E-Resources in CityU Library

68.7%
(202)

Google Scholar

55.8%
(164)

Wikipedia

46.9%
(138)

Bing Academic 0.3% (1), HeinOnline 0.3% (1), JSTOR 0.3% (1), Proquest 0.3% (1), Sci-Hub 0.3% (1), Web of Science 0.3% (1), Westlaw Asia 0.3% (1)

instant messaging

84.0% (247)

73.5%
(216)

WeChat

31.6%
(93)

Signal

23.8%
(70)

15.6%
(46)

Discord 3.1% (9), Wickr Me 0.7% (2), Line 0.3% (1), QQ 0.3% (1)

language tool

83.0% (244)

Grammarly

65.3%
(192)

Google Translate

63.3%
(186)

Cambridge Dictionary website 2.0% (6), DeepL Translate 1.7% (5), Apple built-in for checking spelling and grammar 0.3% (1), Baidu Translate 0.3% (1), Duolingo 0.3% (1), English-Corpora.org 0.3% (1), Grammar.com 0.3% (1), PONS translator 0.3% (1), Sketch Engine 0.3% (1), Thesaurus.com 0.3% (1), unspecified dictionary websites 1.0% (3)

video service

81.3% (239)

YouTube

78.9%
(232)

TED

19.4%
(57)

Vimeo

3.1%
(9)

Bilibili 0.7% (2), Powtoon 0.3% (1), Rumble 0.3% (1)

feedback collection / classroom assessment tool

75.2% (221)

Google Forms

62.2%
(183)

QuestionPro

31.0%
(91)

Qualtrics

7.8%
(23)

Kahoot! 7.5% (22), Mentimeter 1.7% (5), Poll Everywhere 0.3% (1), Socrative 0.3% (1), Zoom Poll 0.3% (1)

social media / network

62.9% (185)

Instagram

54.8%
(161)

Facebook

36.1%
(106)

Snapchat

9.9%
(29)

Twitter 2.0% (6), Weibo 1.0% (3), Discord 0.7% (2), Slack 0.7% (2), Pinterest 0.3% (1), Xiao Hong Shu 0.3% (1)

Q&A web service

39.8% (117)

Quora

30.3%
(89)

Piazza

11.2%
(33)

Stack Overflow 1.4% (4), Zhihu 1.4% (4), Reddit 1.0% (3), Stack Exchange 0.3% (1)

MOOC / online learning platform

33.0% (97)

Coursera

20.7%
(61)

edX

7.8%
(23)

HKMOOC

5.4%
(16)

FutureLearn

2.4%
(7)

KEEPCourse

2.0%
(6)

LinkedIn Learning with Lynda 1.4% (4), Khan Academy 1.0% (3), Skillshare 0.3% (1), YouTube 0.3% (1)

visual collaboration / whiteboard

23.1% (68)

Padlet

10.5%
(31)

Miro

8.8%
(26)

MURAL

6.5%
(19)

immersive technology

21.1% (62)

augmented reality (AR)

12.6%
(37)

virtual reality (VR)

10.9%
(32)

others

CS - E-Quiz 0.3% (1), CS - JupyterHub 0.3% (1), CS - Programming Assignment aSsessment System (PASS) 0.3% (1), Doodle 0.3% (1), Google search engine 0.3% (1), Investopedia 0.3% (1), MyBib 0.3% (1), Project Jupyter 0.3% (1), Zoom 0.3% (1)

With respect to the digital learning support services provided by the University, do you have any other comments?

(Click

to see the brief comments from students and responses from the Digital Learning Support)

Pain Points and Concerns (15)

For Zoom via Canvas: too many pages, too many authorizations, can be less complicated......

Not easy to log in to get the video recordings based on Zoom

In most cases, logging into Canvas once will be sufficient to join a Zoom meeting from a Canvas course. However, users may need to sign in again to watch a Zoom recording. We are looking forward to upgrading the Canvas-Zoom integration to simplify the authentication in the future.

Zoom is not designed for online teaching

The e-Learning Team continues to evaluate alternatives for online teaching, but no better solution has been identified. In addition, Zoom keeps updating the features and functions for teaching, learning and assessment purposes.

There should be ways for the second device to join Zoom as not everyone has enough storage to store hours of videos

Students should discuss exam-related issues with the course teachers in advance for support.

Zoom

CSC

Canvas

I am done with the annoying second device rule that totally disturbed my concentration in examinations

Two-device exam arrangement is complicated and does nothing on cheating prevention

The said arrangement aims to ensure sufficient monitoring during assessment. The University will continue reviewing the situation and make appropriate arrangements whenever necessary.

The LockDown Browser is way too restrictive

We strongly advise students to attempt mock online quizzes with Respondus LockDown Browser required.

If students face technical issues during the mock quizzes, please find the related articles about the issues in the final section about FAQs in Respondus LockDown Browser instructions for students. Then try to fix the problems as the suggestions from the Respondus Technical Support website.

If no mock quiz with Respondus LockDown Browser required is available, please try the system check after clicking "LockDown Browser Help Center" on the Respondus webpage. If some tests are not passed, click the "Email Results", fill in the CityU email address and other information on the form and then [Send]. Forward the email to elearn@cityu.edu.hk

We will try to ask Respondus for improvements in future releases of their LockDown Browser.

Respondus LockDown Browser

5 disconnections for about 10-15 seconds during 50-minute class (with Zoom)

Zoom Support recommends a wired connection for the best results. Users can try to close unnecessary applications to save bandwidth and turn off VPN if it is not required. If you experience internet connection problems on campus, please contact the IT Service Desk for students at 3442-6488.

Confused about word counts in footnotes and endnotes between the documents and Turnitin submissions

Turnitin word counts can differ with the submitted file types (e.g. MS Word vs PDF). Students may consider stating the word count information in their submissions.

Unfair grading because of student answer sharing in lectures

Students should report the situations to the course teachers right away.

One faculty's connection was extremely poor and got interrupted constantly during classes (with Zoom)

Please suggest your teacher to try a wired connection. If the problem persists, please ask him/her to contact the IT Service Desk (3442-8340) for help.

Need easier access to school learning resources, e.g. English Corpora off-campus

Please try to use the CityU Virtual Private Network (VPN) service to the learning resources off-campus.

Inconsistent with each professor and takes time to adapt to

I hate d◉◉n Zoom University!

R◉bb◉◉◉ ELearning

Zoom

Turnitin

internet / WiFi

CSC

Suggestions (28)

Full online learning should be going on for the 2022/2023 academic year

Better change back to face-to-face learning

Make offline lectures (exams) so that we can compete with other students with honesty

Please refer to the University Announcement dated 28 June regarding the teaching and learning arrangements for Semester A 2022/23.

A review should be conducted on student experience using online examination tools for the operational improvements

A review was conducted by the Office of the Provost in 2020. The suggestion to conduct another review has been noted.

Please provide Zoom and recording even if face-to-face lectures can be resumed. It helps with students' revision

We will continue to provide lecture recording solutions. Students can suggest the course teachers release recordings.

Zoom

Teachers should make full and systematized use of the tools

Can use more e-learning services

Promotion and Demonstrations of essential e-learning tools?

I wish the professors utilise the features given in canvas more, for example the grade feature......

Teachers are welcome to contact the Digital Learning Support to explore further use of digital learning services.

Canvas

Recording videos should be released asap

Sometimes I could not find some of the recordings of the lectures and tutorials but these meetings had been recorded.......

Teachers have complete control over the release of Zoom recordings. Please contact the teacher if access is needed.

Please consider providing recording download options

To protect teaching content, CityU has disabled the download option of Zoom recordings. Please contact the teacher if there is a specific need.

Should provide draw function (Whiteboard) to all students especially during breakout room......

A whiteboard can be shared for all participants to annotate in a Zoom meeting or a breakout room. Please refer to the Zoom Support article: Sharing a classic whiteboard.

Other participants can add annotations on the shared whiteboard in a meeting or breakout room (instruction: Using annotation tools for collaboration). If no annotation tool is shown even the sharer "Enable Annotation for Others", please ask the meeting host to enable "Annotation" in his/her meeting settings (Enabling or disabling annotation tools for meetings).

Zoom

Canvas

Split view should be provided between question and answer block in LockDown Browser

The countdown timer can be at float so I don't have to scroll up to check the time left

We will communicate with our Canvas customer success manager on the suggested enhancements.

There should be many humanized and multifaceted updates to LockDown Browser

We will communicate with Respondus accordingly.

More alternatives for collaborative assignments

O365 is an alternative to Google Docs for collaborative assignments inside Canvas. Assistance can be provided to the teacher to enable it.

Respondus LockDown Browser

Canvas

Canvas should let student know the course settings chosen by the teacher

Critical information about Canvas course settings, such as assignment availability and due time, is presented to students in the interface. We shall check with our Canvas customer success manager to find room for improvement.

Classes and Canvas assignments should be shown in Outlook or Google calendars

Your Canvas calendar can be synced to other calenders.

Microsoft 365 Calendar:
How do I subscribe to the Calendar feed using Outlook.com as a student?

Google Calendar:
How do I subscribe to the Calendar feed using Google Calendar as a student?

The Enterprise Solution Office (ESU) has planned to provide class schedule ics files to students in the future.

Microsoft 365

Google

ESU

Canvas

Please make the Internet connection stable

If you experience internet connection problem on campus, please contact the IT Service Desk for students at 3442-6488.

IT support should be provided for lecturers during lectures with Zoom

Teachers may call the IT Service Desk at 3442-8340 for immediate support.

Please upgrade Google Drive. Most the classmates use it rather than OneDrive.......

Students are encouraged to use OneDrive, CityU provides a Google Workspace with 20GB limit as an auxiliary purpose.

Please visit the University Email page for more information.

E-books are important in online learning so the Library should enhance the e-book services

The Run Run Shaw Library has a dedicated tab for E-Resources on the website. You may submit more specific suggestions at their page Comments and Suggestions.

Replies from staff / offices can be as quick as possible

Tuition fee for international students should be decreased

Regarding student privacy, more comfortable with technologies from US/UK rather than other places

Can try using Discord

Instructors need standardization in use of Canvas

Zoom

Microsoft 365

Library

internet / WiFi

Google

ebook

CSC

Canvas

Compliments (7)

Excellent platform

It's good that there is a Chinese support function to facilitate effective learning (translated from Simplified Chinese language)

Thanks for the comments. Canvas is the best learning management system available on the market, according to our evaluation in 2020/21.

Canvas

Good to have Zoom recordings for backup

Enjoy the flexibility in hybrid mode learning to rewatch lectures on demand and be able to concentrate at campus

Good to know both students value the opportunity to watch lecture recordings after class.

Zoom

Canvas

Glad to see academic dishonesty could be prevented during online examinations

CityU does a pretty good job with technologies

Good

How would you rate your experience with Canvas?

How do you access Canvas?

Have you used the following built-in features / third-party services in Canvas courses in the academic year 2021/22 respectively? Do you find them easy to use?(on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being "very hard" and 5 being "very easy")

Canvas built-in features

Third-party services

What other web services / mobile apps / technologies have you used for online learning in 2021/22?

With respect to the digital learning support services provided by the University, do you have any other comments?

Pain Points and Concerns (15)

Suggestions (28)

Compliments (7)

Have you used the following built-in features / third-party services in Canvas courses in the academic year 2021/22 respectively? Do you find them easy to use?

(on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being "very hard" and 5 being "very easy")