Canvas @ Yale

PlayPosit: Adding a PlayPosit Activity to Your Canvas Course

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After careful consideration and evaluation of our educational technology tools, Canvas @ Yale will no longer have access to PlayPosit at the end of Spring 2024.

Faculty and students will have access and can continue using PlayPosit through the end of the Spring 2024 term (May 31st), but PlayPosit will no longer be available for access or use starting Summer 2024. 

PlayPosit aims to increase learner engagement through interactive videos. You can integrate PlayPosit into your courses through the Assignments tool, the Modules section of your course, or embedded on any page where you can use the Rich Content Editor.

Adding PlayPosit as a Graded Assignment

  1. Navigate to the "Assignments" section in your Course Navigation.
  2. Click the "+Assignment" button.
  1. Give the assignment a "Name" in the top text box.
  2. From the "Submission Type" options choose "External Tool" in the drop down list.
  1. Click the "Find" button next to the "Enter or find an External Tool URL" textbox.
  1. Scroll through the list of tools until you find "PlayPosit," and click on it.
PlayPosit
  1. In the pop-up box that opens click on the "Enter PlayPosit" link.
    1. Follow the instructions on Building a Bulb in PlayPosit 3.0 if you want to create a new PlayPosit Bulb.
  1. Find the Bulb you want to connect from the list and click the Canvas "Set Bulb Link" icon next to the Bulb name.
  1. Under the "Select Learner Experience" drop down, choose either:
    1. Self Paced - Allow students to complete the PlayPosit asynchronously as an assignment / ungraded activity on their own.
    2. Live Broadcast - Present the PlayPosit activity synchronously with students.
  2. Once the Learner Experience has been selected, click the "Set Link" button.
  1. You will be returned to the Canvas assignment setup where you can now click the "Select" button in the "Configure External Tool" pop-up box.
  1. The PlayPosit URL will be added to the External Tool URL text box, and you can now click the "Save & Publish" button at the bottom of the page to create the assignment.
    1. Use the "Assign" section in the assignment set-up to specify any Due dates or assigning the activity to specific users.

Adding PlayPosit as an Ungraded Module Item

PlayPosit activities added this way will not sync grades back to Canvas.

  1. If you have not already created a module in your Canvas course, navigate to the "Modules" tab in your course.
  2. Click the "+Modules" button to create a new module.
  1. Provide a "Name" in the top text box for the module.
  2. When ready, click the "Add Module" button.
  1. In the module you just created, click the "Add Item" plus icon to begin adding the PlatPosit activity to your module.
  1. From the "Add" drop down menu, select the "External Tool" option.
  2. Scroll down the list of external tools integrated into Canvas and select "PlayPosit."
    1. In the pop-up box that opens click on the "Enter PlayPosit" link.
      1. Follow the instructions on Building a Bulb in PlayPosit 3.0 if you want to create a new PlayPosit Bulb.
  1. Find the Bulb you want to connect from the list and click the Canvas "Set Bulb Link" icon next to the Bulb name.
  1. Under the "Select Learner Experience" drop down, choose either:
    1. Self Paced - Allow students to complete the PlayPosit asynchronously as an assignment / ungraded activity on their own.
    2. Live Broadcast - Present the PlayPosit activity synchronously with students.
  2. Choose if you want the "Placement" of the PlayPosit activity to be:
    1. Embed - The PlayPosit activity will open and display within the window of the Canvas module page.
    2. Show as Link - The PlayPosit activity will display a URL for students to click on to open.
    3. Load in a New Tab - The PlayPosit will open in a new Tab for students to begin.
  3. Once these options have been selected, click the "Set Link" button.
  1. You will be sent back to the Canvas Add Item box, where you can click the "Add Item" button to finalize adding the PlayPosit activity to the Module.
  1. The module will then display the PlayPosit item for students to click into.

Adding PlayPosit as an Ungraded Activity Via the Rich Content Editor

Activities added via the Rich Content Editor will not sync grades back to Canvas, even if you insert the PlayPosit activity into the instruction / description space of a Canvas Assignment.

  1. On any Canvas page where you can utilize the Rich Content Editor, click on the "Apps" icon in the toolbar.
  2. From the menu select the "View All" option.
  1. From the pop-up "Select App" box that opens, click the "PlayPosit" option in the list.
  1. In the pop-up box that opens click on the "Enter PlayPosit" link.
    1. Follow the instructions on Building a Bulb in PlayPosit 3.0 if you want to create a new PlayPosit Bulb.
  1. Find the Bulb you want to connect from the list and click the Canvas "Set Bulb Link" icon next to the Bulb name.
  1. Under the "Select Learner Experience" drop down, choose either:
    1. Self Paced - Allow students to complete the PlayPosit asynchronously as an assignment / ungraded activity on their own.
    2. Live Broadcast - Present the PlayPosit activity synchronously with students.
  2. Choose if you want the "Placement" of the PlayPosit activity to be:
    1. Embed - The PlayPosit activity will open and display within the window of the Canvas module page.
    2. Show as Link - The PlayPosit activity will display a URL for students to click on to open.
    3. Load in a New Tab - The PlayPosit will open in a new Tab for students to begin.
  3. Once these options have been selected, click the "Set Link" button.
  1. The PlayPosit activity will now be added to the Rich Content Editor box and appear for students to engage / click through when you are done setting up the Canvas item the Rich Content Editor is associated with.
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