How do I access anonymous feedback from my students?

When a student posts a comment in the Anonymous Feedback tool, instructors receive an email with a copy of the comment's text. Instructors can also access the tool in their UVACanvas course site to:

  • Read comments posted by students,
  • Download a spreadsheet with all the comments and when they were posted,
  • Mark comments as read,
  • Delete comments.

Comments are not associated with any identifying information about those who submitted them.

Note: Only participants in the Teacher role in a Canvas course can access student comments in Anonymous Feedback.

Go to Anonymous Feedback.

Select Anonymous Feedback from the Course Navigation Menu.

View feedback table.

Screenshot example of Anonymous Feedback tool with one unread and one read comment.

Feedback comments are displayed in a table with the following columns:

  1. Checkboxes: You can use the checkboxes to select comments and mark them as read or delete them.
  2. Comment: The link to open each comment includes the first 85 characters of the comment's text.
  3. Status: Whether the comment is Unread or Read. Rows in the table with Unread comments have a white background, and rows with Read comments have a gray background.
  4. Date Posted: The date and time when a student posted the comment.

You can sort the feedback in the table by selecting the heading for any of the columns, e.g., Comment.

Note: In a course with multiple instructors, a comment's Status will be indicated as Read for all instructors as soon as one of them opens the comment or marks it as read.

Read a comment.

  1. Select a comment's link, e.g., I always have another class during your office hours. It would be nice if you offered...
  2. A window will pop up displaying the full text of the comment. When you are done reading it, select Close or press the Escape key on your keyboard to return to the Anonymous Feedback tool.

Download comments.

Select the Download CSV button above the feedback table to download a spreadsheet that includes all the comments and the date and time when each comment was posted.

Mark comments as read.

  1. Select the checkbox to the left of each comment.
  2. Near the bottom of the page, choose Mark Selected as Read.

Delete comments.

  1. Select the checkbox to the left of each comment.
  2. Near the bottom of the page, choose Delete Selected Comments.