Analyze and Discover: Exploring Student Engagement with Weekly Online Activity Data

Instructor Request

Dear Online Learning,
I noticed the Weekly Online Activity tab in Course Analytics. Although knowing the average and total page views is useful, what additional recommendations do you have for making the most of this information?

Thanks for all you do!
Dr. Ava R. Ridge

Online Learning Team’s Reply

That is an excellent question, Dr. Ridge. The Weekly Online Activity tab in Course Analytics offers a high-level view of how students engage with course material. Let’s take a closer look at it, along with a few suggestions for how you can use the data.

Where to Find the Weekly Online Activity Tab

To explore analytics available in Canvas, open Course Analytics from either the right or left menu of your course. This opens a dashboard with five tabs: Needs Attention, Course Grade, Weekly Online Activity, Students, and Reports.

Looking specifically at the Weekly Online Activity tab provides a weekly snapshot of how students engage with course content. At the top of the page, a chart displays page views and participation data for the entire class. Participation reflects tracked actions such as submitting assignments, posting to discussions, or completing other interactive activities.

By hovering over any point on the chart, you can view data for a specific week. This visual overview can help identify broad engagement patterns, such as:

• Increase or decrease in activity levels
• Drops in participation at predictable points in the term
• Spikes in activity just before major due dates

While the chart highlights trends rather than individual behavior, it offers a useful starting point for understanding overall course engagement.

Resource-Level Engagement

Below the chart, the tab displays a list of course resources with data for Students, Page Views, and Participation. This view allows instructors to quickly see how many students are accessing items such as announcements, assignments, or instructional pages. By sorting columns, you can easily pinpoint which resources receive the most and least views. For those with low views, it’s important to investigate further to understand why students aren’t engaging with them. If the resource is essential for learning, consider ways to encourage more student interaction, such as highlighting it in announcements or providing additional context in the course. On the other hand, if a resource consistently has low views and doesn’t add value to the course, it may be a good idea to consider removing it altogether.

Accessing More Detailed Data

Switching from the chart view to the Data Table view provides deeper insights. In this format, page views and participation numbers become clickable, opening a panel that shows weekly activity by individual student as well as engagement with specific resources. Instructors can sort this data, compare activity levels, and download it for further review. This level of detail supports more intentional monitoring of student behavior without requiring instructors to track activity manually across multiple course areas.

Making the Most of Weekly Online Activity

Reviewing the collection of data about resources accessible in the Weekly Online Activity tab helps instructors time reminders, nudges, and encouragement more effectively. For example, if a key resource receives limited views early in the week, a brief announcement or Canvas Inbox message can direct student attention to it. Because some students may access content through forwarded email or external links, this data works best as a general indicator of engagement, not an exact count. A few other suggestions include:

• Which resources students use most, such as frequently viewed pages or high-traffic discussions, and which may need greater visibility.
• Where students may be missing steps, especially when items receive many views but little participation, signaling unclear instructions.
• Opportunities for targeted support, such as highlighting underused resources like office hours or optional learning supports.

The weekly snapshot concerning Participation allows instructors to identify engagement trends early and respond proactively. Instructors can use this data to:

• Set engagement benchmarks by comparing individual student activity to class averages (e.g., typical ranges of page views or participations).
• Identify students with low activity, such as minimal page views or participation during a given week and provide timely outreach or guidance.
• Recognize highly engaged students who consistently interact with course materials and consider inviting them to share effective study strategies.

These insights allow instructors to strengthen communication and respond proactively.

Thank you to Dr. Ridge for prompting this exploration. We hope this overview clarifies what the Weekly Online Activity tab can reveal and how it can be used to support students more intentionally. If there are other Canvas features you would like us to explore, please let us know!