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Educator Quick Start Guide

This guide shows the most common tasks educators use Canvas MCP for.

Setup

  1. Install Canvas MCP following the README
  2. Configure your .env file with Canvas API token
  3. For FERPA compliance, add: 
    ENABLE_DATA_ANONYMIZATION=true
  4. Restart your MCP client (e.g., Claude Desktop, Cursor, Zed, etc.)

Common Tasks

Check Submission Status

Which students haven't submitted Assignment 5 in CS 101?

Your AI assistant will show you who's missing submissions and help you follow up.

Grade Assignments with Rubrics

I need to grade Assignment 3 in BADM 350 using the rubric

Your AI assistant can:

  • Show you the rubric criteria
  • Help you grade submissions
  • Apply consistent grading across students

Send Reminders

Send a reminder to students who haven't submitted the midterm project

Your AI assistant will:

  • Identify students with missing submissions
  • Draft a message
  • Send it through Canvas

Analyze Participation

Who hasn't participated in the Discussion 4 in my Intro to Python course?

Get quick insights into discussion participation.

Bulk Operations

For large classes, use the code execution API:

Grade all 90 Jupyter notebook submissions for Assignment 2 by checking if they run without errors

This uses the bulk grading feature that's 99.7% more efficient than traditional methods.

Check Assignment Statistics

Show me statistics for Quiz 3 in ECON 102

Get:

  • Average score
  • High/low scores
  • Submission rate
  • Common issues

Advanced Workflows

Weekly Check-in

For CS 225, show me:
1. Who's falling behind (missing multiple assignments)
2. Discussion participation rates
3. Average grades on the latest assignment

Grade Discussion with Rubric

Grade Discussion Topic 5 in BADM 350. Give 10 points for initial post, 5 points per peer review (must do 2), max 10 points for peer reviews.

Uses bulk discussion grading - super fast!

Peer Review Analysis

Show me peer review completion for Assignment 4. Who hasn't done their reviews?

Course Health Check

Give me an overview of MATH 221:
- How many students are current on assignments?
- What's the average grade?
- Who might need extra support?

FERPA Compliance Tips

With ENABLE_DATA_ANONYMIZATION=true:

  • Student names appear as "Student_xxxxxxxx"
  • You can still identify patterns and get insights
  • Real identities stay private from AI processing
  • You keep a local mapping to correlate IDs with real students

Example anonymized output:

Missing submissions:
- Student_a8f7e23d (submitted 2/5 assignments)
- Student_c9b21f84 (submitted 1/5 assignments)

Performance Tips

For small operations (< 10 students): Just ask naturally

For bulk operations (> 30 students): Mention you want to use code execution:

Use the bulk grading code API to grade all submissions for Assignment 6

Common Pitfalls

❌ Don't: "Grade all assignments" (too vague) ✅ Do: "Grade Assignment 5 in CS 101 using the provided rubric"

❌ Don't: Send messages without reviewing ✅ Do: "Draft a message to students missing Assignment 3, let me review before sending"

❌ Don't: Assume old data is current ✅ Do: Canvas MCP fetches fresh data, but cache may be a few minutes old

Troubleshooting

"Can't access student data"

  • Check that your Canvas API token has the right permissions
  • Some institutions restrict educator access - contact your Canvas admin

"Bulk operations are slow"

  • Use the code execution API for large batches
  • Mention "use bulk grading" in your request to your AI assistant

"Anonymization isn't working"

  • Verify ENABLE_DATA_ANONYMIZATION=true in your .env
  • Restart your MCP client after changing settings

Need help? Check EDUCATOR_GUIDE.md or open an issue.