Using a Reading List in Canvas: PDF Annotations

Canvas reading lists offer the ability to annotate PDF resources in two unique ways. The Social Reading option enables instructors and students to annotate the same PDF together to encourage class discussion and engagement. The Read and Respond assignment option allows students to individually annotate a PDF reading and submit it for a grade. Provided below are videos including brief overviews and instructions for using these features.

• Canvas reading lists will work best in either Google Chrome or Firefox, which are the certified browsers for this feature. If student's are experiencing issues with PDF annotations, try having them switch to either of these browser if they are not currently using them.
• If issues still persist, try disabling any browser extensions such as ad-blockers, clearing cookies/cache, restarting your browser or restarting your device.
• Also, check to ensure that the PDF you uploaded has searchable text. If the PDF is not searchable, the annotation tool will not be able to highlight the text properly.  Following the instructions linked below, you can use Adobe Acrobat to convert PDF's into searchable documents:
  •  Scan and OCR