Harmonize is a discussion tool add-on for Canvas that allows students to communicate, interact and engage more easily with one another. Harmonize supports media-rich discussions than standard Canvas Discussions by allowing you and your students to:
- Upload multiple files directly within posts and easily record audio and video comments.
- Annotate images and video to provide feedback.
- View a single student's responses across a post for easier grading.
- Create Peer Review assignment activities
See these release notes for information about new Harmonize features.
How to Create a Harmonize Assignment
- Within your course, navigate to Assignments and click the + Assignment button. This will open the Create New Assignment Page in Canvas.
- Give the assignment a name and set the appropriate number of points.
- Scroll down to the Submission Type section. Select External Tool from the drop down menu. Under "Enter or find an External Tool URL", click Find.
- In the Configure External Tool dialogue that appears, click Harmonize Assignment.
- In the Link Resource from External Tool dialogue that appears, click the assignment type you would like to create. (For this example, we chose discussion).
- The dialogue window will close automatically and return you to the Configure External Tool dialogue.
Please do not alter or remove the URL that appears in this window. Click the Select button.
- This dialogue window will close automatically. Scroll down the page until you see Assign. Set a Due Date for your discussion. This date is the final due date when all student work is due. Click Save or Save & Publish at the bottom of the page.
Your graded Harmonize Discussion is now created and you will be redirected to the Harmonize Edit Topic page. If you need to revisit the Canvas assignment settings page, click the Edit Assignment Settings button located on the top right of the Canvas window.
How to Create a Peer Review Assignment
Harmonize now supports peer review. With Harmonize peer review you can:
Make peer review easier for both you and your students using multiple due dates, auto-grading, reminders, and automatic peer assignments that will handle late and missing work for you.
Support audio, video, and screen recording for both submissions and peer comments, making assignments more engaging and harder to complete with AI.
Facilitate a conversation between students and their reviewers, leveraging the best part of Harmonize to keep the conversation going after the review happens.
Within your course, navigate to Assignments and click the + Assignment button. This will open the Create New Assignment Page in Canvas.
In the Link Resource that appears, select Peer Review.
Open your Harmonize activity.
Begin by setting Requirements
Note: These instructions are only for the assignment post. Not the peer review.
- When you are done setting Requirements, click on Write Instructions.
- You can skip to [4] and choose Write My Own Instructions if you already have instructions, or you can use Harmonize Brainstorm to help draft instructions.
[1] Due Date. If you selected a final due date, it will appear here. If you did not, it will say "Not Set."
[2] Milestones. Decide how many days you want between the draft submission and the peer reviews. Choose the desired number of peer reviews.
[3] Autograding. Choose whether to use autograding. Autograding will award students points for completing their work on time and meeting specified requirements, such as word counts.
[4] TurnItIn. If your school uses TurnItIn, you may choose to have their assignment submissions sent to TurnItIn. Note that this only works for text posted in the textbox, not for attachments.
[1] Complexity Level. Adjust complexity level of the prompt up or down. For peer reviewed assignments, you may get better ideas at higher complexity levels.
[2] What should the AI include in your activity? Tell the AI about your topic, class, or project.
[3] Learning Objectives (Optional). If you have learning objectives, you can include them here. Learning Objectives will help the AI draft an activity that more closely meets your learners' needs.
[4] Write My Own Instructions / Generate Instructions. If you are writing your own instructions, you can indicate that here. Otherwise, choose Generate Instructions.
At the step where you draft instructions, you will have the chance to review the peer review instructions as well, but you will not be able to edit them.
To edit the peer review instructions, see Configure Additional Settings in the Editor.
Finally, you may choose to Skip or Set Up Rubric & AI Coach.
- If using creating a rubric, generate the criteria then click Next.
- You might need to make an additional selection, such as Generate Full Rubric.
- Review and edit your rubric and then click Save Rubric.
[1] Additional Settings. Review the list of defaults and settings that you can change.
[2] Configure Additional Settings/Publish. If you want to change these defaults and settings, choose to Configure Additional Settings. Otherwise, choose Publish.
Most peer review settings can be found on the Peer Review tab.
We will pre-populate the peer review instructions area with research supported guidelines, but you can always adjust or overwrite these instructions.
Decide whether to do peer review anonymously or with names visible. Anonymous peer review is the default.
- Choose how peer reviews will be assigned. By default, any student in the class can review any other student.
Note: As pools of students get smaller, there's a higher risk that students will run out of peers to review.
Select the number of reviews you want students to provide.
Choose whether students will need to fill out a rubric.
Note: Rubric grading is enabled by default is a rubric is attached. If no rubric is attached, this option will be greyed out.
Click Publish.
Need Additional Help?
Harmonize provides support to all Brown users, so you may email [email protected] for questions related to Harmonize functionality.
For help with Canvas, please contact [email protected]
To discuss strategies for implementing Canvas and DLD approved integrated learning tools into your course, please contact [email protected]