hypothesis / hypothesis/support-legacy
Canvas notifications User story
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Description
I am an instructor in Canvas. This is a story as to why I use notifications, the options Canvas gives me when using notifications, and how the Hypothesis LMS app interacts with those options.
**What are some reasons to use notifications on non-Hypothesis assignments?**
Notifications allow me to check in on Assignments, especially where I'm allowing multiple submissions, and give students grades and/or feedback before the Assignment due date (either an official date, or a practical one where revisiting it has diminishing returns as the content of the class has moved on).
They can also give me a sense of when I've got a few responses to an Assignment, as opposed to the majority, allowing me to better use my own time. I.e., I don't want to keep logging in to Canvas to see if there are assignment submissions to grade when I could be doing research, prepping for my next lecture, etc.
**What options does Canvas gives me w/r/t notifications?**
It's important to note that Notifications are controlled at the User level, not the Course level or the Assignment level. So if I want notifications in one of my courses, they must be turned on for **all** of my courses.

I have for options for each type of notification, and these are further divided in that I can set different options for email notifications and push notifications. The options are:
- Notify me right away
- Send daily summary
- Send weekly summary
- Do not send me anything
There is only one option for Assignment submissions, which is called "All Submissions". There is no way to differentiate between a first-time submission and a resubmission.
**How does the Hypothesis LMS app interact with Canvas notifications?**
If a user wants to be notified right away for any Canvas Assignment, Hypothesis assignments will send them a notification each time a student launches the LTI app. This more or less renders the "Notify me right away" option useless for all Assignments, especially where instructors have built Hypothesis-enabled readings that encourage students to re-visit Assignments multiple times.
Instructors with large classes (or classes with multiple large sections) probably don't have "Notify me right away" turned on, but instructors with smaller classes (say 30-ish students) may want to keep that option open. Even as Hypothesis builds its own internal notification system for the LMS app, we should try to not break Canvas notifications.
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Research direction
No files, tests, or entry points are identified in the issue. First clarify the intended Canvas notification behavior for Hypothesis assignments and identify where the LMS app triggers assignment notifications. Done should mean an agreed implementation scope and tests showing Canvas notification preferences are respected.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Domain
- api, backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100