New and Updated Canvas Insights Templates for Fall 2025
At CSUN, faculty and staff are continually exploring ways to use technology to better support students. Updates to the Canvas Insights templates, developed through a Diversity & Equity Innovation Grant (DEIG), are helping faculty strengthen connections with students while ensuring communication is inclusive, supportive, and effective.
This project is the product of a partnership between Academic Technology (AT) and the the Office of Student Success (OSS). The team includes Dr. Melanie Bocanegra, AVP of Student Success, Dr. Helen Heinrich, AVP of Academic Technology; Dr. Natalie Schaal, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Dr. Monica Gallegos, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, and Sirish Malisetty, Data & Analytics Development Lead.
The prime area of their efforts was updating the message templates in Canvas Insights. With her training in equity-minded pedagogy, Dr. Schaal updated the three existing Canvas Insights templates and created three new ones. OSS student employees were then asked to read through and edit the rough drafts, bringing genuine student voices to the templates.
Existing Templates with New Verbiage
- Needs Assistance
- Positive Feedback
New Templates
- Welcome to the Semester
- Midterm exam follow-up
Coming soon!
- End of the semester
This framework provides a set of actionable, out-of-the-box templates that can be used by faculty to provide students encouragement, answer concerns, or spark engagement.
Visit the Canvas Insights page for more information on Early Alerts.