At Carolinas College, we actively use the Microsoft Education External Tool in Canvas to create assignments from Word document templates. This workflow works well for us: Canvas creates a copy of the document for each student, and instructors can view submissions directly in SpeedGrader as static PDF snapshots.
This setup supports multiple submissions effectively. Instructors can already see each submission attempt and the updated PDF preview for the most recent version.
While the static PDF view is helpful, we would like to also have access to the live Microsoft Word document link that corresponds to each student’s submission.
Specifically, we are requesting:
- A clickable live document link paired with the submission in SpeedGrader
- The ability to select that link and be taken out of Canvas and into Microsoft Word to view the document
- Continued availability of the existing static PDF preview alongside the live link
This would allow us to go beyond a snapshot view and review the document directly in Microsoft, supporting richer feedback, version awareness, and instructional review.
At Carolinas College, many of our assignments are iterative in nature. Students revise and build on the same document over time, and instructors want to engage with the document as it exists in Microsoft.
This type of functionality is already possible when using Lucid as an external tool, where instructors can access the live document directly from the submission. Having a similar option available for Microsoft Education assignments would significantly enhance instructional workflows while keeping the current submission display intact.
Are others looking for live Microsoft document access from SpeedGrader?
