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Canvas Spotlight

Multimedia Assignments

Last updated on September 16, 2026

What if your favorite restaurant only prepared and served one dish, regardless of the time or occasion? No matter the quality of the dish, the expertise of the chef, or type of cuisine, all parties involved will eventually find themselves disinterested and unengaged from the food.  Maybe worse than becoming disinterested in your favorite restaurant is the fact that the chefs may be able to demonstrate their mastery in other areas of cooking or methods of preparation, but you’d never know it without a different meal.

The same is true about cooking up quality teaching and learning experiences. Students, too, must be able to demonstrate mastery in your course using varied skills and tools. One way you can encourage this is by taking advantage of multimedia assignment submissions.

Using multimedia submissions helps students to engage with the material and gain a better understanding of your content by transferring their knowledge to a range of activities. Varying the medium used to demonstrate knowledge allows students to engage with your course’s content in an interactive and personalized way. 

Using multimedia submissions can also bolster the accessibility of your course. Those who are hard of hearing may prefer a visual experience, and those with auditory impairments may benefit from a more visual approach. When using some of these tools, students can also make captions available in their submissions — this can be very useful when students are participating in video discussions. 

This Canvas Spotlight will focus on three types of multimedia assignments: the built-in Canvas Media Recorder, Yuja, and GoReact.

Let’s look at some ways using multimedia submissions can increase engagement, accessibility, and knowledge transfer in your course.

Best Practices

When should I use this?

  • The learning objectives of your course should inform whether you should use multimedia submissions. Look for opportunities to incorporate multimedia submissions by examining where your objectives may align with them. Whether a multimedia submission type is aligned with your objectives will always depend on your instructional goals and your course’s content. 
  • Class discussions, presentations, or demonstrations are great places to start using multimedia assignment submissions. 
  • Vary submission types to increase the accessibility of your course. Doing so will create a more inclusive space for those with auditory or visual impairments. Depending on your submission type, students will be able to use or download captions as well. 

When should I set this up?

  • Look at your course objectives and the assessments that align with them, then decide which are best suited for multimedia assignments.
  • You are always able to edit existing assignments and change the submission type to a “multimedia submission”, but it is best to do this well before the beginning of your course. 

When should I not use this?

  • When the multimedia assignment does not align with the objective(s) it means to measure, consider a different submission type.
    • For example, if the objective requires a text submission, you would want to choose another submission type. 

Let’s walk through it together

Note: This video states that the Canvas Media Recorder does not caption videos. This is no longer true. View our tutorial, Enable Captions and Rolling Transcripts in Canvas Media, for guidance on getting auto-captions on Canvas Media.

[Length 10:41, CC Available]

Click to view in fullscreen

Which Multimedia Submission Type Should I Use?

While many types of multimedia files can be uploaded in Canvas, this spotlight will focus on using the Canvas Media Recorder, Yuja, and GoReact submission types. 

  • All three of these multimedia types are capable of creating audio-only recordings for a podcast-like product. Students may simply turn off their cameras before recording to do this. 
  • The “Submission Type” feature is only available when creating an assignment in Canvas. A “Submission Type” drop-down menu is not available in any other type of page.
  • Canvas Media Recorder:
  • YuJa Videos:
    • Select Online as the Submission type and check the box next to Text Entry.
    • Instruct students to use the YuJa Media Selector (rainbow swirl icon) in the toolbar above the Rich Content Editor to complete their submission.
    • View our spotlight, Incorporate YuJa in your course to learn more about how to use YuJa.
  • GoReact Assignments:
    • Select External Tool as the Submission Type, then find GoReact from the drop-down menu to set up a GoReact assignment.
    • To learn more about creating GoReact assignments, view our tutorial, Set up a GoReact Assignment in Canvas.

Examples

The following section will demonstrate situations in which you may want to use each of these tools based on your learning objective. 

Canvas Media Recorder

  • Best Uses: The Canvas Media Recorder is best used for simple recordings that only the instructor will see.
  • Example Learning Objective: Students will submit a recorded speech explaining the benefits of using Generative AI in education. 
  • Why Choose This Submission Type: This learning objective requires students to perform a speech to demonstrate mastery of the content. A multimedia assessment is aligned with the learning outcome and the product will not be seen by other students, only the instructor. Furthermore, this assessment does not require the use of a screen recorder or editing features, making the Canvas Media Recorder the best type of submission to use. 
  • Student Perspective: When the “media recording” submission type is checked, there will be options in the center of their screen that to either record or upload media. If students select Record Media, the Canvas Media Recorder will launch and they can begin recording. Once it is finished, they must click the “Save Media” button, then the “Submit Assignment” button.
  • Mobile Use: The Canvas Media Recorder is mobile-friendly. Students will be able to record and submit recordings with this tool from their cellular devices.

GoReact 

  • Best Uses: GoReact is best suited for assignments that require instructor feedback and peer reviews. Using GoReact is a great choice when students need to respond to each other’s work. 
  • Example Learning Objective: Students will debate the benefits of using AI in education in a virtual setting. 
  • Why Choose This Submission Type: This learning objective requires students to debate to demonstrate mastery of the content. A multimedia assessment is aligned with the learning outcome and the product will be seen and critiqued by other students. This assessment requires captions and the ability to comment on submissions made by peers, making GoReact the best submission type to use. 
  • Student Perspective: When students click on the assignment, they will see a red button that reads “Create Video.” Once this button is clicked, they will be brought to the GoReact Recorder. Once they are finished recording and have saved their video, they must navigate to the “Submit Video” task in the GoReact assignment to submit their video.
    • Note: If you wish to allow students to view and leave comments on each other’s work, you must include the “Give Peer Feedback” task and select the “Open Peer Review” option under “Recording Feedback and Privacy” when creating the assignment. 
  • Mobile Use: GoReact is mobile-friendly. Students will be able to record and submit recordings as well as leave timestamped feedback on each others’ recordings. 

YuJa

  • Best Uses: YuJa offers many editing features to students. From their Yuja account, students can make simple edits, add images, and add captions to their videos. Yuja also auto-captions recordings, making for a more accessible video. Using YuJa requires students to download the YuJa software and the interface can be difficult to navigate. Using YuJa is best suited for assignments that require students to record their screens.
  • Example Learning Objective: Students will present a PowerPoint explaining the benefits of using AI in education.
  • Why Choose This Submission Type: This learning objective requires students to record their screen to deliver a presentation. A multimedia assessment is aligned with the learning outcome. This assessment may require students to make edits to their recordings and it will be auto-captioned, making it accessible if a critique from other students is needed. 
  • Student Perspective: If the student has not downloaded the YuJa recording software, they will need to do this first. When students click on the assignment, they will be able to upload a YuJa recording they have already created or record directly from the RCE if “Text Entry” was selected as the “Submission Type.”
  • Mobile Use: YuJa has a mobile app that allows students to record and upload media on their mobile devices into YuJa, however, it is often unreliable.

Have Questions?

Need additional support on this or other teaching and learning topics? Please visit us for drop-in support or try one of our self-help tutorials. 

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