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Holon Channel embeds a YouTube channel directly into Canvas — giving students a full video learning experience, and instructors powerful tools for engagement tracking, knowledge checks, discussion, and graded assignments, all without leaving Canvas.
| Feature | Instructor | Student |
|---|---|---|
| Watch videos | ✅ | ✅ |
| Discussion panel | ✅ | ✅ |
| Knowledge check questions | ✅ (edit) | ✅ (answer) |
| Assignment progress | ✅ (all students) | ✅ (own only) |
| Viewing heatmap | ✅ (class aggregate) | ❌ |
| Analytics | ✅ | ❌ |
| Sync videos / Channel Setup | ✅ | ❌ |
Holon Channel runs as a Canvas LTI 1.1 tool. No separate login is required — your Canvas identity is passed automatically at launch via the Holon Hub daisy-chain token system.
Go to Channel Setup in the sidebar. Enter your YouTube Channel ID (e.g. UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) or handle (e.g. @channelname), an optional display name, and your YouTube Data API v3 key.
After saving the channel, click Sync Videos on the Channel Feed to pull in your latest YouTube videos. Sync runs against your YouTube Data API quota — avoid syncing more than necessary.
Click any video card in the Channel Feed to open the player. From the player you can add knowledge check questions, manage discussion, and publish the video as a Canvas assignment.
| Menu Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Holon Hub | Return to the Holon Hub launcher |
| Dashboard | Welcome screen with channel stats and quick actions |
| Channel Feed | Browse and manage all videos in your connected channel |
| Analytics | Student watch time, completion rates, and engagement data (instructors only) |
| Channel Setup | Configure YouTube channel ID, display name, and API key (instructors only) |
| Product Manual | This guide |
| Settings | Theme customization and text size |
The Dashboard is the first screen you see after launching Holon Channel. It provides a summary of your channel and quick access to key areas.
Displays your name and current course name. The green dot indicates the tool is live and connected.
The Channel Feed shows all synced YouTube videos as cards with thumbnails, titles, duration, and student watch progress.
Each card displays: thumbnail, title, duration, view count, and a progress bar showing how far through the video the current student has watched.
Use the search box at the top of the feed to filter videos by title in real time.
Click Sync Videos in the topbar to pull the latest videos from YouTube. Only instructors can trigger a sync.
Click any video card to open the full player view. The player embeds the YouTube video inline and provides the right-side panel with knowledge check, discussion, and assignment tools.
Student watch progress is recorded continuously and synced to the server. Progress is used for assignment completion checks and displayed in the analytics heatmap.
When editing knowledge check questions, clicking + Add Question automatically stamps the current playback position as the timestamp for that question. The video will pause at that point during student playback to show the question.
Knowledge Check lets instructors attach timed questions to specific moments in a video. When a student reaches that timestamp, the video pauses and the question appears.
When a student reaches a knowledge check timestamp, the video pauses and a question card appears. The student answers and clicks Submit to resume playback. Responses are recorded per student.
The knowledge check panel shows all questions for the current video with their timestamps. Instructors see an edit button; students see the questions as they watch.
Each video has an inline discussion panel where students and instructors can post comments, reply to each other, and react with emoji — all without leaving the player.
Type in the Share a thought… input at the top of the Discussion panel and press Enter or click the send button.
Click the emoji button on any comment to add a reaction. Reactions are grouped and counted. Multiple students can react to the same comment.
Click Reply under any comment to post a threaded response. Replies are nested under the parent comment.
You can edit or delete your own comments at any time using the Edit and Delete links on your comment. Edited comments show an (edited) badge.
The Discussion panel header shows the total number of comments for the current video.
Instructors can publish any video as a graded Canvas assignment. Grade passback sends scores directly to the Canvas gradebook when students complete the requirements.
| Type | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Graded | Pushes a numeric score to the Canvas gradebook when requirements are met |
| Ungraded | Tracks completion only — no grade sent to Canvas |
| Extra Credit | Adds bonus points to the Canvas gradebook on top of a student's existing score |
You can require any combination of the following for a student to receive a grade:
Students see an Assignment Progress panel while watching a video published as an assignment. It shows which requirements they have met and what remains.
The Viewing Heatmap is an instructor-only feature that visualizes where students watched (and re-watched) a video across the class.
The heatmap bar spans the full video duration. Darker/brighter segments indicate portions of the video watched by more students. Segments with low engagement appear lighter.
The Analytics view (instructors only) provides a class-wide view of student engagement across all videos in the channel.
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Total Views | Combined watch events across all videos and students |
| Completion Rate | Percentage of started videos watched to the completion threshold |
| Top Videos | Most-watched videos ranked by student view count |
| Student Engagement | Per-student watch history, progress, and completion status |
| Viewers / Completions / Avg Progress | Per-video stats shown in the player stats bar |
Change the tool's accent color, sidebar background, and nav active color to match your institution's Canvas branding. Click Reset to restore the default navy/green scheme.
A / A+ / A++ zoom buttons are always available in the topbar. The selected zoom level is saved per user and restored on next launch.
Click the ? help button in the topbar to open the quick-start help overlay at any time.
Verify your YouTube Channel ID or handle is correct and that your YouTube Data API v3 key is active with no IP restrictions blocking the server. Check that you have not exceeded the daily API quota (10,000 units).
The tool must be installed as an External Tool assignment in Canvas. Verify with your Canvas admin that the LTI tool is correctly configured and that grade passback is enabled for the course.
The knowledge check question may not have a valid timestamp. Open Edit Knowledge Check and verify each question has a timestamp — timestamps are set automatically when you click + Add Question at the right moment in the video.
No. Watch progress, knowledge check responses, and grades are strictly per-student and private. Only instructors can see class-wide analytics.
Yes — Holon Channel supports up to 5 YouTube channels per course. Add additional channels in Channel Setup.
Open the video in the player, click Edit Assignment, and use the delete option. Note that if students have already submitted grades, deletion may affect their gradebook entries.