Tip! SpeedGrader Won’t Let You Rotate AND Annotate Photo Submissions Anymore: What to Do?

Do you ask students to submit pictures of handwritten work? You may have noticed that Canvas SpeedGrader no longer allows you to add annotations (text, highlights, drawings) to student submissions that are images after they have been rotated. The best way to avoid this problem is to ask your students to submit their work as a PDF document.

Here are three options for students to create a PDF file of their handwritten work:

  1. Scanning with Google Drive
  2. Scanning with OneDrive
  3. Converting an existing photo to a PDF

1. Scanning with Google Drive (Android & iPhone)

Google Drive’s scanner is excellent because it automatically detects edges and uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to make the text searchable. This also allows you to add comments to specific words in the file.

  1. Open the Google Drive app. If you do not have the app, you can download Google Drive from their website.
  2. Tap the Camera icon (or the + button and then Scan).
  3. Position your document in the frame. A blue outline will appear showing where it detects the edges.
  4. Capture: *
    • On Auto-capture, it will snap the photo for you when still.
    • On Manual, tap the shutter button.
  5. Multi-page: To add more pages to the same PDF, tap the Add (+) icon.
  6. Tap Done.
  7. Name your file.
  8. Ensure the format is set to .pdf.
  9. Hit Save.

2. Scanning with OneDrive (Android & iPhone)

OneDrive is particularly useful if you use Microsoft Office, as it integrates directly with your cloud storage. Students can access OneDrive using their JCCC email address.

  1. Open the OneDrive app. If you do not have OneDrive, you can download it from Microsoft Support.
  2. Tap the Camera icon at the bottom center.
  3. Swipe the mode selector (above the shutter button) to Document.
  4. Point the camera at your document; it will highlight the borders with a blue box. Tap the shutter button.
  5. Adjust: Confirm the borders are correct and tap Confirm.
  6. Multi-page: To add more pages, tap Add (the camera icon with a plus sign) on the bottom left.
  7. Tap Done.
  8. Enter a filename.
  9. Tap the Checkmark (or Save) to upload it as a PDF.

3. Converting an Existing Photo to PDF

If the photo is already in your gallery, you can convert it without downloading any new software.

On Android (Using the Print Menu)

  1. Open your Gallery or Google Photos and select the photo.
  2. Tap the three-dot menu (or Share) and look for Print.
  3. Tap the “Select a printer” dropdown at the top and choose Save as PDF.
  4. Tap the PDF download icon to save it to your phone’s internal storage.

On iPhone (Using the Files App)

The fastest way on iOS is through the native Files app:

  1. Open the Photos app and select your photo(s).
  2. Tap the Share icon (the square with an arrow) and select Save to Files.
  3. Open the Files app and find the photo you just saved.
  4. Long-press the photo and select Create PDF from the menu.
    • Tip: If you selected multiple photos, they will be combined into a single multi-page PDF automatically.

 

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