Complete User Manual — Instructor & Student Guide
Holon Gallery works entirely within Canvas as an embedded tool, launched from Holon Hub or from your course navigation. No separate login or install is required — if the Hub is already in Canvas, this tool appears instantly.
Instructors organize work into albums with per-album rules, moderate what the class sees, run critique on the work itself, and publish assignments that appear on the Canvas Assignments page and grade themselves on completion. Students browse, upload, respond — and never have to leave Canvas.
Three font-size levels for the main content area.
Collapses or expands the sidebar.
| Menu Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Holon Hub | Returns to the Hub to launch another tool |
| Dashboard | Hero greeting, live stat cards, recent albums and uploads, and quick actions |
| All Albums | The album grid — create, open, edit, and import albums |
| Assignments (instructors) | Every assignment in the course, plus the 5-step creation flow |
| Product Manual | This guide — opens right inside the tool |
| Moderation (instructors) | The approval queue for student uploads, with a live pending badge |
| Analytics (instructors) | Uploads, contributors, and engagement per album |
Albums, media items, likes, and — for instructors — the pending-review count.
The last five of each. Click an album row to open it; click an upload to jump to its album.
Review pending and View analytics take instructors straight to the queue and the numbers.
Create an album from + New Album on the All Albums page or the Dashboard hero. The form opens inline, right above the album grid.
Whether students may submit media to this album.
New student uploads wait in Moderation before the class sees them.
The critique and reaction tools for this album.
Upload a cover image on the form, or open any photo and choose Set Cover. Covers show on the album card, the dashboard, and the assignment wizard.
Open an album to see its Photos tab and — for instructors — the Assignments tab. The toolbar below the header holds ← Albums, ↑ Upload, and Settings.
From the Student albums button on All Albums, instructors can allow students to build their own albums — title, description, cover, and their own photos with captions. With Require your approval on, a new student album waits in Moderation and is visible only to its owner and the instructor until approved; declining it leaves the student a note. A caption edit on an approved photo sends that photo back for re-approval.
Where approval is required, student submissions appear in Moderation (watch the badge in the menu): approve to publish, or decline with a note the student sees on their item.
Top-level comments respond to the work; every comment has a Reply link, and replies thread underneath it.
The Voice and Video buttons record right in the browser — preview, then post. Recordings appear as playable comments; no external apps needed.
Everyone can tap Favorite on a photo to build a personal shortlist — separate from public likes — and revisit it from My Favorites in the menu.
Instructors can create a public, read-only link for any album from the Share button — approved photos only, no Canvas login, with a QR code for critique sessions and showcases. Disable the link any time to revoke access.
An Allow downloads toggle in album settings governs original-file downloads both in class and on share links — off by default.
Hover over any photo and a magnifying lens follows the cursor, revealing the image at its original full resolution — ideal for reading labels, fine detail, or technique up close.
The action menu on the photo's details card holds Assign this image, Set as album cover, Hide from students, and Delete. Owners can add or edit the photo's caption from the same card.
Pick the album, or narrow the assignment to a single image — you can also start from any photo with Assign this image. Image-scoped assignments count requirements only on that image.
Title, points, due date (popup calendar and time selector), and the instructions students will see.
Require any combination of: a comment, replies to a number of classmates, a recorded voice or video response, and/or a written response — a private long-form submission, visible only to you, with an optional minimum word count. This step also sets the grading mode: Auto or Manual.
Publishing also creates the assignment on the Canvas Assignments page — points, due date, and gradebook column included. Edits sync; deleting removes the Canvas twin.
Place the assignment in any Canvas module, or create a new module on the spot. The module entry behaves like any Canvas assignment link and drops students directly into the assignment.
When a student completes every requirement, Holon Gallery submits the assignment automatically and posts full credit to the gradebook — the same flow as Holon Flashcards. Adjust individual scores in Canvas any time.
Completion marks the student Submitted; no score posts until you grade. Each assignment's Progress screen is your grader: every student's checklist with written word counts, and a Grade button opening their submission full-screen — read the paper, enter an exact score (7.5/10 posts as 7.5/10), add feedback the student sees, and Save grade & send to Canvas. Regrade any time; unsent grades sync the next time the student opens the assignment.
Each assignment's Progress view lists every student with a live requirement checklist and a Complete column.
Entering from the Hub or course navigation, students see a clean showcase — albums for browsing, uploading, comments, and likes. Albums currently serving an open assignment are held out of the showcase entirely, and return when the assignment closes.
Opening the assignment from Canvas lands students in a focused player: the assignment card — instructions, points, due date, and requirement chips — beside the photo and its conversation. Chips turn green as requirements are met. Where a written response is required, a Write response button opens a private editor with a live word count; submissions reach the instructor only, never the class.
In Auto mode the final requirement completes the submission — the card reads Complete — grade sent to Canvas, with no submit button to forget. In Manual mode it reads Submitted — awaiting instructor grade, then Graded with the score and the instructor's feedback once marked.
On All Albums, choose Import from past course. Pick any course you taught, tick the albums you want, and Gallery copies the structure — album settings, covers, and assignments, with due dates cleared for the new term. Your own photos come along if you opt in.
If the new course was made with a Canvas course copy, there's nothing to do at all: the first time anyone opens a copied Gallery link, the tool detects the copy and brings the album, its settings and covers, your photos, and its assignments across automatically — wired to the copied Canvas assignments.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Why can't I add an assignment to a module? | The course has concluded — Canvas locks modules in concluded courses for everyone. Reopen the course (course or term end date) to place links. |
| Where do voice/video responses live? | They're comments — playable inline on the item they respond to, and they count toward media-response requirements. |
| Do students need accounts or apps? | No. Everything runs inside Canvas through the tool — uploads, recording, and submission included. |
| What grade does auto-submission give? | Full credit for the assignment's point value on completion. Adjust individual scores any time in the Canvas gradebook. |
| A student says the assignment album is "missing." | Working as designed — albums serving an open assignment appear for students only through the Canvas assignment link, not the showcase. |
| Where do I read and grade written responses? | Open the assignment's Progress screen and click Grade on a student's row — their paper opens full-screen with score and feedback fields. Grades post to Canvas at the exact score you enter. |
| Why does a student photo show "pending" again after a caption edit? | When approval is required, caption edits re-enter Moderation so nothing reaches the class unreviewed. |