Tip: In-person and virtual Canvas workshops are provided by CDLI on an ongoing basis. Want to practice using Canvas with a real course? See the Request a Prep Space page for details.
After you login to Canvas, you will land in the customizable Canvas dashboard.
The Dashboard defaults to the "Card View" but you are able to change to the view if you wish. On the far left, you will find the Global Navigation bar in black. On the right sidebar, you will find a To Do section, a Coming Up section, and perhaps other sections if you are also enrolled as a student in any Canvas courses.
You will be taken into a Canvas course when you click on a Canvas course card from your personal Dashboard. The Canvas course interface consists of three main elements: 1) the collapsible Course Navigation menu on the left, 2) the Content Area in the main body of the page, and 3) the Sidebar on the right hand side of the page (or, if you are using a smaller screen, the side bar may appear at the bottom of the page instead).
As an instructor, you can customize your course navigation menu and the content area. The sidebar has the same functions as on the Dashboard but only shows To Do and Coming Up items for the specific course.
You (and your students) are able to edit your Canvas profile to include your personal pronouns so that your pronouns display alongside your name in multiple areas within Canvas.
When viewing pages and assignments in Canvas, you will now find a button at the top right-hand corner of the page to access Microsoft’s Immersive Reader, a useful accessibility feature that allows you to listen to your page content read aloud, adjust how the text appears, and more. Check out CDLI's guide on using Immersive Reader in Canvas for more details.
There are many places you can post your course syllabus in Canvas. CDLI recommends you post or link to your syllabus document to the Canvas course home page so it's easy to find for your students. The below video will help you create a new page where you can upload your Syllabus and then set it as your homepage.
Tip: CDLI provides reusable templates for building your courses. Help your students navigate your course site with style!
Modules help you organize course content and activities for students. You may choose to organize modules chronologically (e.g. by week or by class meeting); by course topic or unit (which may span multiple weeks); or by type of content (e.g. lecture slides, assignment handouts, etc.).
Tip: If you have a lot of documents to add to your course, you can bulk upload them using the course Files link. Please see the How do I bulk upload files to a course? Canvas guide for instructions. Remember to use Modules to organize these course documents for your students.
You can upload or record your own videos and audio files in Canvas for password-protected, streaming playback by your students using Canvas Studio (a tool that is integrated with Canvas at SU). You can quickly and easily request auto-generated captions for your videos in Canvas Studio, but auto-generated captions require review and editing using the caption editor to make them fully accessible. After you've shared your video by embedding the video in your Canvas course, you can track individual student views using built-in analytics.
Additionally, students can upload or record videos using Canvas Studio as well, and submit their videos to a Canvas discussion board, assignment, or quiz essay question. Discussions and quiz essay questions don't require special configurations to accept student video uploads. But in order to accept student video uploads, assignments must have the Text Entry or File Upload submission options enabled.
CDLI offers workshops and consultations on how to create videos using Canvas Studio and Camtasia.
Please contact the Canvas Faculty Support Team to report technical issues using videos in Canvas at (833) 250-2081 or support@instructure.com.
Use Canvas assignments to collect student work. CDLI recommends that you organize assignments, and other course materials, with modules.
Discussions can be used for a wide range of activities including a simple Q&A message board, a debate, or the exploration of ideas.
Canvas group workspaces provide an area for students to collaborate on small group projects and discussions. You can assign both Canvas assignments and discussions to student groups that you have created.
Note: Group settings cannot be enabled after students have submitted work to an assignment or replied to a discussion. As a best practice, enable group settings on an assignment or discussion before students submit their work.
Tip: If you aren't looking to assign groups to a graded assignment or discussion, you can let students create their own group workspaces. Please see the How do I create a group as a student? guide for instructions.
The Canvas peer review functionality enables students provide feedback on their classmates' work. You can provide students the same rubric you will use for grading for their peer review. Students can even leave annotations directly their classmate's submissions.
Tip: If you need to record two scores, one for the student's review(s) and one for the student's paper -- you will need to create an additional assignment to record both of these scores separately. This is a common setup for summative assessments (i.e. final papers) that include peer review.
Canvas Quizzes are best used in low-stakes assessments to both help students check their understanding, and to help faculty identify common student misunderstandings; but Canvas Quizzes can also be used for high-stakes assessments like exams for online courses. The video below will help you set up your quiz for the first time.
There is no way (in class or online) to guarantee that students aren't cheating, but if you are using Canvas Quizzes for high-stakes assessments like exams, there are several quiz settings that can help maximize security.
And then to share raw scores with students:
Questions? Feel free to set up an individual consultation with CDLI to review the steps.
This video and related guides will help you post a Canvas course announcement, which automatically sends your message to the SU email accounts of students in your course.
This video and related guides will help you use Canvas to send a message to an individual student, or a small group of students. Your message is stored in your Canvas Inbox and automatically sent to students' SU email accounts. Students can send a reply to your message from their SU email without logging into Canvas.
Tip: You can also click a student's name inside a discussion or the Gradebook to start a personal conversation with that student. Please see the How do I view a context card for a student in a course? Canvas help guide for more information.
By default, Canvas sends emails to faculty and student SU email addresses (user@seattleu.edu) with important updates and announcements. Please see the guides below for instructions to help you make sure you're receiving important Canvas emails from your students.
Tip: Set your "Submission Comment" notification to ASAP to receive emails when students leave comments on their assignment submissions. Additionally, turn on "Announcement Created By You" and "Conversation Created By Me" to receive email copies of your communications.
Note: Not seeing Canvas messages in your SU email inbox? Please see the Help Clutter learn your preferences section of this help guide.
Rubrics are a great way to make your assignments clear to your students and easier for you to grade.
Tip: Please direct students to the Check Your Grades and Feedback section of the student guides if they are having trouble finding your rubric feedback
The Canvas SpeedGrader tool lives up to its name by opening student submissions directly in an internet browser - no downloading required. Canvas SpeedGrader lets you enter student grades, annotate directly on student papers, and also leave audio or video feedback for students.
Tip: Please direct students to the Check Your Grades and Feedback section of the student guides if they are having trouble finding your grades, annotations, and overall submission feedback
The video and guides below will help you practice building a Canvas course gradebook to record, calculate and securely distribute student grades and feedback.
Tip: Please see the "How do I give my students extra credit?" guide to learn approaches for awarding extra credit in Canvas.
Tip: An alternate method of tracking attendance is to use the Gradebook Notes column to keep personal notes about students in your course.