How do I access Canvas?

• At VCCCD, you can access Canvas directly https://vcccd.instructure.com

How do I get help with Canvas?

• You can contact your Instructional Designer,  live chat with Canvas support, call for 24/7 Canvas support at (844) 602-6290.

Is there a Canvas Orientation for my students?

• Yes, there are multiple Canvas Orientations. This one is created by Canvas.

Is there a way to quickly learn the Canvas basics?

• Yes, here are "Kung Fu Panda" (This is created by Coast College District, so please ignore the "Open Labs".)

• And, Canvas Essential Videos:

  • Module 1 - Getting Started with Canvas
  • Module 2 - Creating & Organizing Content in Canvas
  • Module 3 - Assessment & Grading in Canvas
  • Module 4 - Communication & Engagement in Canvas

Are there online tutorials for learning Canvas?

• Should you prefer to learn Canvas on your own see the Canvas instructor guide, and this self-paced Canvas video tour, and this self-paced Introduction to teaching in Canvas training.
• There are 2 minute tutorials.
• There are also Canvas training webinars offered every day that faculty have access to.
• There are Lynda.com Canvas videos. You will find them in the Portal -> Work Life -> Lynda.com Employee Online Training
• Desktop Webinars:
  • 5 Ways to Course Copy
  • Regular Effective Contact in Canvas Courses
  • Using Groups in Canvas
  • Use 3C Media to Integrate Audio and Video into Canvas
  • The Power of Video- Boosting Instructor Presence in Canvas with Camtasia
• Some other colleges have publicly shared their Canvas instructor training courses, including: Indiana, Richland, and other universities

Where is the student view?

• Go to your course, then Settings (on the bottom left), and you’ll see the Student View button on the top right.
• See How do I view a course using a test student? for more details.

How do I create a sandbox course space?

• Contact your Instructional Designer to request a sandbox.

How do I get my courses to show up on your Dashboard in the Courses menu?

• Click “All Courses” under Courses. Then “star” the courses you want to show on your dashboard.

Will Canvas work with my browser?

• Canvas is compatible with pretty much all major browsers and devices, provided you have updated them.  See Which browsers does Canvas support? for a specific list of browser versions that are compatible with Canvas.

Does Canvas work on my phone?

• You can access Canvas using your mobile phone's web browser, but there are also Canvas apps for Android and iPad/iPhone. The Canvas Guide to Android and Guide to iOS has more documentation.
• Canvas Polls for Android and iPad/iPhone

Can students see my course before the start date?

• Only if the course is Published (button on top right of course) AND you have unchecked the course setting: “Restrict students from viewing course before start date.”  See How do I restrict student access to a course before or after the course dates?  for more information.

What do I need to do to get my course ready at the start of the semester?

• See this Canvas Start of the Semester Instructor Checklist for some items to check before your course starts, such as making sure everything is published in your course that needs to be published.

How do I email my students?

• You can post an announcement in your course that will go out to your students, or click on the “People” link in your course to contact a student individually. Otherwise, click on the “Inbox” link on the left and you can compose an email* your class or any individuals using the Conversations tool in Canvas.  See How do I use Conversations as an instructor? for more information. *You are not able to email the class before you publish the course.

How do I add or change a link in the left-hand navigation menu?

• In Canvas, you cannot add new links to the navigation menu, only remove, hide, or change the order of links.* If an item is grayed out, it means you can see it, but students can’t.  See How do I reorder and hide Course Navigation links? for more information, and use the Student View (see above) to double check how your course and navigation looks to your students.  

*There is a 3rd party app that allows you to add links to the Canvas navigation menu.  See these instructions on using the Redirect Tool.

What is the difference between Pages and Modules?

• Pages are static web pages. They are meant to hold content, like text, embedded videos, links to outside resources, etc. Modules let you sequence and organize your content and activities. A module might contain one or more pages, plus an assignment, a pdf file, a quiz, and so forth. With a module, you can set the sequence and whether or not students are required to view or complete an item in a module. Modules help students understand what they need to do in your course.
• Here are different examples of ways to organize a module.

How do I check for plagiarism?

TurnItIn

There is some documentation for using TurnItIn in the Canvas Guides, including:

• For instructors:
  • How do I create a TurnItIn assignment?
  • How do I manage TurnItIn assignments?
  • How do I change TurnItIn settings for an assignment?
• For students:
  • How do I submit a TurnItIn assignment?
  • How do I view TurnItIn results for my assignment submission?

How can I use math equations and formulas in Canvas?

• When editing text in Canvas, click the pi icon (π) in the rich text editor toolbar to open the math editor and insert math equations and chemistry formulas.  You can click on 'Switch View to Advanced' in the math editor to paste in LaTeX.  For more details and examples, see How do I use the Math Editor in the Rich Editor?
• Additionally, Canvas quizzes have a type of question called Formula Question that lets you enter variables and formulas that will be varied from student to student, to handle homework copying.  See How do I create a Simple Formula quiz question?  and this video presentation: Using Mathematical Formulas in Canvas Quizzes to Improve Formative Assessments.

How do I manage and access my test banks?

• If you click on Quizzes in the navigation for your Canvas course, you can then click on the settings gear icon on the top right and select "Manage Question Banks" to see the test banks.  See also How do I create a question bank in a course? and Creating and Using Question Banks.
• And if you bookmark a question bank, it will be accessible in other courses.

How do I delete or undelete items?

• Click the settings gear icon next to any item to delete it.  Example: How do I delete an assignment? Note, however, that when you are on the Modules page, it says 'Remove', not 'Delete'.  That is because modules only contain links to items, not the actual items.  If you remove a page or file from a module, the page or file is still in your course, just no longer listed in that module.  To delete it, you need to go to the Pages or Files area, or to the actual item to be able to delete it.
• You can undelete and restore items that were accidentally deleted.  Add "/undelete" (no quotes) to the end of the URL to your course.  See Undeleting things in Canvas.

How do I give bonus points or extra credit?

• You can add more than the maximum points to an assignment in the gradebook or SpeedGrader (example: 105/100).  If you use assignment group weighting, however, and you create a zero point 'bonus' assignment, make sure it is in a group with at least one other non-zero point assignment, or the bonus points will not be counted (because zero points times percentage weight equals zero).
• See How do I give extra credit in a course? for more details and more techniques for bonus points and extra credit.

What third party apps work with Canvas?

• There are hundreds of apps compatible with Canvas listed on EduAppCenter. You can add them by going to your course -> Settings -> Apps.  One example third party app is the Piazza question & answer forum tool.  To add some third party apps, you may need a consumer key, shared secret, and launch URL (for example, see these instructions for adding Piazza to Canvas).  If you cannot find these through a search or through contacting the third party vendor, please contact your IT support.

How do I connect my Canvas course with various publisher tools?

• Pearson MyLab & Mastering, McGraw-Hill Connect, McGraw-Hill SIMnet, Cengage MindTap, Wiley PLUS, IMathAS, MyOpenMath, Pearson Revel, MacMillan Learning, W.W. Nortan, Elsevier Evolve

What are some sample Canvas courses and templates?

• See Example Courses by Subject for some sample courses.  You can also enroll in public Canvas courses (MOOCs) on  Canvas.net or import and test out courses from the Canvas Commons repository. 
• You can also find publicly shared Canvas courses through Google search, by restricting the search to the instructure.com or canvas.net domains. Example query: "public speaking" syllabus (site.instructure.com OR site.canvas.net) .
• In the Canvas Commons you can search and find several Canvas course templates and resources, including:
• Humboldt State has a detailed 16 week course template (preview) aligned to their Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) Best Practices: download template in Canvas Commons
• Santa Rosa Junior College has a Quickstart Course Template (preview): download template in Canvas Commons
• Oregon State University also has a Canvas Template (preview): download template in Canvas Commons
• This Visual Design in Canvas course has some tips on creating your own visual page and module designs.

What new features are in Canvas? How can I stay up to date?

• Canvas updates their production version every 3 weeks. Here are the notes for each Canvas release on the Canvas Community site. Click the Follow button on the top right to subscribe to release notes.

How can I join the Canvas Community?

• You can join and follow several groups on the Canvas Community site, such as groups dedicated to Accessibility, Canvas Migration, etc.  To follow and contribute to the site, you need to be logged in with your Canvas account.  See How do I log into the Community with my Canvas Account?