Technical Questions

For questions about using Canvas, we encourage you to first use the support options available from Canvas, which can be accessed from the "Help" option in the lefthand navigation menu from within Canvas. If you are unable to login to Canvas, email us at canvas@duke.edu

contacting canvas 24/7 Support

If the answer to your question cannot be found in the Guides or Community, you can contact Canvas directly via email, phone or chat. To do so, in the Help menu, click "Get Help with Canvas" at the top, then scroll to the bottom of the pop-up window. There you will see the options for getting direct support. Canvas Support is available 24/7, and a representative should connect with you within five minutes for phone and chat requests. 

Canvas Guides & community

Canvas provides a robust collection of documentation for using Canvas through their Canvas Guides, which are part of the Canvas Community. Within the Community, you can search not only the Guides but also answers to questions asked by other Canvas users, blogs and release notes. You are also able to ask your own questions to the Community for crowd-sourced answers.

Screenshot of Canvas help menu

Canvas Updates

Canvas is hosted and developed by Instructure, Inc. A team of administrators and consultants within Duke Learning Innovation & Lifetime Education (LILE) administer and support Canvas locally for Duke University and Duke-Kunshan University (DKU) users. LILE administrators can make certain setting changes and adjustments to Canvas; however the main interface, feature availability and settings are controlled by Instructure. 

Instructure maintains a consistent release schedule for new features, bug fixes and other changes. LILE administrators will advertise major changes to users but many small tweaks to Canvas may not be advertised widely. As such, users interested in reading about all Canvas changes may do so on the Canvas Releases webpage.

Check the Status of Canvas

Is something not working as expected in Canvas? Check Instructure's status page to see if there's a known issue that may be affecting you.

Pedagogical Questions

If you have questions about teaching with Canvas - such as best practices for organizing your site for student success - we have a few options for connecting with Duke Learning Innovation & Lifetime Education: