The resources on this page cover the topics included in the Introduction to Canvas workshop. They are intended to help you learn to:
- Navigate the Canvas interface
- Adjust your profile and general settings
- Work with the basic tools and workflow within Canvas
Global Navigation
Profile
- How do I edit my profile in my user account as an instructor?
- How do I add a profile picture in my user account as an instructor?
Other items in the Profile page won’t be accessible to students, and we suggest you put your contact and bio info somewhere else in Canvas, like a syllabus page or course homepage.
Notifications
- VIDEO - Notification Settings (All Users) (2:56 min)
- How do I manage my Canvas notification settings as an instructor?
- How do I manage notifications for a single course as an instructor?
Files
After your sites are migrated over from Sakai, the contents of Resources will be visible here. You can access them from this Account level, or from the course level which we will see later
- VIDEO - Files Overview (2:55 min)
Shared Content
QR Access Code
Dashboard
Sidebar
Calendar
- VIDEO - Calendar Overview (5:01)
- How do I use the Calendar as an instructor?
- How do I add an event to a course calendar?
- How do I add and duplicate an event in the Calendar as an instructor?
NOTE: You have to do this when you are first creating the event. It can’t be duplicated when editing later. - How do I add a Scheduler appointment group in a course calendar?
Inbox
- VIDEO - Inbox Overview (4:14 min)
- How do I use the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I send a message to a user in a course in the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I send a message to all course users in the Inbox as an instructor?
- How do I attach a media comment to a message as an instructor?
Help
- Canvas provides 24/7 support and training options for Duke faculty, staff, and students.
- Get Help with Canvas
- Written guides to solve problems on your own
- Links to phone, e-mail, and chat support
- Training Services Portal
- Live training sessions by Canvas
- Training videos by Canvas
Course navigation
The default template has only 4 tools visible to students, Home, Announcements, Modules, and Grades. You, as the instructor, will always see all the rest of the tools, but the students don’t need to see them. All the assignments, quizzes, files, discussions, etc. that students need for a section of your course can be linked to from Modules. Having multiple places where this information can be found, such as in a Module as well as in a separate tool, can lead to confusion. By only having 4 visible tools, students can still get to all they need from Modules, in an organized way.
We are suggesting you use Pages and Modules together to organize your course site, and leave the other tools invisible to students, for maximum student success. When students don’t have to spend as much time looking in multiple places for information, files, due dates, etc. they have more energy to focus on the content of your course.
Student View
Immersive reader
Announcements
- VIDEO - Announcements Overview (2:23 min)
- How do I use the Announcements Index Page?
Discussion
- VIDEO - Discussions Overview (5:19 min)
- How do I create a discussion as an instructor?
People
- VIDEO - People Overview (3:52 min)
- How do I use the People page in a course as an instructor?
Collaborations
- VIDEO - Collaborations Overview (2:14 min)
- How do I use the Collaborations Index Page?
Cross-listing, Groups and Sections
The terms used in Canvas for subdividing participants in a site are often the same terms used in Sakai or Duke Hub, but they sometimes mean different things.
Cross-listing, as referred to by Canvas, is the process of combining rosters of students from several courses in DukeHub into one Canvas site. You will need to go to each site that you want to cross-list with the main course site in order to set this up. Here is the process for cross-listing courses in Canvas. Examples of when to use cross-listing are as follows:
- what we normally think of as cross-listed courses, for instance an English course that also has a separate course number in Women’s and Gender Studies, but there is only one meeting time/instructor/etc. and should always be in one site.
- several sections of a single course number, such as multiple Introductory Biology sections. These may be taught separately, and should each have their own Canvas site, or the instructors may have a combined lecture and use the sections only for lab. In this case they might want to have rosters for all the sections of a course in one site.
Groups, in Canvas, refers to the semi-automated subdivisions of all students created under Course Navigation -> People Menu Item -> Groups tab. This is a good place to put ALL the students in your course into smaller groups for lab work, group projects, etc. While not strictly limited to this, it is easiest here to make sure all students in the site are in one and only one group.
Sections, in Canvas, refers to two things:
1. Manual subdivisions of participants. This is a good way to group students who require accommodation, or all your TAs, so that you can use those sections when making Assignments or communicating with, for example, just the TAs. Access this by going to Course Navigation -> Settings Menu Item -> Sections tab.
2. Rosters for a course within DukeHub will be created as a Section in your Canvas site. These appear in the Course Navigation -> Settings Menu Item -> Sections tab. This is where you will go to cross-list courses (see Cross-listing above).