Canvas Learning Management System FAQ for Faculty

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This page is constantly being updated, if you find confusing or outdated information, please create a ticket for the Center for Teaching and Learning with the details and we’ll investigate. Thank you.

Canvas Basics

Your Canvas Profile and Settings

Some institutions may enable a feature in Canvas called Profiles. Profiles allows you to update your name, preferred contact methods, and any personal links for your account. Your profile information can be viewed by all users in your courses.

Open Profile

In Global Navigation, click the Account link [1], then click the Profile link [2].

Edit Profile

Click the Edit Profile button.

Edit Profile Picture

To upload a profile picture, click the profile picture icon.

Edit Name and Title

If you are allowed to change your name, type your name in the name field [1]. Type your title in the title field [2].

Add Contact Methods

If you have connected to any web services, click the checkbox underneath the web service to indicate how you wish to be contacted via that service [1]. To add additional services, click the Manage Registered Services link. Please note that any selected services will not be shared with other course/group members unless you have previously selected the sharing checkbox in the Manage Registered Services page.

The Discussion icon [2] automatically appears as a contact method for Admins so users can contact them through Canvas Conversations. It cannot be selected by any other users.

Note: As created in your user profile, email addresses do not appear as a contact method and are only used for Canvas notifications. Canvas users should contact each other via Conversations.

Edit Bio

Type your biography in the bio field. You can add hobbies and interesting facts about yourself.

Edit Links

To add personal links to your profile, such as personal websites, blogs, or portfolios, enter the title of the link in the title field [1]. Type the URL in the URL field [2]. Click the remove icon to delete the link [3]. Click the Add another link button to add another link [4].

Save Profile

Click the Save Profile button.

Canvas Settings Video

Notifications Settings

Open Notifications

In Global Navigation, click the Account link [1], then click the Notifications link [2].

View Account Notification Settings

On the Notification Settings page, you can manage notification settings for your Canvas account and/or manage notification settings for individual courses using the Settings for dropdown menu.

By default, the Settings for dropdown displays the Account option [1]. A banner displays stating account-level notification settings apply to all of your Canvas courses, however, any course-specific notification settings override account notification settings [2]. To dismiss the message, click the Close icon [3].

A banner displays when daily and weekly messages are delivered [4]. To dismiss the message, click the Close icon [5].

View the account-level notification types [6] and your listed contact methods [7].

Each notification has a default delivery frequency setting. To view the current notification delivery frequency for a notification type and contact method, hover over the notification icon [8].

View Notification Details

To view details for a notification, hover over the notification name.

Manage Notification Settings

Each notification is set to a default setting. To change a notification for a contact method, locate the notification and click the icon for the contact method [1].

To receive a notification right away, select the Notify immediately option [2]. These notifications may be delayed by up to one hour in case an instructor makes additional changes, which prevents you from being spammed by multiple notifications in a short amount of time.

To receive a daily notification, select the Daily summary option [3].

To receive a weekly notification, select the Weekly summary option [4]. The date and time of your weekly notifications are posted at the bottom of the notifications page.

If you do not want to receive a notification, select the Notifications off option [5].

Unsupported notification types display the Unsupported icon [6]. Unsupported notification types cannot be enabled.

Notes:

Each set notification setting will automatically apply to all of your courses. However, if you manage notification settings for a single course, notifications for that course must continue to be managed in the course.
Twitter notification settings do not support daily summary or weekly summary options.
Unregistered contact methods will appear in notification settings but will not receive notifications until you confirm the registration.

View Privacy Notice

If you’ve set a notification setting for an email address that is outside Mary Baldwin, you may see a privacy warning. You can close the warning by clicking the Ok button. Once the warning has been displayed, it will not display again.

Set Push Notifications

If you have enabled push notifications in the Canvas Student app, you can manage your settings in the Push Notification column. Please be aware that push notifications can only be sent to your mobile device right away or not at all. Daily and weekly notification options are not supported.

Additionally, managing settings inside the app will override settings selected in the notifications page.

Note: Some categories include limited availability for push notifications. Full details about supported notifications for push notifications can be found in the Canvas Notifications resource document.

Notifications Settings Video

More information:

How do I manage Course Navigation links?
How do I edit my course settings?
How do I use course settings?

Canvas Calendar

The Calendar is a great way to view everything you have to do for all your courses in one place. You can view calendar events by day, week, month, or agenda list. The calendar also includes access to the Scheduler, which is an optional scheduling tool in Canvas.

Open Calendar

In Global Navigation, click the Calendar link.

View Calendar

The Calendar spans all courses and displays information for each of your enrolled courses and groups. In the navigation bar, you can choose to view the calendar in Week, Month, or Agenda view [1]. The view you choose dictates the style of the calendar window [2]. By default, the calendar appears in Month view.

The sidebar shows a quick-view calendar [3], your list of courses and groups, and undated items for your courses and groups.

To view the iCal link for exporting your Canvas calendar to other calendar apps, click the Calendar Feed link [4].

Add Calendar Items

Each calendar view shows any assignments, events, or to-do items that have been added to the calendar. Events can be added at any time in the navigation bar by clicking the Add button. You can add assignments and add course events, and all users can add personal events.

You can also create Scheduler appointment groups.

View Calendar List

Each personal, course, and group calendar is identified by a separate color that populates the calendar view. Associated items for each course or group will appear within the calendar view for each calendar [1].

By default, the first 10 course and group calendars will be selected and appear in the calendar view. To hide a calendar, click the box next to the name of the calendar [2]. Calendars that are not active within the calendar view display as faded text [3].

Note: Canvas will assign an arbitrary color for each calendar unless a custom color is chosen. Each calendar contains 15 default colors, but you can insert a Hex code to create any color of your choice. Colors set in Dashboard course cards also update in the calendar.

View Undated Events List

Expanding the Undated items link will show you a list of events and assignments that are not dated. The assignments and events will be differentiated by icons and by the personal, course, or group calendar color. You can assign due dates to undated items by dragging and dropping them into the Calendar.

View Calendar by Month

In month view, click the arrow buttons [1] to move from month to month. To view events for the current date, click the Today button [2].

To view a specific date, click the month link [3] and type a date in the date field [4] or select a date from the calendar [5].

View Assignments and Events

Assignments are shown with an icon next to the assignment title. The icon reflects the assignment type: Discussion [1], Assignment [2], Quiz [3], or Events [4]. Non-graded items with a to-do date also display in the calendar for a course [5].

Each item on the calendar is color-coded to match the courses or calendars in the sidebar.

To view full details for an assignment or event, hover over the item [6].

Calendar assignments can also be crossed out [7], which is a simple way to keep track of assignments. Assignments are crossed out when the due date has passed and all submissions have been graded.

View All-Day Events

All-day events display the Events icon and do not include a specific event time [1].

If you want to extend an all-day event across multiple days, hover over the edge of the event until you see a black arrow [2]. Drag your event across all required dates in the current month.

View Varied Due Dates

If a course has sections or individual students with varied assignment due dates, you will see the same assignment shown multiple times. Depending on the assignment setup, the assignment may appear on the same date or on multiple dates. Students will only see their specific assignment due date.

View Calendar by Week

To view the calendar by week, click the Week button. The Week view shows all calendar items by date and time. Note that some assignments may be due at 11:59 pm, which appear at the bottom of the calendar view.

View All-Day Events

All-day events appear at the top of the calendar week. These events do not include a specific event time.

Like in the Month view, if you want to extend an all-day event across multiple days, hover over the edge of the event until you see a black arrow. Drag your event across all required dates. In Week view, you can only drag your event to the end of the week that you are viewing.

View Calendar Agenda

To view all your calendar items in an agenda format, click the Agenda button.

View Scheduler

You can manage Scheduler events directly in each course calendar. To add an appointment group, click the Add button [1] and select the Appointment Group tab [2]. Once created, the appointment group will display in your calendar. You can view or edit groups and remove students directly from the course calendar as well.

More information:

Calendar Video

Announcements

Announcements are emailed to students, but only if:

the student’s notification settings for ‘Announcement’ is enabled (the default is ‘Notify me right away’)
the course is published
the term start date and course/section start date needs have passed

You can’t control what options your students have set for their Notifications. If you need to email your students before the course start date and/or before the course is published, you should email them via MyMBU, not via Canvas.

Emailing Students via Canvas Inbox

The Inbox is a useful feature of Canvas because there is a record kept of all communications between Professor and Student. The Inbox is connected to your MBU email address; you can receive copies of your Canvas Conversations at the email or any Notification pathway and answer right from there. The Instructor can send messages to an entire course, a few students, a group, or a section.
You can reply to the message from your Mary Baldwin email, and it will send it back to the student via the Inbox. Note, however, the Inbox does not manage images. If you are adding attachments or images to a response, cc: the student’s MBU email address so they can see the image/attachment.

The Inbox is split into two panels and displays messages chronologically. You can view and reply to conversations and sort them by course or inbox type. The Inbox itself does not have any file size limits; however, attachments added to a conversation are included in the sender’s personal files.

Notes:
If you right-click or option-click on the Inbox link, you can open your Inbox in a new browser tab to keep it handy while you are doing other tasks in Canvas.
Users display in the Inbox once they have an active enrollment in the course, and users cannot join a course unless it is published.
Once a course has concluded and its term date has passed, you can no longer message students in that course.

In Global Navigation, click the Inbox link.

If the Inbox link includes a numbered indicator, the indicator shows how many unread messages you have in your Inbox. Once you read the new messages, the indicator will disappear.

The toolbar includes global message options. To load conversations, filter your messages by course or group [1] and type [2]. Filtering by type lets you filter messages by Inbox, Unread, Starred, Sent, Archived, and Submission Comments. You can compose a message at any time using the compose icon [3].

You can also search for conversations by user in the Search by user field [4].

Once you have selected a conversation, you can use the other options in the toolbar to:

Reply or Reply-all to a conversation
Archive or Delete a conversation – Please Archive so the conversation is saved with the course.
Forward, mark a conversation as read or unread, and star conversations

In Global Navigation, click the Inbox link.

If the Inbox link includes a numbered indicator, the indicator shows how many unread messages you have in your Inbox. Once you read the new messages, the indicator will disappear.

View Toolbar

You can also search for conversations by user in the Search by user field [4].

Once you have selected a conversation, you can use the other options in the toolbar to:

Reply to a conversation
Reply-all to a conversation
Archive a conversation
Delete a conversation
Forward, mark a conversation as read or unread, and star conversations

View Inbox Panels

Conversations for your selected course and Inbox filter appear in the left Inbox panel.

View Conversations

The Inbox is organized chronologically from newest to oldest with the newest conversations appearing on top [1] and the older conversations at the bottom.

You can manually mark a conversation as read or unread by hovering over the conversation and clicking the circle to the left of the conversation [2]. To star a conversation, hover over the conversation and click the star to the right of the conversation [3].

View Conversation Thread

When you select a conversation [1], all messages in the conversations thread appear in the right Inbox panel [2].

Manage Conversation Thread

Within each conversation, you can reply, reply-all, forward, or delete the entire conversation thread [1]. You can also hover over an individual message and use the same commands within the individual message [2].

Select Multiple Conversations

To select multiple messages to archive, delete, mark as read, mark as unread, or star, click the check box for each message [1]. You can also press the command key (Mac) or the control key (Windows) while clicking each message you want to select. In the Inbox toolbar [2], click the desired option.

To select all messages, click the command + A keys (Mac) or the control + A keys (Windows).

To select a range of messages, click the first message you want to select, hold down the Shift key, and then click the last message you want to select. All messages between the first and the last messages will be selected.

Note: You can also click the message check box or use the same keyboard command to deselect a message.

Inbox Video

The Rich Content Editor

Canvas has a simple, yet powerful, content editor that is available anytime for creating new content. The Rich Content Editor is used in features that support the editor:

Announcements
Assignments
Discussions
Pages
Quizzes
Syllabus

You can add images, files, record or upload multimedia content, and embed external tools such as YouTube, Khan Academy, and Grafton Library Subject Guides to enhance your pages and make more content more interactive. To add interactive content, use the appropriate icons. Once you select a link, image, file or media option, you will also be able to upload from your computer, the web, or from Canvas course files.

Anything that can be viewed in a web browser can be inserted into the Rich Content Editor content area. You can also input HTML content directly into Canvas using the HTML Editor link. There are more features such as Accessibility Checker and Word Count to help make the most of your Page content. Look for those at the bottom of your page.

More information from Instructure about the Rich Content Editor is here:

What is the Rich Content Editor?

Rich Content Editor Video

The Canvas Dashboard and how to Personalize it

The Dashboard is your landing page in Canvas. At MBU, your Dashboard will default to Card View.

The To Do list will be at the far right sidebar (or if you are viewing on a narrower display or phone, at the bottom).

The Dashboard will also show global announcements,. To remove (dismiss) the announcement, click on the Remove Icon (the X). Dismissed announcements can be viewed by clicking on Account (upper left) and then Global Announcements.

Course Settings

The Settings option in your course navigation menu allows you to set some standard options for your course.

In the Course Details tab, you can view the details of your course including its name, the Participation Dates (which are initially set to Term, but can be overridden by Course Dates), and the Grading Scheme. You can also view the course status. If the course cannot be unpublished, the hover text will notify you accordingly.

If you click on More Options at the bottom of the screen, there are other settings options, including the default number of Announcements to show on the Home Page.

If your class has assignments with different due dates for different groups of students, or if you have an Incomplete, you click on Settings, Sections to set up the Sections.

Use the Navigation tab to hide navigation menu items that students do not need. This one step will make a HUGE difference in your student’s experience.
Use the Feature Options tab to turn certain things on or off.

Course Navigation

To control what your students can access, click on Settings and then the Navigation tab. Drag items to the top section to show them to your students, and the bottom section to hide them from your students. Then SAVE the settings.

Double check your Navigation settings from Student View.

Adding a Syllabus

Click on the Syllabus link on your Course Navigation Menu, then click on Edit. To upload a .doc or .pdf file as your syllabus, click on the Documents Icon and browser for your file. Click on Update Syllabus. Students will be able to click on the filename and preview your Syllabus or download it.

To automatically populate your Syllabus with the Assessments in your course, click on Show Course Summary.

Modules Video Tutorial

Adding Modules

Modules are ways to organize your course in time. All the content, activities and assessments that logically go together are placed within a module.

Click on the +Module button to Add a Module. At the top of the module (shaded area) click on the three little dots icon and Edit to Rename the Module and for other module management functionality.

To the left of the module name, click on the triangle icons to expand or collapse the view of the Module.

At the top of the module (shaded area) click on the + to add items TO the module. Click on the down arrow to choose the type of item (Assignment, Page, Discussion, etc) to Add – or to Create. You can Create a new item from the Add to Module dialog.

Click on the circles to the right of the Module itself, or the items within the Modules, to Publish them to your students.

Text Headers in Modules

You can add text headers to your module without adding any content. It enhances modules design and helps with module organization.

Open Modules

In Course Navigation, click the Modules link.

Add Content

Click the Add Item button.

Select Item Type

In the drop-down menu, select the Text Header option.

Add Text

Type the text you wish to add in the header field [1]. Open the Indentation drop-down menu and select the level of indentation for the text header [2].

Add Item

Click the Add Item button.

View Module

View the new text header in your module.

Text Header Video

Managing Student Progress with Modules

You can lock a module until a certain date. Click on the three little dots at the right of the Module and choose Edit. Click on Lock until, choose the date and then click on Update Module.

You can also add prerequisites and requirements to guide and control students to experience the course the way you planned it.

This is an example of course flow where Module 4 is not released until Module 3 is completed. Please note that although your students can see that they need to Complete One Item in Module 3 in order to ‘unlock’ Module 4, they cannot see which item it is. So your Module Introduction should make this clear.

1) Set up one or more module Requirement(s) (Module 3 is COMPLETE when….). Edit Module 3 and Add the Requirements. In this case, we have said the student must perform ONE of these tasks. In other cases, you may require the student to complete them all. Click on Update Module.

2) To set the Module 4 Prerequisite (Module will not show contents until the Module(s) named as prerequisite have been Completed), edit Module 4 and click on Add Prerequisite and choose Module 3. Click on Update Module.

More information:

What are Modules?
How to I add prerequisites and requirements in Modules?
How do I lock a module until a certain date?
How do I use MasteryPaths within in Modules?

New Quizzes

Open Quizzes

In Course Navigation, click the Quizzes link.

Note: You can also access quizzes from the Assignments page.

Add Quiz

Click the Add Quiz button.

Create New Quiz

In the Choose a Quiz Engine screen, select the New Quizzes option [1]. To save your quiz engine selection for this course, check the Remember my choice for this course checkbox [2].

Then click the Submit button [3].

Note: You can reset your quiz engine choice from the Quiz Options menu at any time.

Edit Quiz Details

In the Assignment Name field [1], enter the name of your quiz. To enter quiz details, enter the total points possible [2], select the assignment group [3], and choose how the grade is displayed to students [4].

To remove this quiz from final grade calculations, click the Do not count this assignment towards the final grade checkbox [5].

The points possible set on the assignment details page is the total points possible for the quiz. Points set per question determine points earned for correct answers. Points earned for correct answers are totaled and divided by the sum of the total question points for the quiz. That percentage is then used to calculate the final score based on the total points set on the assignment details page. For example, if you set the total points on the assignment details page to 50 and create an quiz with 10 questions each worth 1 point, the quiz has a total of 10 points but is worth 50 points when graded. If a student answers 9 questions correctly, their quiz score is 90% (9/10). However, their final score in the Gradebook will be 45/50 (90%).

Assign Quiz

In the Assign To field [1], select who will be required to take the quiz. You can assign the quiz to individual students or sections.

In the Due field [2], select the quiz due date.

In the Available from and Until fields [3], select the availability dates for the quiz. In progress quizzes automatically submit when the Until date and time passes.

Note: If you have set section override dates in your course, you may need to select a course section and set due and availability dates that fall within the section override dates.

Save Quiz

To save your quiz details, click the Save button [1]. To save and publish your quiz, click the Save & Publish button [2].

Clicking the Save or Save & Publish button returns you to the page where you opened the quiz.

Open Build Page

To open the New Quizzes build page and add questions and content to your quiz, click the Build button.

If you clicked the Save or Save & Publish button and returned to the page where you opened the quiz, you can click the Options icon [1] and then click the Build link [2].

Build Quiz

In the Build page, you can edit the title and description of your quiz [1], view your item banks [2], align the quiz to outcomes [3], preview the quiz from the student view [4], and navigate the quiz [5].

You can use the Rich Content Editor to format and add content to your quiz instructions.

Add Content

To add content to your quiz, click the Add button.

To insert content from an item bank, click the Item Bank button [1]. To create a new question, click the button for the question type [2] or add stimulus content [3].

The following question types are available in New Quizzes:

Edit Question

For each question, you can enter a question title [1], question stem [2], and answers [3]. You may also select options specific to the question [4], align the question to an outcome [5], and add the question to an item bank [6].

In the Points field [7], adjust the point value for the question by entering a number or clicking the arrow buttons. To add general student feedback, click the Feedback icon [8].

To save the question, click the Done button [9].

Note: Essay questions do not include an answer field and must be graded manually.

Delete Question

To delete a question, click the Delete icon. The page will confirm you want to remove the item.

Open Question Navigator

To open the Question Navigator and view your quiz, click the Expand icon.

View Question Navigator

In the Question Navigator, you can view each question number [1], question type [2], point total [3], question stem [4], and total question points [5].

To view a question in the quiz, click the question stem [1]. You will be taken to the question within the quiz.

To manually reorder questions, click and hold the Move icon [2]. Drag the question to where you want it to display in the quiz.

Return to Quizzes Page

To close your quiz and return to the Quizzes page, click the Return button.

Adding Feedback to New Quiz Questions

You can add feedback to any assessment question created with New Quizzes. Students can view your feedback when they view their results after submitting an assessment. In addition to general feedback, students will see all feedback comments relevant to their answer choices.

Edit Question

Locate the question where you would like to add feedback [1]. Click the Edit icon [2].

Open Feedback

Click the Feedback icon.

View Feedback

Student feedback can be customized to display feedback for correct answers [1] or incorrect answers [2]. You can also display the same feedback for all answers [3].

Add Feedback

To add feedback, use the Rich Content Editor to create customized feedback [1]. Your feedback can include images, media, or links [2].

Save Feedback

To save your feedback, click the Done button.

New Quizzes Video

Moderate a New Quiz

Open Quizzes

In Course Navigation, click the Quizzes link.

Note: You can also access quizzes from the Assignments page.

Open Build Page

To use the Moderate page, find the quiz you want to open [1].

To open New Quizzes from an existing quiz, click the Options icon [2] and then click the Build link [3].

Moderate Quiz

Click the Moderate tab.

View Moderation Page

The Moderation Page displays a list of students in the course [1], their quiz attempts [2], the score for each attempt [3], the time for each attempt [4], attempt logs [5], and quiz accommodations [6].

To moderate a quiz for an individual student, click the Moderate button [7]. Moderation options include managing timer settings and reopening a student’s most recent attempt.

Filter Results

To search for a specific student, type their name in the Search field [1]. To filter displayed results by all attempts, no attempts left, attempts left, submitted attempts, or attempts where autograding failed, click the Sort by drop-down menu [2].

View Student Attempt

To view the details of a student attempt, click the attempt link.

The student results page includes a student’s answers and grades for each question [1]. From this page, you can review student answers [2].

Depending on question type, you may be able to regrade quiz questions [3].

View Log

To view the log for a student’s quiz attempt, click the View Log link.

In the log, you can view the time and date a student began the quiz [1] and completed the quiz [2]. You can also view each event a student completed while taking the quiz [3] and the time that event was completed [4].

To view more details about a quiz event, click the drop-down arrow next to the event [5].

Note: The completion time on the log may differ from the time displayed on the Moderate page by a few seconds. The time shown on the Moderate page is more accurate and should be referenced when reviewing student attempts on timed quizzes.

View In Progress Log

The attempt log indicates if an attempt is still in progress [1]. To manually submit the student attempt, click the Submit This Attempt button [2].

View In Progress Attempts

If students are currently taking a quiz, the Moderate page displays the number of in-progress attempts [1]. To manually submit in-progress attempts, click the attempts link [2].

View Failed Autograding

In some instances, New Quizzes may fail to automatically grade a student quiz. To view failed autograding quiz attempts, click the Sort by drop-down menu [1], then select the Autograding Failed option [2].

To manually grade the student’s quiz, click the Attempt link [3].

Importing Publisher Content/Quiz Banks into New Quizzes

The publisher of your textbook may have made QTI content available. If they have, you can import questions from a QTI package into an item bank.

Notes:

New Quizzes only supports imports from QTI 1.2 and 2.x.
You can only import questions if you access item banks from the Manage Item Banks page in the Options menu. If you click the Item Banks button, you will not be able to import questions.
When creating an item bank from a QTI import, the new item bank is given the same title as the imported QTI file.

Open Item Banks

In Course Navigation, click the Item Banks link.

Notes:

You can also access quizzes from the Assignments page.
You can also access Item Banks from the New Quizzes Build page.

Add Item Bank

Click the Add Bank button.

Name Item Bank

In the Bank Name field [1], enter the name of the item bank. You can share the new item bank to the current course by clicking the Share checkbox [2]. To save your bank, click the Create Bank button [3].

Select Item Bank

Click the name of your new item bank.

Import Content

Click the Options icon [1] then select the Import Content option [2].

Note: If there are questions in your item bank, you will not be able to select the Import Content option.

Import QTI File

To import a QTI file, drag and drop the file [1] or select a file by clicking the Browse button [2].

To start the import, click the Import button [3].

View Import Status

A status bar will display the status of the import.

Manage Item Bank Questions

View the imported questions in your item bank. To add a new question to the item bank, click the Add New button [1].

To edit an item bank question, click the Edit icon [2]. To move or copy a question to another item bank, click the Copy icon [3]. To delete a question, click the Delete icon [4].

To return to your item bank, click the Return button [5].

View Question Details

To view more details for a question, click the Open icon [1]. The details will include answer choices [2] and the date and time the question was last updated [3].

To close question details, click the Close icon [4].

New Quiz Reports

You can view reports for a quiz created in New Quizzes. The reports available in New Quizzes are the Quiz and Item Analysis and the Outcomes Analysis. The Quiz and Item Analysis report includes statistics for the entire quiz and individual items. The Outcomes Analysis report includes outcome mastery statistics for all students who took the quiz.

Notes:

It may take up to 48 hours for quiz information to display in New Quizzes reports.
Outcomes associated with questions from item banks do not display in the Outcomes Analysis report.
If you edit a quiz after students have already attempted the quiz, the Outcomes Analysis report includes results previous to edits being made.

Open Quizzes

In Course Navigation, click the Quizzes link.

Note: You can also access quizzes from the Assignments page.

Open Build Page

To view reports for a quiz, find the quiz you want to open [1].

To open New Quizzes from an existing quiz, click the Options icon [2] and then click the Build link [3].

Open Reports

Click the Reports tab.

Open Quiz and Item Analysis

To open the Quiz and Item Analysis, click the Quiz and Item Analysis link.

View Quiz Analysis

The Quiz and Item Analysis report includes two sections: Quiz Analysis and Item Analysis.

The Quiz Analysis includes statistics for overall quiz scores. These statistics include all students who have taken the quiz. The following statistics are available:

High Score [1]: displays highest percentage score
Low Score [2]: displays lowest percentage score
Mean Score [3]: displays average percentage score
Standard Deviation [4]: represents the amount of variation from the mean score
Mean Elapsed Time [5]: displays average time to complete quiz
Cronbach’s Alpha [6]: measures internal consistency of how closely related a set of items are as a group

View Item Analysis

In the Item Analysis section, you can view statistics for specific questions in an quiz. The following item analysis statistics are available:

Difficulty Index [1]: measures the proportion of students who answered the question correctly. Calculated by dividing the number of correct answers by the number of times the item was included in the quiz.
Discrimination Index [2]: measures how well a question can tell the difference between students who do well on the exam and those who do not. Calculated by subtracting the bottom 27% of difficulty index scores from the top 27% of difficulty index scores.
RPB (Point-Biserial Correlation Coefficient) [3]: measures the correlation between a given item and the total score.
Mean Earned Score [4]: displays average point score.

To view more statistics, click the Arrow icon [5].

View More Statistics

View more statistics for the quiz.

The Answer Frequency Summary chart displays the number and percentage of students who selected each answer choice [1].

The Performance by Quintile bar chart displays the number of students who scored within each percentage quintile [2].

You can also view any outcomes aligned to the question [3].

Note: The Answer Frequency Summary chart only appears for questions with answer choices.

Open Outcomes Analysis

To open the Outcomes Analysis, click the Outcomes Analysis link.

View Outcomes Analysis

The Outcomes Analysis includes each student who has completed a quiz [1] and their mastery results for each outcome [2].

To view more details for an outcome, click the name of the outcome [3].

To download the CSV file of the Outcomes Analysis report, click the Export CSV button [4].

Note: Outcomes may take up to 48 hours to display in New Quizzes after they have been added to an account.

View Outcome Detail

The Outcome Detail page contains performance information for a specific outcome, including number of students who reached mastery [1], description [2], average score [3], and score required to earn mastery [4].

You can also view the number of students who score within each criteria level [5] and how mastery is calculated [6].

Classic Quizzes

Classic Quizzes are Canvas’s original Quizzes. They have some advantages over Canvas New Quizzes, but New Quizzes also have many advantages. See the comparison here.

When creating a new quiz, Canvas defaults to the Details tab.

Create any instructions for the Quiz in the Rich Content Editor.
Select the quiz type. Most quizzes are “Graded Quiz” so that a Grade Center column is created for the quiz grade.
Categorize the quiz into the proper Assignment group. You may be using an Assignment Group called “Quizzes”. Adding an Assignment Group.

Quiz settings have several options.

Shuffle Answers [1]. You can shuffle (randomize) answers. (You can also shuffle questions by creating a question group

Time Limit [2]. You can choose to set a time limit by entering the number of minutes students have to complete the entire quiz. Timed quizzes begin once a student begins the exam and will not be paused if the student navigates away from the quiz. An unfinished timed quiz will be automatically submitted when the time limit expires. If no time limit is set, students will have unlimited time to complete the quiz.

Multiple Attempts [3]. You can allow multiple attempts.

Quiz Responses [4]. Allows students to see what they answered, any automatic feedback generated by the quiz for correct or incorrect answers, and which questions they got wrong. Quizzes default to this option, so if you do not want students to see their quiz responses, deselect the checkbox.

As part of this option, you can restrict students view of the quiz results to Only Once After Each Attempt [5]. Students will only be able to view the results immediately after they have completed the quiz—results include both their responses and the correct answers.

This option may not be appropriate for quizzes that require manual grading, such as essay questions, where students would require additional views to see the updated results.
When a quiz is saved with the Only Once After Each Attempt option, you can use the Moderate Quiz feature to give students additional views to their quiz results.

Correct Answers [6]. This setting enables a green Correct tab on every correct answer for the entire quiz. Quizzes default to this option, so if you do not want students to see the correct answers, deselect the checkbox.

As a part of this option, you can also control when and for how long students can see the correct answers by setting dates (and specific times, if desired) in the Show and Hide fields.

To show answers immediately after quiz is submitted, leave the Show and Hide fields blank.
To create a date range to display the answers, set a start date in the Show field and an ending date in the Hide field.
To always show answers after a specific date, set a date in the Show field.
To hide answers after a specific date, set a date in the Hide field.

Note: If the Only Once After Each Attempt option is selected, it will override any show or hide dates or times. If you want to show or hide correct answers on any specific date or time, the Only Once option should not be selected.

One Question at a Time [7]. You can show one question at a time and lock questions after answering.

Note: If your Canvas admin has restricted students from viewing quiz submissions after the course ends, options 4 and 6 will not be available after the course end date has passed.

A few of the settings contain expanded menu options:

Allow Multiple Attempts

Recent Quiz Score [1]—You can choose whether to keep the highest score, latest score, or average score of all attempts. By default, Canvas will keep the highest score unless this setting is changed.
Allowed Attempts [2]—You can allow multiple attempts and limit the number of attempts. The default dashes represent unlimited attempts.

If you retain the Quizzes default option for students to see their quiz responses:

If you allow at least one attempt for the quiz, the Let Students See Their Quiz Responses area will display a Only after their last attempt checkbox [3]. Selecting this option means that students can only see their correct responses after their last quiz attempt.
If you allow more than one attempt for the quiz, please be aware that not all students may complete all attempts and therefore may never see their quiz responses. For instance, if a student has three attempts but achieves their desired score in the second attempt, the student will most likely not complete the third (and last) attempt. That means their quiz responses and correct answers will not appear because the last attempt was not completed. To allow these students to see their responses, you would have to manually change the quiz settings at a later time.

If you retain the Quizzes default option for students to see the correct answers:

If you allow at least one attempt for the quiz, the Let Students See The Correct Answers area will display a Only after their last attempt checkbox [4]. Selecting this option means that students can only see the correct quiz answers after their last attempt. This option will follow the current quiz functionality around multiple attempts. If a student never makes it to the last attempt, the correct answer setting will not apply. To allow the student to view the correct answers, you can manually change the quiz options at a later time.

Show One Question at a Time

Lock Questions [5]—You can choose to lock questions after answering. This option means that students cannot return to the previous question once it has been answered.

You can restrict the quiz so it can only be taken in specific situations. By default, these options are never selected.

You can require students to enter an access code to take the quiz.
You can filter IP addresses and require students to take a quiz from a specific computer lab.

In the Assign field [1], you can assign the quiz to everyone, a course section or an individual student.

You can set the Due Date [2], Available From date [3], and available Until date [4] for the quiz. These fields are optional and can be set depending how you want to manage the quiz:

Due Date: the date and time that the Quiz is due
Available From: the date and time when the Quiz will become available for students to take the quiz
Until: the date and time when students can no longer take the quiz

See the Tip sheets below to create many different types of quiz questions.

Creating the Questions

Once Settings have been created, click on the Questions tab to add new questions. Make sure you click on Update this Question for every question. Then, Save the quiz. Otherwise, your Question won’t be saved.

Classic Quizzes Video

Moderate Classic Quizzes

Once you have published a quiz, the quiz sidebar shows the Moderate Quiz link, which allows you to moderate the quiz for each student in your course. On the Moderate Quiz page you can view the progress of student submissions and view the number of quiz attempts each has taken. You can also grant students extra attempts, grant extra time for timed quizzes, and manually unlock quiz attempts.

Notes:

Depending on the size of your course, Moderate Quiz information may take a few minutes to update. You may have to refresh the page to view the most current data.
If you change the quiz settings while a student is taking a quiz, the new settings will not apply until the student has completed the current attempt.

Open Quizzes

In Course Navigation, click the Quizzes link.

Open Quiz

Click the name of the quiz.

Moderate This Quiz

Click the Moderate This Quiz link.

View Search Filter

To view the quiz attempts of a specific student, use the Search People field.

View Moderate Quiz Columns

The Moderate Quiz page displays the following information:

Student name [1]
Number of times the student has already attempted to take this quiz [2]
Quiz time—completed attempts show the time it took for the student to complete the quiz; running time shows the remaining time the student has to complete the quiz [3]
Number of remaining attempts, if any [4]
Quiz score—for multiple submissions, the score is the most recent attempt [5]

To refresh the page and make sure all column statistics are current, click the refresh icon [6].

View Current Attempt Time

If you view the Moderate Quiz page while a student is currently taking a quiz, the Time column shows the running time for the quiz. When time has expired, the Time column displays the submission as Time Up!

For non-timed quizzes, the timer counts down to the quiz Until date. If no Until date is set for the quiz, the quiz defaults to the course end date. The highest number display is in months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

Note: When students are taking a non-timed quiz, their timer will show the elapsed time counting up.

View Timed Quiz Current Attempt Time

If you view the Moderate Quiz page while a student is currently taking a timed quiz, the Time column shows the running time remaining in the quiz [1]. When time has expired, the Time column displays the submission as Time Up!

The quiz also displays a clock icon [2] that you can use to extend time on the current attempt. Learn more about moderating current timed quizzes.

Note: When students are taking a timed quiz, their timer will show the elapsed time counting down.

View Outstanding Submissions

If the page displays a warning message, time has expired on one or more student submissions, but the submissions are outstanding and need to be manually submitted. Learn how to submit outstanding quizzes.

Moderate Quiz

You can use the Edit icon to moderate the quiz at any time for a student. Moderating a quiz lets you give students extra attempts and manually unlock quiz attempts. Depending on the quiz settings, you can also give extra time for timed quizzes and let students see quiz results one more time.

If you want moderate a quiz for multiple students and apply the same settings for each, you can apply your changes to all students at once. Learn more about giving extra quiz attempts.

Adding Extra Attempts

If you want moderate a quiz for multiple students and apply the same settings for each, you can apply your changes to all students at once. Learn more about giving extra quiz attempts.

Classic Quiz Reports

You can view quiz statistics for quizzes that have been published and have at least one submission. You can also download comma separate value (CSV) files to view Student Analysis or Item Analysis for each quiz question. For more detailed information about item analysis limitations and calculations, please refer to the Item Analysis resource document.

For optimum course performance in the Canvas interface, quiz statistics will only generate for quizzes with 100 or fewer unique questions or 1000 total attempts. For instance, a quiz with 200 questions will not generate quiz statistics. However, a quiz with 75 questions will generate quiz statistics until the quiz has reached 1000 attempts. Results greater than these maximum values can be viewed by downloading the Student Analysis report and viewing the CSV file.

Notes:

Editing a quiz with student submissions may affect quiz statistics. If the Question Breakdown charts no longer correctly display the information you expect after you edit a quiz, the Student Analysis report can provide the correct data.
Media items do not display in quiz statistics.

By default, the quiz summary shows statistics for all sections including the quiz average score, high score, low score, standard deviation (how far the values are spread across the entire score range), and average time of quiz completion [1].

To view quiz statistics for a section, click the Section Filter drop-down menu [2]. To access additional survey results, generate a Student/Item Analysis report [3].

In the summary graph, the x-axis indicates the quiz scored percentages [4], and the y-axis indicates the number of students who received each percentage [5].

If a student had multiple assignment attempts, you can view past attempts in SpeedGrader. Quiz stats will only display the kept score for the student (highest score or latest score). To view the score setting for multiple attempts, edit your quiz and view the multiple attempts settings option. If necessary, you can give your students an extra attempt.

Creating Assignments

Assignments include Quizzes, graded Discussions, and online submissions (i.e. files, images, text, URLs, etc.). Assignments in Canvas can be used to challenge students’ understanding and help assess competency by using a variety of media. The Assignments page shows students all of the Assignments that will be expected of them and how many points each is worth.

Assignments can be assigned to everyone in the course or differentiated by section or user.

The Assignments page supports keyboard shortcuts. To view a window with a list of keyboard navigation shortcuts, press the Shift+Question Mark keys simultaneously on your keyboard.

Any assignment created and published in the Assignments page will automatically show up in the Grades, Calendar (if there is a due date), and Syllabus features so students can view them. Additionally, any assignments created in the Calendar will automatically show up in the Grades, Assignments, and Syllabus features.

Assignments should be placed in the appropriate Module.

When would I use Assignments?

Assignments can be used to:

Assess how well students are achieving course Outcomes
Set up online submissions that can be quickly graded in the SpeedGrader
Grade online as well as student work submitted “on-paper”
Create differentiated assignments for sections
Set up peer reviews
Grade Discussions, either by the whole class or student groups
Open Quizzes for a limited amount of time
Record attendance
Create ungraded activities that align with course Outcomes
Assess submissions with moderated grading and multiple reviewers

Google Apps/Google Drive Collaborations

Canvas leverages collaborative technology to allow multiple users to work together on the same document at the same time. Collaborative documents are saved in real-time, meaning a change made by any of its users will be immediately visible to everyone.

You can start a new collaboration using Google Docs in Canvas. Google Docs allows you to add up to 50 users per collaboration, and all users can view and edit a document at the same time. However, a Google file may be shared with up to 200 email addresses including viewers, commenters, and editors. To alert invitees about collaborations, you can create course events in the Calendar.

Google Docs collaborations are separate from Google Drive collaborations. If your collaboration options include Google Spreadsheets and Presentations in addition to Documents, your course has enabled Google Drive collaborations.

Notes:

When creating a collaboration you cannot link to a previously created collaboration.
Each collaborator will need a Google account and will need to connect Google Drive as a registered service in Canvas.
Email notifications for collaborations relate directly to the account used to connect to Google Drive.

Open Collaborations

In Course Navigation, click the Collaborations link.

Start a New Collaboration

Click the Start a new collaboration button.

Authorize Google

If you have not previously authorized Google Drive access in Canvas, you may be prompted to authorize access. Click the Authorize Google Drive Access button.

Collaborate Using Google Docs

Click the Collaborate using drop-down menu and select Google Docs.

Create Collaboration Document

To create a collaboration document using Google Docs, you will first need to name the document [1], create a description [2], and select collaborators [3]. By default, you can view the list of people in the course and can collaborate with individual or multiple users in the course. You can also click the Groups tab and collaborate with a group.

Click the Start Collaborating button [4].

Notes:

Google Docs allows you to add up to 50 users per collaboration, and all users can view and edit a document at the same time.
Collaborators must have a Google account and will need to authorize Canvas before they can view the collaboration.
You can add multiple groups to a collaboration, but all groups will collaborate in the same document. For group-specific collaborations, consider creating a new collaboration for each group or creating a group collaboration within the group.

Edit Document

View the newly created document in a new browser window.

Note: By default, any collaborator can share the document. The document owner can manage the document’s share settings from within the Google Doc.

Google Collaborations Video

Gradebook Settings

Late/Missing Policy

You can set up a Late/Missing Policy and also let Canvas automatically assign 0s to missing assignments. This is particularly helpful as Canvas sends this information to Dropout Detective, and allows the professional advisors visibility of how they advisees are actually progressing. Use the Settings button in the Gradebook to access these features.

If you use the missing policy, make sure you remove it before you copy this course into a new semester. If you accidentally copy a course with a zero missing grade policy into a new semester and you don’t move the dates forward, all your students in the new course will be assigned zeros.

Overriding the Late Policy

Exempt a student’s assignment from the Missing Submission Policy: If you want to keep your Missing Submission policy enabled but you want it to ignore a submission for a specific student’s assignment, you can:
- Manually grade that submission with any grade of your choosing. Once a missing submission is graded, the Missing Submission policy will not affect it or
- Open the Grade Detail Tray and mark the submission as something other than Missing, as the Missing Submission policy will only affect submissions with a Missing status.

Exempt a student’s assignment from the Late Submission Policy: If you want to keep your Late Submission policy enabled but you want it to ignore a submission for a specific student’s assignment, you can:
- Change the status for the submission to something other than Late in the Grade Detail Tray or
- Set the interval (Day or Hour) to zero on the submission in the Grade Detail Tray.

Post Grades

To have ultimate control over what your students see, you can set the default for the Grade Center to “Manually Post” grades for assessments which will hide all of the grades by default.

With this setting, the grade and comments will not show until you are ready. Once you have graded an assignment, go into the Grade Center and for that assessment, click on Post Grades which will show the students their scores and your comments.

Gradebook Overview Video

Weighted Final Grades

Your final grades need to match your syllabus, and also should allow your students to easily see how they are doing as they progress through your course. Weighted grades serve both purposes, as students can use the what-if functionality in Canvas to estimate what their final grade will be.

Weight final grades using Assignment Groups. Selecting this option assigns a weight to each assignment group, not the assignments themselves. Within each assignment group, the grade that contributes to the total is calculated by dividing the total points a student has earned by the total points possible for all assignments in that group.

For example, if an assignment group included three assignments totaling 25 points, and a student’s scores totaled 15 points, the student would earn 60% for the assignment group (15/25). This percentage is then multiplied by the selected group weight. Each assignment group calculation is added together to create the final grade.

A more complicated example: An instructor creates three assignment groups (A, B, and C) weighted at 20%, 50%, and 30%, respectively. The total score equation for a course with three assignment groups would be (percentage A x weight A) + (percentage B x weight B) + (percentage C x weight C) = final course percentage. If a student scores 75% in Group A, 98% in Group B, and 87% in Group C, the final score would be calculated as (.75 x .20) + (.98 x .50) + (.87 x .30) = .901, or 90.1%.

The final score calculation is changed if there are no graded items in an assignment group and the Treat Missing Assignments as 0 option is not selected. In this case, all assignment groups with graded items will be divided by their combined weight, and the assignment groups without graded items are removed from the equation. If the previous example were adjusted so Group C contained no graded discussions, assignments, or quizzes, the calculation for final score would be [(.75 x .20) + (.98 x .50)] ÷ .70 = .9143, or 91.43%.

Multiple Grading Periods

If your course includes Multiple Grading Periods, you cannot change assignment group weights once an assignment group has assignments in a closed grading period.

When you use weighted assignment groups, separate assignment groups should be created for each grading period in the course. If an assignment group contains assignments that fall into multiple grading periods with different weighted percentages, grades may have unintended consequences.

Note: If an assignment group is weighted to zero percent, any course items added to that group will not count toward the final grade.

Open Assignments

In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.

Open Assignments Settings

Click the Options icon (three little dots) and choose Assignment Groups Weight

Click the Weight final grade based on assignment groups checkbox.

Enter the percentage weights for each of the different Assignment Groups you created [1]. The percentage weights you specify here will determine how Canvas calculates the final grade for your course. These percentages can be changed at any time and students will be notified when any changes are made. The weights will show up in the Gradebook for both students and instructors.

Click the Save button [2].

Notes:

Assignment group weights can include decimals.
The total percentage of all assignment groups can be set above or below 100%.

Rubrics

You can add a rubric to an assignment to help students understand expectations for the assignment and how you intend to score their submissions. Occasionally, rubrics are added to assignments when you have an outcome inside of the rubric that you would like to use for alignment purposes. In addition to assignments, rubrics can also be added to graded discussions and quizzes.

Rubrics can be added by finding an existing rubric in one of your courses, or by creating a new rubric.

Notes:

You can only add a rubric to assignments that use the Online, On Paper, or No Submission submission types.
Rubrics cannot be edited once they have been added to more than one assignment in a course.

Example of a Rubric:

Creating a New Rubric:

Click on Rubrics from the Global Navigation Menu and then click on +Add Rubric.

Name the Rubric and Edit the Criteria Description and Points. You can click on +Criterion to add additional rows and the little blue + icon in the Ratings section to add additional columns.

Click on Create Rubric to save it.

Attaching a Rubric to an Assignment:

Click on the Assignment but DO NOT EDIT IT.

Click the Add Rubric button. Find the Rubric.

To find an existing rubric, click the Find a Rubric link.

You can find rubrics that were created in previous assignments as well as rubrics created in other courses where you have an instructor role. Select the Rubric.

In the first column, select a course or account [1]. In the second column, locate and click the name of a rubric [2]. You can view the criteria and points in each rubric. To select a rubric for the assignment, scroll to the bottom of the rubric and click the Use This Rubric button [3].

After you have selected the rubric you can Edit it using the pencil icon at the top right.

Once you have added a rubric, you can select several options for the rubric.

If you want to write free-form comments to students in SpeedGrader, select the I’ll write free-form comments… checkbox [1]. If this option is selected, no ratings are used to assess the student and criterion values are assigned manually.

Rubrics can be set up as non-scoring rubrics, which allows for assessment-based and outcome-based grading without points. If you want to remove points from the rubric, select the Remove points from rubric checkbox [2]. If this option is selected, no points are associated with the rubric, but students can still be rated using the rubric criterion.

If you have the Learning Mastery Gradebook enabled but you don’t want outcome results to be posted to the Learning Mastery Gradebook, select the Don’t post Outcomes results to Learning Mastery Gradebook checkbox [3]. If this option is selected, students will be able to see rubric and outcome results in the Grades and submission details pages but results will not be posted to the Learning Mastery Gradebook.

If you want to use the rubric for grading in SpeedGrader, select the Use this rubric for assignment grading checkbox [4].

If you don’t want students to see the score total for the rubric, select the Hide score total for assessment results checkbox [5]. Students can still see the point values for each criterion, but the total score will not be shown at the bottom of the rubric. This option is only available if the rubric is not used for grading.

Save the Rubric.

Using Rubrics in the Speedgrader:

If you want to use the rubric to calculate a grade, be sure you have selected the Use this rubric for assignment grading checkbox when adding a rubric to an assignment. Make sure this checkbox is selected before you begin grading submissions.

If you do not select the rubric specifically for grading, you can still use the rubric to evaluate an assignment but the score will not update automatically.

Notes:

If your rubric does not contain any predetermined rubric criteria, you should grade the rubric using free-form comments.
If your rubric does not contain any point values, you should grade the rubric as a non-scoring rubric.

Rubrics Video

Turnitin Originality Checker

Turnitin is an original content checker. It was enhanced in Spring of 2023 to not only catch similarities to other works, but also to detect AI content.

Features of Turnitin

Students and faculty can use a Turnitin report to ensure that students understand the concept of original work, and what would be considered plagiarism.
Turnitin can be used with Enable Grammar checking turned on, to help students improve their English grammar.
QuickMarks is a pre-set library of common mistakes and comments that you can insert directly into a student’s paper.
Use the exclusions to make your work easier – no more ‘false flags’ from commonly used sources, quotations or the assignment template.
You can use ‘exclude source’ to exclude a rough draft when you view the Originality report. This option lets you see what has changed between the rough draft and the final submission.

Adding Turnitin to an Assignment

Ensure the Submission Type for the Assignment is Online
Set Online Entry options to File Uploads. Require your students to upload a .doc or .pdf document
Select Turnitin from the Plagiarism Review drop-down Menu
Choose the appropriate options.

Assignment submissions must meet these criteria:

File size must be less than 100 MB
File must have at least 150 words of prose text in a long-form writing format
File must not exceed 15,000 words
File must be written in English
Accepted file types: .docx, .pdf, .txt, .rtf

More information about Turnitin:

Accessing the Similarity Report
Interpreting the Similarity Report
Similarity Score Ranges
Generating a new Similarity Report
Text-Only Similarity Report
Paper View Requests
AI Writing Detection

Turnitin Video

Creating and Moderating Discussions

Discussions are a place for course-level asynchronous communication. By the nature of the tool, these posts are visible to all members of the course.

Canvas provides an integrated system for class discussions, allowing both instructors and students to start and contribute to as many discussion topics as desired. Discussions allows for interactive communication between two or more people; users can participate in a conversation with an entire class or group.

Discussions can also be created as an assignment for grading purposes (and seamlessly integrated with the Canvas Gradebook), or simply serve as a forum for topical and current events. Discussions can also be created within student groups.

Discussion topics can be organized as focused or threaded discussions. Focused discussions only allow for two levels of nesting, the original post and subsequent replies. Threaded discussions allow for infinite levels of nesting.

By default, discussions are created as focused discussions. To create a threaded discussion, click the Allow threaded replies checkbox [1].

To require users to reply to the discussion before they can see any other replies, click the Users must post before seeing replies checkbox [2].

To enable a discussion podcast feed, click the Enable podcast feed checkbox [3].

To allow students to like discussion replies, click the Allow liking checkbox [4].

To add an ungraded discussion to the student to-do list, click the Add to student to-do checkbox [5]. Student to-do items display in the course calendar, in the student-specific List View Dashboard, and in the global and course home page to-do lists. Graded discussions automatically display in a student’s to-do list.

To make the discussion a group discussion, click the This is a Group Discussion checkbox [6].

To make your discussion available on a specific date or during a specific date range using availability dates, enter the dates in the Available From and Until fields [7], or click the calendar icons to select dates. If you create a graded discussion, the Available From and Until dates can be set in the Assign field. Before the Available From date, students will only be able to view the discussion title. After the Until date, students can view the discussion topic and all responses but cannot add or edit any responses.

To create a graded discussion, click the Graded checkbox. If this option is selected, additional options will be added to the page, where you can assign points and assign the graded discussions to everyone, individual students, course sections, or course groups.

Note: If you want to create a graded discussion and you have added sections in the Post To field, the Graded option will be unavailable. You must remove the sections from the Post To field before selecting this option. You will be able to add sections as part of the graded discussion options.

Discussions Video

Creating Content in Pages

Pages store content and educational resources that are part of a course or group but don’t necessarily belong in an assignment. Pages can include text, video, and links to files and other course or group content. Pages can also be linked to other pages. They can also be used as a collaboration tool for course or group wikis where only specific users can have access. Canvas keeps the entire history of the page to account for changes over time.

When creating pages, you can set page permissions as to who can edit the page: instructors (teachers), instructors and students, or anyone. You can also add a page to student To Do lists.

Enter a name for your page [1].

Add links, files, images, and other content using the Rich Content Editor [2]. The Rich Content Editor includes a word count display below the bottom right corner of the text box.

You can decide who can edit the page by clicking the Users allowed to edit this page drop-down menu [1]. Options include only teachers, teachers and students, or anyone. The Anyone option only applies to users who are enrolled in the course.

You can add the page to the student to-do list by clicking the Add to student to-do checkbox [2]. When you add a page to the student to-do, the to-do displays in the student’s to-do list as well as the in the course calendar and students’ course sidebar To Do list.

You can schedule when a page will be published. Enter a date and time in the Publish At field [3]. Your page must be unpublished to schedule a publication date.

You can also notify users that content has changed by clicking the Notify users that this content has changed checkbox [4].

Pages Video

Sharing files with students

Files can house course files, assignments, syllabi, readings, or other documents, as well as profile pictures and user-specific files. Instructors can lock folders and files so they can only be viewed by direct links or only unlock on a specific date.

Files can be placed in Modules, Assignments, or Pages. Files and folders are put in alphabetical order and cannot be rearranged.

Canvas users will find access to files (documents, images, media, etc.) in three different places:

Personal files, located in each user’s profile (students, teachers, and TAs)—View a video about personal files
Course files, located in each course (students, teachers, and TAs unless files are locked by the teacher)—View a video about Course Files
Group files, located in each group (students and teachers who are enrolled in groups)

For each file, you can view the name of the file [1], the date the file was created [2], the date the file was modified [3] and the name of the person who modified the file (if modified by another user) [4], and the size of the file [5].
Courses and groups may display a column for usage rights. If enabled, the column displays the user right (copyright) for the file [6].
You can also view the published status [7] for all files.
Files are sorted alphabetically. To sort files, click the name of any column heading.

Depending on the file area, files may contain several options to manage files:
Search for files [1]. Files is fully searchable by file name.
Add a folder [2]. Add a new folder to Files to store files. Folders can also house other folders.
Upload a file [3]. Upload a file to Files.
For courses and groups using usage rights, set the user right (copyright) for a file [4]. You must set a user right for a file before it can be published. Files that do not contain a usage right display as a warning icon.
Change the state of the file [5]. Files can be published, unpublished, or include a restricted status.

To select a file, click the name of the file. You can also select multiple files at the same time by holding the command (MAC) or control (PC) key.

When a file is selected, Files displays the file toolbar at the top of the window. Depending on the files area, the toolbar may contain several options to manage the selected file(s):

Preview the file [1]
Manage file to restrict access [2]
Download the file [3] (when selecting more than one file, option appears to download as a zip file)
Move the file [4]
Manage Usage Rights for the file [5]
Delete the file [6]

You can also manage some or all options for a selected file within the file’s Options menu [7].

Creating / Uploading videos in Canvas Studio

Canvas Studio is a communication tool that allows instructors and students to actively collaborate through video and audio media. Both instructors and students can capture webcam and screens using the Studio, as well as upload and share YouTube videos and other videos.

Accessing Studio:

Access Studio from the Global Navigation Menu

Recording a video using Canvas Studio

You can record a screen capture video in Canvas Studio. Screen captures can be created from any page in your account. You can use the screen capture tool to record media for any length of time, depending on your computer’s memory.

Notes:

For more information about the screen capture application functionality, visit the screen capture application tutorial videos.
For more information about how screen readers work with screen capture video, please visit Accessibility within Studio.
If you are using a Mac computer, you will need to adjust the Security and Privacy settings in your Mac’s System Preferences to allow screen recording. You will also need to update your Mac OS (operating system) to version 10.13 or newer.
If you are using a Chromebook computer, the process for recording a screen capture video varies slightly.

Uploading a Video to Canvas Studio

In Canvas Studio, you can upload media files from your device by dragging and dropping a file into the My Library page or using the Add Media icon. Studio supports uploading individual media files, and you can upload an individual media file or multiple individual files at once. The maximum file size for a media file upload is 10 GB. Learn more about supported file formats.

Once the media file is uploaded in Studio, you can add annotations, share access, and manage the media using the media tabs.

Studio also supports adding videos from YouTube and Vimeo via URL.

Adding videos from Studio to a page or assignment.
Click on the Studio Icon from the Rich Content Editor to choose a Studio Video to add to the page or assignment.

Editing a Canvas Studio Recording after uploading

This is a bit tricky but can be done. Use the technique described here:

Creating and Assigning a Canvas Studio Quiz

You can create a quiz that is embedded in your Canvas Studio Video and assign it in your Canvas course so that the points automatically update the gradebook. This is a two-step operation. 1) Create the Studio Video Quiz and 2) Assign the Studio Video Quiz

Create the Canvas Studio Video Quiz

Click on Canvas and “My Library” then click on your Canvas Video.

Assign Studio Video Quiz

Canvas Studio video quizzes can be added to a Canvas assignment, and quiz results are posted in the Canvas gradebook.

To post Canvas Studio video quiz results in the gradebook automatically, the video quiz must be configured as an external tool assignment following the directions here. Embedding a video quiz in the Rich Content Editor will not post grades to the gradebook.

Teaching your Course

Student View

Student view allows you to view and participate in your course as a Test Student. This allows you to verify that items are published and available the way you want them to be.
When you click on Test Student, a new user called Test Student is added in your Canvas gradebook. You can submit work as Test Student and use those student submissions to test the your grading and feedback to ensure you are showing the student exactly what you want them to see.

When you are in Student View, a bar will display on the bottom of your screen. You can click on Leave Student View to return to building/teaching your course.

Click on Reset Student when you need to clear out the Test Student data and start over.

Grading in Speedgrader

SpeedGrader makes it easy to evaluate individual student assignments and group assignments quickly.

SpeedGrader displays assignment submissions for active students in your course. However, SpeedGrader displays assignment submissions according to the current Gradebook settings for inactive enrollments and concluded enrollments. For instance, if the Gradebook settings show inactive enrollments, inactive student submissions also appear in SpeedGrader.

You can access SpeedGrader through: Assignments, Quizzes, Graded Discussions, and the Gradebook.

To access SpeedGrader from the Gradebook, click on the Cell where the student’s grade would go, then click on the little arrow pointing right and then SpeedGrader.

SpeedGrader includes several areas to help you locate and view student submissions, grade submissions, and add comments to submissions.

The SpeedGrader menu includes several tools and resources to assist with grading assignments.

The left side of the menu includes general settings and options.
To return to the Gradebook, click the Gradebook icon [1].
To post or hide the assignment, click the Visibility icon [2].

To view SpeedGrader settings, click the Settings icon [3]. SpeedGrader settings include:

Options [4], which allows you to select student list sorting options and enable anonymous grading.
Keyboard Shortcuts [5], which opens a list of keyboard shortcuts for SpeedGrader. You can also press the Shift+Question Mark keys simultaneously.
Help [6], which opens the Instructor SpeedGrader guides.

Note: When moderated grading is enabled for an assignment, final graders (moderators) will also view a Moderation Page button, which will allow them to view the Grade Summary Page for the moderated assignment.

The center of the menu bar includes assignment information and overall grading information. Assignment information includes the name of the assignment [1], assignment due date [2], and the name of the course [3].

To view the assignment details, click the name of the assignment. The assignment details page also lets you download all student submissions for the assignment.

To return to the Course Home Page, click the name of the course.

Grading information includes assignment statistics, including the number of assignments that have been graded out of the total number of students in the course [4] and the average score and percentage [5]. You can use this information to keep track of your grading progress.

The right side of the menu bar includes the student list for the assignment. SpeedGrader opens the assignment for the first student listed in the student list, arranged alphabetically by last name. If you have activated student view, the Test Student will be shown at the end of the student list. The student list also displays the status of each student’s submission. You can also use the student list to find student submissions.

Once you have selected a student, the student’s submission displays in the preview window.

Depending on the assignment and submission type, the SpeedGrader preview window may vary. For example, a website URL submission type will appear in the main body of SpeedGrader with the option to open the URL in a new tab. Some website URL submissions cannot be viewed in Canvas and must be viewed in a new tab. Media submissions may display as an embedded file in SpeedGrader or only display as a downloadable file.

To provide comments on document submissions, you can:

Use Canvas DocViewer to mark up .pdf, .doc/.docx, and .ppt/.pptx assignments directly in SpeedGrader. SpeedGrader may take up to ten minutes after an assignment is submitted to display a document that supports DocViewer.
Download the submission, put feedback on the document, and re-upload the submission.

Note: When the Allow Multiple file AGS submissions count as one submission is enabled, students can select multiple files to be uploaded to a third-party assignment in Canvas. However, some third-party tools may not be built to accommodate this feature.

The SpeedGrader sidebar provides all the submission details for the student shown in the student list. However, submission details are not shown when an assignment is graded anonymously.

View the submission details [1], including as the date and time of the submission; if an assignment was resubmitted, you can view previous versions of the submission.

You can also download the submission file by clicking the link [2].

Complete the assessment of the submission by entering a grade in the Grade field [3] or using a rubric, if available, by clicking the View Rubric button [4].

You can type feedback comments or insert a comment from the Comment Library using the Assignment Comments section [5]. Assignment comments also display as a new thread in Conversations.

View Reassign Assignment

In the SpeedGrader sidebar, you may see the Reassign Assignment button [1]. To reassign the assignment to the student, add at least one comment to the student’s submissions [2].

Students will see a to do item in their list view dashboard to resubmit the assignment.

View Submission Status

In the SpeedGrader sidebar, you can view the student’s assignment submission status [1].

To edit the submission status, click the Edit button [2]. Available statuses include Late, Missing, Excused, and None.

View Assignment for Next Student

Once you grade the submission, the student’s assignment indicator changes to a check mark, indicating the submission has been graded.

You can view the next student’s submission by clicking the arrow button next to the student list.

View Group Assignments

When evaluating group assignments, the student list displays the name of each group, unless the group assignment is graded individually. Evaluating group assignments is the same process as individual students. You can mark up documents directly or download them for feedback, enter grades and view the rubric, and post and view comments. Learn more about grading group assignments.

View Anonymous Assignments

If an assignment was set to be anonymous, the student list displays all student names as anonymous. The student list order does not match the order in the Gradebook and is randomized for each assignment.

If an assignment is not anonymous, you can enable anonymous grading in SpeedGrader to hide student names at any time.

Entering Grades in the Canvas Gradebook

Most likely you will access SpeedGrader to enter grades. The grades will appear in the Gradebook when you are done. However, you can manually enter and edit grades in the Gradebook.

When an assignment score is entered as a letter grade in the Gradebook, the percentage score for the assignment is the upper limit of the range assigned to that letter grade in the grading scheme. If a final grade override is entered as a letter grade, the percentage score for the assignment is the lower limit of the range assigned to that letter grade in the grading scheme.

For example, your course grading scheme may designate a range of 86% to 89% for a B+ letter grade. Entering a B+ for an assignment would assign a percentage of 89% but entering a B+ for a final grade override would assign a percentage of 86%. To ensure students receive a specific percentage for an assignment or final grade, enter the assignment score or grade override as a number.

Notes:

When using differentiated assignments, the assignment appears as a column for all students, but grade cells are grayed out for students who are not part of the assignment or an assigned section. Grades cannot be assigned to students who are not part of the assignment or section; those assignments are not factored into overall grades.
If you unassign a student or section to a differentiated assignment you have previously graded, the grade and submission are removed from the assignment. You can restore the submission by reassigning the assignment to the student.
When Multiple Grading Periods are enabled in a course, you cannot edit grades for any assignment that has at least one student in a closed grading period.
The Gradebook History page records all grade changes in the Gradebook and can be accessed at any time.

Open Grades

In Course Navigation, click the Grades link.

Locate Student Assignment

Locate the student name and assignment where you want to enter a grade.

Enter Grade

Grades are entered according to the assignment’s Display Grade setting. Grades can be entered as one of five options: points, complete/incomplete, letter grade, percentage, and GPA. You can change the assignment to display grades for a specific grading type.

Note: When you reach the end of a column, pressing the Return or Enter key advances to the top of the next column.

Enter Points Grade

To enter a points grade, enter the number of points in the cell and press the Return key (on a Mac keyboard) or the Enter key (on a PC keyboard).

Enter Complete or Incomplete Grade

To enter a complete or incomplete grade, click the drop-down menu in the cell and select the desired icon. Grading options include complete, incomplete, ungraded, and excused.

Enter Letter Grade

Click the drop-down menu and select a letter grade from the menu.

You can also manually enter a letter grade. Enter the letter which corresponds to the letter scale defined by the grading scheme and press the Return key (on a Mac keyboard) or the Enter key (on a PC keyboard).

View Letter Grade Validation Error

If you enter a letter grade that is not supported in the grading scheme, the cell displays an invalid grade warning icon. Canvas will also display an invalid grade warning message.

Enter Percentage Grade

To enter a percentage grade, enter the percent in the cell and press the Return key (on a Mac keyboard) or the Enter key (on a PC keyboard).

Enter GPA Grade

To enter a GPA grade, click the drop-down menu and select the desired grade from the menu.

You can also enter the number which corresponds to the GPA scale defined by the grading scheme and press the Return key (on a Mac keyboard) or the Enter key (on a PC keyboard).

View GPA Grade Validation Error

If you enter a letter grade that is not supported in the grading scheme, the cell displays an invalid grade warning icon. Canvas will also display an invalid grade warning message.

Edit Grade

To edit an existing grade in the Gradebook, click the assignment cell for the grade.

To assign a new grade, enter the new grade. To delete the grade, click the Delete key.

To apply the edited grade, press the Return key (on a Mac keyboard) or the Enter key (on a PC keyboard).

Enter Grade via Grade Detail Tray

Grades can also be entered in the Grade Detail Tray according to the assignment’s display grade setting. To open the tray, click an assignment cell for a student and click the Grade Detail Tray icon [1]. In the Grade field [2], enter the grade for the student.

To advance to the next student, click the arrow icon [3].

View Excessive Points Alert

If an excessive amount of points is added to a student’s grade, Canvas will generate an alert notifying that the student was awarded an unusually high grade. You can either keep or correct the point value.

Excessive points can occur in the following situations:

The amount entered is 50% above the total points possible
An extra digit is entered (e.g. 500 instead of 50)
An assignment is given negative points

Grading Quizzes and Discussions

You can add force-graded questions to both Classic and New Quizzes, but you may also have added essay type questions to your quizzes which you will grade via SpeedGrader.

Discussions are also graded via the SpeedGrader.

In the Gradebook, the cell that holds the students’ Quiz with manually graded questions, or Discussion grades will be marked with a specific ‘needs grading’ icon.

Click on the icon and then the arrow and then SpeedGrader to view the Quiz or Discussion and allocate points. From SpeedGrader you can use the arrows to navigate to the next student’s submission, you don’t need to return to the GradeBook.

Submitting Assignments on Behalf of a Student

You can submit an assignment for a student ONLY IF the assignment has a ‘file upload’ option. This means that currently this option is not available for a Turnitin Assignment.

*If you are allowing a student to submit a second version of a Turnitin Assignment that is late, you need to make sure that ‘allow late submissions’ is checked off in the Turnitin Settings:

Submit for Student:

Open Grades

In Course Navigation, click the Grades link.

Open Grade Detail Tray

Locate the student name and assignment. Click the Gradebook cell [1] and click the Grade Detail Tray icon [2].

Submit for Student

To submit for a student, click the Submit for Student link.

Upload File

To upload a file from your computer, drag and drop a file [1], or browse your computer files by clicking the Choose a file to upload link [2]. To submit the file, click the Submit button [3].

View Submission Details

View submission details in the Grade Detail Tray. You can also view the uploaded file uploaded in Speedgrader.

Working with Groups

Groups are a helpful way to organize and manage collective assignments in your course. The following scenarios are ways in which instructors might use groups in their Canvas sites:

An instructor of a 25 student course is trying to organize group presentations on five topics related to the course. The instructor has students sign up for topics of their interest, such that five groups of five students each are formed. The instructor then accepts student work via online submission and submits one grade for each of the five groups.

An instructor wants to give students a place to collaborate on a year-long project for a small group seminar of 15 students. The instructor creates 5 groups of 3 students, and students create group Canvas sites with Canvas Pages, videos and multimedia, and other content to describe their course content.

An instructor is teaching a course of both undergraduate and graduate students in the same course. The instructor would like to make some content available to the graduate students without granting access to the undergraduate students. The instructor creates two groups (undergraduate vs. graduate) and restricts access of some advanced readings under modules such that they are only available to graduate students. The instructor would also assign a subset of the assessments to each group.

Groups thus allow instructors to organize the work students complete, grant and restrict access to certain students vs. other students, and provide a space for student to collaborate in a password-protected online environment.

Open People

In Course Navigation, click the People link.

Add Group Set

Be sure to select “I’ll create groups manually.”

Now, you can create the Groups. Return to People. Click on the Group Set name tab.

Add Group

Click the Add Group button.

Name the group by typing in the Group Name field. If you want to limit groups to a specific size, enter the maximum number of group members in the Limit groups to field. Name Groups in a specific and distinguishable way. For example, you may want to name groups in your HIST110 class HIST110 Tuesday; HIST110 Thursday, etc.

Click the Save button.

During the Add/Drop period, visit the People tab frequently to Drag & Drop Unassigned students into a Group.

Groups Video

Adding People to your course – a co-teacher or TA

Instructors can view the list of people in their course by clicking on the People Tab in the course menu. Even if you have customized your course menu and hidden the People tab from students, you always have access to it as a the instructor.

The people tab is also how you add students to Sections.

Open People

In Course Navigation, click the People link.

View People

The People page displays all information about the users in your course. The page is designed with global settings at the top of the page [1] followed by the generated user data [2].

Search and Filter Users

Global settings include searching and filtering by user data. To search for a specific user, type the user’s name in the search field [1].

To filter by role, select the Roles drop-down menu [2]. The filter will also display the number of users in each type of role (e.g. student).

You can also add a user to the course [3]. Click on the +People tab and paste in the name of the TA or Co-Instructor. Choose the appropriate role and click on Next. The name of the student will come up if they are already in Canvas. Click on Add Users.

Manage Student Groups

The People page also organizes all your student groups, where you can manage student groups. You can create groups to put students together to complete projects or other activities. Students can set up their own groups, which will allow them to work collaboratively.

Manage Users

To manage course-level user options, click the global Options drop-down menu. You can view user groups [1]. User groups are the same as displayed in the global settings at the top of the page.

You can view prior enrollments in the course [2]. Prior enrollments are students who were previously enrolled in the course and their enrollments have been concluded.

You can also view a summary of all student interactions in your course [3]. Interactions are recorded when you contact the student via Conversations or when you leave a comment on an assignment.

You can view registered services for each user in the course [4]. If a person has registered a social media account in Canvas, you can see that service listed and communicate with that person through any social media site they have registered.

View Users

The People page orders users alphabetically by last name. Search and filter results display the following data:

The user’s name [1]
Login ID [2]
SIS ID [3]—this column requires permission to view SIS IDs
Section [4]—may be enrolled in more than one section
Role [5]—if the user was assigned a custom role, currently only the base role is displayed
Last Activity [6]—displays the date and time of a user’s most recent interaction in the course. This time stamp updates when a user navigates through the course using the Course Navigation menu, replies to a discussion or submits an assignment or quiz, and when they access course files and pages. Mobile actions may not display due to local device caching.
Total Activity [7]—allows you to see how long students interact within a course and counts page navigation only. Total activity time is displayed in hours:minutes:seconds. If a user has not yet reached an hour of activity, total activity time is displayed as minutes:seconds. Total Activity records any time spent viewing course content that exceeds two minutes. If the time between a new activity and the last completed activity is under ten minutes, all time between these two events will also be included. Total Activity does not include group activity or page views for videos that do not include intermediate page requests, such as a half-hour recorded lecture. To view specific page views for a student, view the student’s course access report.

Note: Viewing user details, including Login IDs and user email addresses, are course permissions. Depending on your permissions, you may not be able to view all available information in the People page.

View User Status

You can also view the status for pending and inactive enrollments.

Once a course is published, users receive an invitation to the course. Users who have not yet accepted the course invitation display a pending status [1]. To resend course invitations for pending users, click the Resend link [2] at the top of the page.

Users who are inactive in the course display an inactive status [3]. The inactive status allows you to view a user’s prior activity in the course but does not allow the student to access the course.

View Context Card

To view the context card for a student, click the student’s name.

Manage Users including Sections

To manage a user in your course, click the Options icon. You can resend course invitations and view user details. If you have permission in your course, you may also be able to edit the user’s course sections, edit the user’s role, deactivate the user, or remove the user from the course.

View Student View

To view the people page as a student, click the Student View button.

Note: If the course navigation link for the page is disabled and hidden from students, the Student View button does not display.

People Video

Dropout Detective

Dropout Detective is a program from AspireEDU that integrates directly with Canvas to provide a “risk index” of how likely it is that each online student will drop out or fail their online course(s). The program basically analyzes past and current behavior to predict future performance. In addition, this program pulls together the different reasons the student is at risk and makes it easy to quickly go through and look at what might be happening with this student and determine an intervention strategy.

You can keep an eye on student risk assessment with one click within your Canvas Course. Click on the Dropout Detective link in your course navigation menu to access your Dashboard. From there it will provide you with the following:

List of your Students- this defaults to your list of students enrolled in the course.
Risk Index Color –Red is most at risk, yellow is medium risk, and green is low risk.
Risk Index Number –the number is based on an algorithm developed by Dropout Detective and gives an indication (out of 100 –highest risk) of how at risk the student is of failing.
Trend – indicates whether the student’s risk index score has increased or decreased in the past 7 days, and by how much.
Last Contact –this is the last time you contacted the student.
For details about why a student is at risk, click on their name from the Risk Index page to view more information. Student Information tabs include Overview, Notes, History and Contacts. You can email your advisee from this page by clicking on the Send Message icon at the upper right.

Click on the Risk Index bar to see the details about the student.

Overview – The Overview tab shows last login day and time, course load and current standing in each course. It lists all of the courses in which they are in currently and their current grade, how many zeroes they have earned, how many missing assignments they have, when they last accessed the course, and when they last submitted an assignment.

Click on (show) to see the details of which assignments have been awarded zeros or are missing.

Notes – MBU is not using the Notes function. We continue to use Student of Concern in MyMBU on the Faculty tab to report at-risk students..

History – review their trends over the last month, as well as a graph of their grades.

Contacts – provides a list of the instructor for each course and contact information if you need to connect with the student’s advisor. You can email ALL advisors/coaches to discuss your student’s status.

If you need to email an advisor regarding a high risk student, use the Contacts tab to locate their “Ally” (Advisor) and email them directly from the Dropout Detective dashboard.

Dropout Detective Video

New Analytics

New Analytics is available for Teachers within each course.

Data is refreshed for published courses in the New Analytics dashboard every 24 hours. Report data may be delayed by 24 hours; however, Course Activity Report data may be delayed by 40 hours. Only active and completed student enrollments are included in data for New Analytics. Deleted or inactive user enrollments do not generate data.

Notes:

In order for New Analytics to display in Canvas, third-party cookies may need to be enabled in your browser settings.
New Analytics data does not display for unpublished courses.
Because mobile page view data is based on device settings and network connection, it may vary from the time the page views actually occurred. Page view data should not be used to assess academic integrity.
Unposted assignments are not included in New Analytics course grade tab.

New Analytics Access

New Analytics can be accessed from Course Navigation [1]. By default, this link is hidden in Course Navigation in each course and must be enabled.

To enable New Analytics, open Course Settings and view the Navigation tab. Move the New Analytics link to the enabled section and save the page.

You can also access New Analytics from the New Analytics button in the Course Home Page [2].

When Would I Use New Analytics?

Currently, New Analytics allows instructors to track average course grades for student submissions using an interactive chart graph or table. Data is for viewing only and cannot directly be changed.

Page views and participation metrics include an aggregate across all devices, including Canvas mobile apps.

Use New Analytics to:

View average course grade analytics as an interactive chart graph or a data table
Compare the course average with an individual assignment, course section, or student filter using the chart graph comparison or data table comparison
View average weekly online participation analytics as an interactive chart graph or a data table
Compare the course average weekly online participation analytics with an individual student or section using the chart graph comparison or data table comparison
Send a message to all students based on specific course grade or participation criteria
Send a message to an individual student based on specific course grade or participation criteria
View course grade and participation analytics for an individual student
View and download reports on missing, late, or excused assignments, class roster, and course activity.
View a report that displays if students have met online attendance criteria that has been selected by an admin.

New Analytics Video

Course Evaluations

Course evaluations are completed via the IOTA 360 Evaluation system.

canvas

Iota will send out emails, on behalf of Mary Baldwin University, advising you and your students when an evaluation opens and closes. Please pay close attention to these emails. Your reminder to your students about Course Evaluations can help improve participation rates.

Zoom

The Zoom LTI is built into Canvas, and you and your students can access Zoom via the Course Menu in each Canvas Course. If you copy over a previously taught course into your Canvas course, the updated settings might ‘hide’ the Zoom link. To restore it, go to Settings, Navigation, drag the Zoom Link to the top section and then click on Update Settings.

Faculty will click on the Zoom link to create sessions and students click on the Zoom link to attend the sessions you have created. There is no default ‘room’ associated with a Canvas Course.

Once you click on Zoom, click on the blue ‘Schedule a New Meeting’ button.

Fill in the meeting details.

A Zoom “Waiting Room” provides the facility for the host to allow or disallow entry to the zoom meeting.

In the meeting details you can set a recurring meeting, and you can unclick ‘passcode’ and ‘waiting room’ if you do not need these features of Zoom for your synchronous class meetings that are accessible from your Canvas course.

Faculty, staff and students will also be able to use their Zoom accounts to set up sessions for office hours or meetings outside of Canvas using the MBU Zoom Landing Page: https://marybaldwin-edu.zoom.us/ This Zoom Web Portal is where you set up/access advanced session features.

If you are inviting a guest lecturer to your Canvas course, you can send the guest link. Your guest will not need to have MBU or Canvas credentials.

Zoom Recordings

Links to recordings that are made from Zoom sessions in your Canvas Course are stored in the “Cloud Recordings” tab. Recordings will be maintained until three weeks after the end of the semester. If you need to retain your recordings after that time, for future classes or to allow a student to finish an ‘Incomplete’, download your Zoom Recordings and save them in another media. Canvas Studio may work for this.

Zoom from the Classroom

Whenever you start a Zoom session from your Canvas course in the Classroom PC, the Zoom app will download and install itself. This only takes a few seconds.

It is easy to select which classroom microphone and camera you are using (if there are more than one). In the control strip at the bottom of the Zoom session screen, you can click on the up arrow next to the camera and microphone icons to see which camera and microphone are selected. You can click on other camera and microphone options to select them.

You may install Zoom anytime on a personal computer or phone. To install zoom on a computer, go the Web Portal https://zoom.us/ and scroll to the bottom. Under Downloads choose “Meetings Client”. To install Zoom on a phone, go to the App Store.

More information about Zoom at Mary Baldwin University is here.

Attendance and Seating Charts

Canvas has a built in Attendance and Seating Chart feature that helps you keep track of your class. Click on the Attendance link in your class and navigate to the Class tab. Arrange students by their seating positions by dragging and dropping into the appropriate places. If you are teaching more than one section, or have split the class into Groups that meet on different days, space each group out so you can keep track of which students are in each group/section and where they are seated.

View Attendance

With the Attendance tool, instructors can keep track of course attendance by taking roll electronically. Instructors can choose to view the tool in a list or grid format and can customize the placement of each student in the seating chart.

View Attendance Assignment

When you take attendance using Roll Call, Canvas automatically adds Attendance as an assignment. The default point value for attendance is 100 points. If you are not using this to grade for attendance, you can simply move the Assignment into an ‘Ungraded Assignments’ Grading Group.

To avoid Attendance calculation errors, never delete, rename, or unpublish the Attendance assignment.

Note: Although students cannot view the actual attendance tool, they can still view their own attendance assignment in the Assignments page.

Take Attendance

The status set for each student is associated with a percentage value. Statuses include present and on time, not present, late, and unmarked (excused absence).

The Attendance tool also creates an assignment in the Gradebook and calculates attendance as a percentage of a student’s grade.

View Lateness Value

By default, the value of being late is 80% of the present value. So if a student is late, the student will receive 80% for the day instead of the full 100%. The late value can be adjusted in Roll Call settings.

View Gradebook Scores

Roll Call Attendance Column in Gradebook

In the Gradebook Attendance column, by default Canvas displays the assignment based on percentage of the point value. For instance, if the point value is 100, and roll call has been taken twice, a student with one present value (100%) and one lateness value (calculated at 80%) will have a score of 90 points, or 90%.

The Attendance Gradebook column will update every time you take roll call in the Attendance tool.

Note: Although students cannot view the actual attendance tool, if you are using attendance for grading, they can still view their attendance score in their Grades page and view their attendance report. You can prevent the assignment from triggering notifications by setting a manual posting policy for the assignment.

Export Attendance Data

At both the account and course levels, the Attendance tool allows users to create attendance reports.

Transfer grades to MyMBU

A couple of tips about how to make transferring your grades to MyMBU easier:

1) Move the Total Grade to the front, so you can see it more easily

2) Show Student ID number in the Gradebook, to avoid name confusion. Your students’ preferred names are displayed in Canvas but you will be viewing their legal name in MyMBU.

3) If you have combined your course enrollments in Canvas, view the sections one at a time in the Gradebook to more easily transfer grades to MyMBU:

Copying your Canvas Course

Notes:

Course imports may not include all content. For more details, please see the import content section in the Canvas Basics Guide.
Importing a course more than once may have unintended consequences. If you import content into a new course, edit the content in the new course, and later import the previous content again, the imported content will override the existing content.
If you copy all content or include course settings in selected content, the grade posting policy from the original course will override the grade posting policy in the new course. The participation dates from the original course will override the participation dates in the new course. Additionally, imported assignments will retain their assignment posting policy and participation dates from the original course.
If you are copying a course with a missing assignments policy, move the due dates forward to the new semester when you do the import. Otherwise all your enrolled students will get zeroes which will all need to be manually updated!

Open Settings

In Course Navigation, click the Settings link.

Import Content into Course

Click the Import Course Content link.

Select Content Type

In the Content Type drop-down menu, select the Copy a Canvas Course option.

Search for a Course

In the Search for a course drop-down menu [1], select the course you would like to access. Courses are ordered alphabetically by most recent term. You can also choose to include completed courses by selecting the completed courses checkbox [2]. The Include completed courses checkbox is selected by default.

To search for a course by name, enter the course ID in the Course Name field [3]. For example, BUAD299WASP2023. When only ONE course appears that matches your criteria, click the name of the course.

Select Migration Content

To import all content from the course, select the All Content radio button [1].

If you want to select specific content, click the Select specific content radio button [2].

Note: If you select the specific content option, you are required to select the content you want to import after you review the remaining page options. After you start importing the content, the import selection cannot be canceled.

Adjust Events and Due Dates

If you want to adjust the due dates associated with the course events and assignments, click the Adjust events and due dates checkbox.

Settings checkbox.

View Content Import Warning Message

When importing content, a message displays explaining that importing the same course content or export package more than once overwrites any existing content in the course.

Import Course

Click the Import button.

View Current Jobs

The Current Jobs section displays the status of your import. Running reports display a progress bar indicating the time remaining to complete the import [1].

If you chose to select specific content in your course, the current job will show as Waiting for Select [2], which means you must select the content you want to import.

To select content, make sure to click the arrows to expand the category. Choose what you want to copy and then click on Select Content

The import may also display other status indicators as part of the import process. Learn more about course import statuses.

View the content from any completed imports by accessing any link in Course Navigation.

Crosslisting / Combining Enrollments for a course

Cross-listing allows you to move enrollments from individual courses and combine them into one course. This feature is helpful for instructors who teach several sections of the same course and only want to manage course data in one location. Instructors can either allow students to view users in other sections or limit them to only view users in the same section. Section names do not change when they are cross-listed; the section is just moved to another course.

Cross-listing must be done before courses are published and students begin work. Coursework is retained with the course, not with the section enrollments, so if a published course is cross-listed, all cross-listed enrollments will lose any associated assignment submissions and grades.

When cross-listing, always start from the child course.

For instructions, please see the Canvas Documentation: How do I cross-list a section in a course as an instructor?Links to an external site.

How can I add a user to my course?

Please note that you should never need to add students to your course. Students are automatically added from the Student Information System. However, in your Canvas course shell, you may add additional teachers, designers, observers or TAs to the course. To add a user, first go to the Left-hand navigation and choose People. Then click the Add Users button.You can add users by pasting their email address into the designated box. Make sure to choose the appropriate role for the user in the dropdown menu. Click Next and then Add Users to add them to your course. They will automatically receive an invitation to participate in your course.

How can a student drop a course?

When a student student drops the course via the Registrar, they will be automatically dropped from your Canvas course. You will still see them in your People Tab, but they will be have a status of inactive, and will not be able to access nor receive notifications from your course.

What web browser should I use?

For the most recent browsers that Canvas supports see the Guide, Which Browsers does Canvas Support?

How much file storage do I have?

Each course in Mary Baldwin’s Canvas is allocated 1 GB of space. If you find that you’ll be needing more space, email support@marybaldwin.edu
NOTE: Video and audio uploads to Canvas through the media tool can be up to 500 MB in size. If you have videos larger than this, you have two choices: 1. Load the videos through the Files area. Then bring them into the course pages using the Files panel on the right. 2. Find another way to host these videos. Here are some suggestions:

Load the videos to YouTube (you can keep them unlisted and out of the search indexes)
Use a 3rd-party service like Screencast
Store your videos in your Google Drive and allow your students to download them

The user file quota for Mary Baldwin’s Canvas is 50 MB. This includes both Instructor and Student users. Files like profile pictures, files loaded into your personal Canvas storage, or uploaded as part of assignments count against this quota. If a student has reached the quota, they will not be stopped from uploading further files as part of assignments, but further file storage in their personal space will be restricted. Files that an instructor loads to their course do not count towards their personal file quota.

Canvas Guide: What types of media files can be uploaded into Canvas?

How do I customize the Left-Hand Course Navigation?

Please do not change the order of the left-hand course navigation menu. It is a great benefit to students if they don’t have to hunt around for those different link. If you need to show something that is not on the default menu, please put it at the bottom of the default menu.

To modify your course menu, click on Settings in the left-hand navigation and then click on the Navigation Tab. To “Show” links, drag them to the top section, to “Hide” links, drag them to the bottom section, and then click on Save. Note that some links that you have hidden from students will be grayed out but visible to you after disappear from YOU if you hide them, and other links will be hidden from you as well as your students when you hide them.

Canvas Basics

Building your course:

Teaching your course

Managing your course

Helpful Videos:

Canvas Basics

Your Canvas Profile and Settings

Open Profile

Edit Profile

Edit Profile Picture

Edit Name and Title

Add Contact Methods

Edit Bio

Edit Links

Save Profile

Canvas Settings Video

Notifications Settings

Open Notifications

View Account Notification Settings

View Notification Details

Manage Notification Settings

View Privacy Notice

Set Push Notifications

Notifications Settings Video

Canvas Calendar

Open Calendar

View Calendar

Add Calendar Items

View Calendar List

View Undated Events List

View Calendar by Month

View Assignments and Events

View All-Day Events

View Varied Due Dates

View Calendar by Week

View All-Day Events

View Calendar Agenda

View Scheduler

Calendar Video

Announcements

Emailing Students via Canvas Inbox

View Toolbar

View Inbox Panels

View Conversations

View Conversation Thread

Manage Conversation Thread

Select Multiple Conversations

Inbox Video

The Rich Content Editor

Rich Content Editor Video

The Canvas Dashboard and how to Personalize it

Course Settings

Course Navigation

Adding a Syllabus

Modules Video Tutorial

Adding Modules

Text Headers in Modules

Open Modules

Add Content

Select Item Type

Add Text

Add Item

View Module

Text Header Video

Managing Student Progress with Modules

New Quizzes

Open Quizzes

Add Quiz

Create New Quiz

Edit Quiz Details

Assign Quiz

Save Quiz

Open Build Page

Build Quiz

Add Content

Edit Question

Delete Question

Open Question Navigator

View Question Navigator