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Tip of the Week


The Office of Digital Learning will be sending out a Canvas Tip of the Week starting in the Summer 2017 semester. These tips will be available via email and published on this web page. If you would like to be included on the mailing list please fill out the opt-in form. You can also use the form to request enrollment in a sample Canvas course.

Notifications

Canvas provides a wide range of options for what the system will notify you about and how you’ll receive those notifications. Options for what to be notified about range from new due dates, announcements, discussion posts, and the calendar. Options for how to receive these notifications include your UNO email address, other email addresses that you specify, or SMS text messaging to a cell number that you provide. All of these options combine to allow you to receive notice of exactly the content you find most timely and have it sent to the contact platform you prefer.

How do I set my Canvas notification preferences? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1286

How do I add an additional email address as a contact method in Canvas? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2894

How do I add a text (SMS) contact method in Canvas? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2896

Publishing a Course and Individual Content Components within a Course

Canvas allows instructors to control when different content components, such as modules and assignments, are available by determining if they are Published or not. An entire course can be set as Unpublished until the instructor is ready for students to access it.

To learn more about Publishing a Course (text based): https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2707

What are the different states (Published/Unpublished/Conclude) of a Canvas course? (text based): https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2699. Be careful not to use the Conclude option. This will archive the course and you and your students will not have access to it. The course is archived and Information Technology Services staff will have to fix this for you. ITS is investigating a way to hide the Conclude option from instructors.

How to Publish a Course and components within a course (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy7otB_GKWU

Navigation Menu using Settings

To assist the students navigating your course make the menu concise. The following graphic will assist in how to make changes to the course menu.

Navigation Menu

  • If you are using Modules for students to find all the course work hiding Pages, Files, and possibly Assignments from the students will assist the student in where to look for course work. • If you added a Page to the Home or Module option, it does not have to be displayed for students to see it.
  • The Files option may also be hidden depending on how your course is designed.
  • If features are not being used hide them from the students.

To assist the students navigating your course make the menu concise.

Additional information about Navigation Tab within Settings. https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2

Adding TA's to your Canvas Course

Because UNO is piloting Canvas only you and your students have been added to Canvas. If you need a TA added Information Technology Services will need the following information. The TA will be able to login with the same account they have been using in Blackboard. Send this information to Erin King and Joyce Crockett.

First and Last Name
NUID (8-digit number)
UNO Email address

Moving Course Content from Blackboard to Canvas

ITS is recommending moving tests/quizzes and files from Blackboard (Bb) instead of the whole course.     Bb and Canvas are structured differently. During the Canvas pilot ITS discovered this to be the best way to handle moving from Bb to Canvas. You can move the complete course, but pilot faculty experienced having to do as much work if not more when moving the entire course.     Here are four videos and pdf documents explaining each option.

  • Exporting Content from Blackboard • video / pdf
  • Importing a Full Blackboard Export Package • video / pdf
  • Working with Files in a Blackboard Export Package • video / pdf
  • Importing Portions of a Blackboard Export Package (i.e. Quizzes) • video / pdf
Viewing your Canvas Course as a Student

Canvas allows you to view your course as one of your students would. This feature allows you to make sure that content is available and organized in the way you want it to be. The student view creates a Test Student in your course that can access and interact with the content that your students can.

How do I view a course using a test student? (text based): https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2978

Canvas Student View - Fast Track Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSJfBMA34eY

Syllabus

The Syllabus feature in Canvas is different than what you have done with Blackboard. It is an interactive tool allowing instructors to link a traditional syllabus document and incorporates a list of assignments that is automatically generated based on Assignments and Events created within the course.

To learn more about the Syllabus tool (text based): https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1860

For a video overview of the Syllabus tool: https://community.canvaslms.com/videos/1120

Scheduler Tool

The Canvas calendar has a built-in scheduler feature that creates appointment groups within a course or group. You can use this tool to have students sign up for appointments during office hours, a project review session, or a time slot to give a presentation.

What is the Scheduler? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2639

How do I add a Scheduler appointment group in the Scheduler page? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2640

How do I view or edit a Scheduler appointment group in the Scheduler page? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9124-how-do-i-view-or-edit-a-scheduler-appointment-group-in-the-scheduler-page

Gradebook

As you prepare for midterm exams, you will likely be using the Canvas Gradebook.  The Canvas Gradebook is a powerful tool for accessing student work, grading, and communicating grade information with your students. Below is a small selection of topics that deal with different aspects of the Gradebook. Additional information is available in the Canvas Instructor Guides.

How do I use the Gradebook? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2785

What do the icons and colors in the Gradebook represent? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2780

How do I leave comments for students in the Gradebook? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2805

How do I sort columns in the Gradebook? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2831

How do I treat ungraded assignments as zero in the Gradebook? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2875

Gradebook Overview (8 minute video) https://community.canvaslms.com/videos/1112-gradebook-overview-instructors

Mute Assignments

Canvas has a feature built in to the Gradebook that allows instructors to "mute" or temporarily suspend any information about grades for an assignment from being seen by students. This allows you to complete your grading process and release all grades for a given assignment to your class at once.

How do I mute or unmute an assignment in the Gradebook? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2823

How do I mute or unmute an assignment in SpeedGrader? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2952

Moderating Quizzes and the Quiz Log

As we approach the final stretch in our Canvas Pilot we also approach finals week. Listed below are resources for moderating (managing) quizzes in Canvas as well as how to get additional information about student performance on a per question basis.

How do I use the Moderate Quiz page? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2979

How do I manually submit outstanding student quiz submissions? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2986

What kind of quiz statistics are available? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2981

Item Analysis: https://s3.amazonaws.com/tr-learncanvas/docs/CanvasQuizItemAnalysis.pdf

How do I view a quiz log for a student? https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2988

Respondus Lockdown Browser

Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor are used with quizzes in Canvas to help prevent cheating. For those who have used Respondus in Blackboard the process is virtually the same. Listed below are links to help orient you to using Respondus in the Canvas environment.

Students can download the Lockdown Browser from this link. http://www.respondus.com/lockdown/information.pl?ID=288643809. This is the only link that will work with UNO Blackboard or UNO Canvas Pilot.

UNO will be using Respondus in both Blackboard and Canvas so students must select from a pull down list of servers each time the LockDown Browser is started. 
The screen will show Blackboard Production and UNO Canvas Pilot.

Text: http://www.respondus.com/products/lockdown-browser/dashboard-Canvas.shtml

PDF: http://www.respondus.com/downloads/RLDB-QuickStartGuide-Instructor-Instructure.pdf

If you’re using the Monitor option the following explains the Automated Video Analysis. https://www.respondus.com/products/monitor/ava.shtml

Video: http://www.respondus.com/products/lockdown-browser/canvas-quiz.shtml

Mobile Apps

Canvas is accessible on virtually any mobile device. It's strongly recommended to use the Canvas app as opposed to your device's browser as mobile browsers are not supported. The app is free and available for iOS 8.0+ and Android 4.2+. To see which features are available on the different platforms check out the Canvas by Instructure Mobile Features comparison chart.

If you're interested in learning more about Canvas in a mobile environment check out the following article. https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1542

To learn more about the Speedgrader Mobile App for Android check out this short video. https://community.canvaslms.com/videos/1652

For Speedgrader Mobile on iOS there's this video. https://community.canvaslms.com/videos/1651