Canvas Basics Guide

Drexel’s Canvas Homepage is at:

·       https://drexel.instructure.com/

You can also access Canvas at:

        https://canvas.drexel.edu

Change Order of Left-Handed Navigation in Canvas

1. You can reorder, hide, or even disable some of those tools if you’re not using them in your course.
2. Go into your Canvas course.
3. Scroll down and click Settings (always the last item in the course menu).
4. In Settings, choose the Navigation tab.
5. You’ll see two lists:
   Active items (the ones visible in the left nav for students).
   Hidden items (disabled, students won’t see them).
6. Drag-and-drop items within the Active list to change their order.
7. Click Save at the bottom.

Also, Recommend Disabling Following Left-hand Nav links (via Settings in Canvas section left nav):

Annoto Dashboard, Collaborations, Gradescope (some use, though), Lucid, LockDown Browser, Office365.

These are NOT used by CCI. Some may not be active in FA 26. Gradescope and LockDownBrowser are used at CCI. Gradescope is practically a separate Learning Managment System like Canvas or Bb Learn. LockDown Browser is if you wanted to have extreme video monitoring on students while they take an exam.

IMPORTANT! You must *manually* PUBLISH the course (NOT just Modules/Pages/etc).

Weird quirk of Canvas that the Start/End date in Settings area does NOT publish the course.

How to Publish a Course

1. Only instructors can do this. If Mike Galloway is a TA (often is in Canvas), he cannot do this for you.

2. Log into Canvas and go to your course.

3. Look in the top right corner of the course "Home."

1. If the course is Unpublished, you’ll see a gray button labeled “Publish”.

4. Click the Publish button.

1. The button will turn green and say “Published”.

2. Students can now see the course.

3. The course start date also has to have arrived (has here), and of course, individual Module/Pages must be published, etc.

HIGHLY recommend disabling Files in left nav as well (via Settings in Canvas section left nav):
You can set it to have all Files Visible with "Only Available with Link," but it's still a pain to manage, and students can see Files.
So disable Files link completely via Settings in Canvas section left nav. Students may see Files you do not wish them to otherwise.

Meridian Community College Canvas Cheat Sheet:
A 1 page that may help you quickly learn how to do most things.
Canvas Cheat Sheet: Announcements & Inbox messaging

Emailing / Communicating with Students from Canvas:

It appears that students need to visit https://drexel.instructure.com and accept the course invitation before they get emails.  They will see a notification in Canvas once they long in for the first time.

You have a Bb Learn course section that says for students to go the above URL, but I just added an Announcement area there.  You could email all your students from Announcements in Bb Learn to tell your students to go to the above URL and login to Canvas and click the link there to accept the Course Invitation, and include any course invites they see after login on the above URL.

Once students login and accept the course invite, any of the methods below will reach them:

• Announcement in a Canvas course
• Inbox in left navigation 

Send via Canvas Inbox (Conversations)

1. Click Inbox in the left navigation.
2. Click pencil-on-paper (or Compose a new message) icon (pencil/paper).
3. Select course from the Course drop-down.
4. Check Send an individual message to each recipient.
   1. This bcc's all students, but you will have individual threads in the Inbox in Canvas.  For 100+ recipients, Canvas auto-checks the “individual message” box and won’t let you uncheck it.
5. In the To field, click the Address Book icon, choose All in [course].
6. Add your subject and message, then click Send.

Students will receive it in their Canvas Inbox, and, if they have notifications turned on, also by email/text.  Notifications are turned on by default.

Post a Course Announcement

The announcements left nav link is hidden if no announcement has been done yet.

1. In the left Canvas course navigation, click Announcements.
2. Click + Announcement.
3. Add your subject and content.
4. (Optional) Check the box Delay posting if you want to schedule it.
5. Click Save (or Save & Publish).

Instructor’s Student View:
Canvas Doc: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-view-a-subject-as-a-test-student-using-Student-View-in/ta-p/645003

HIGHLY RECOMMEND using the Student View and going through each left-hand navigation area.

Announcements:
Watch Canvas Video: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-Announcements/ta-p/650869

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-Announcements/ta-p/650869

Watch Canvas Video: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-Assignments/ta-p/650870

Group assignments are created by setting “Submit by Group” when creating or editing an assignment.

Rich Content Editor (RCE) (a.k.a. WYSIWYG, a.a.k.a. the text-editor box tool bar):
An online editing tool for creating content. It includes a menubar, toolbar, content space, and other features that allow you to create content containing formatted text, hyperlinks, images, media, mathematical formulas, embedded objects, tables, and more.
Watch Canvas Video & Read More: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-is-the-Rich-Content-Editor-RCE/ta-p/12
(Above explains all the little icons too!)

Gradebook:
Watch Canvas Video: Gradebook Overview (well worth your time to watch):
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-Gradebook-Overview/ta-p/650881

Also useful: Watch YouTube Video: How to Set Up Your Canvas Gradebook Like a Pro!
Angie Teaches Canvas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpDrQMZ5uqs

Also useful: Watch Canvas Video: Grading Schemas: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-grading-schemes/ta-p/650882

SpeedGrader Interface:

If you have Canvas Assignments, Quizzes, or Graded Discussions,
you automatically have access to SpeedGrader.

·       Go into any Assignment in your Drexel Canvas course & look on the right-hand menu.

·       Also, if you click on a student’s submission in the Gradebook.

·       The only time you might not see it is if looking at an ungraded activity, like a Page, File, or Ungraded Discussion.

Watch Canvas Video: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-is-SpeedGrader/ta-p/650899

Editing View Permissions:

Groups:
Canvas Groups are mini-courses for student collaboration.
Within groups, instructors and students can upload files via the Groups navigation.
Watch Canvas Video: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Video-Guide/Groups-Overview-Instructors/ta-p/381842


Discussion Board / Forum Creation & Editing:

Crate graded or ungraded forums for all students or specific groups.
Watch Canvas Video & Read More: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-are-Discussions/ta-p/3

Quizzes/Tests/Exams:
Watch Canvas Video & Read More: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-are-Quizzes/ta-p/68
You will have the option of using Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes.

Cheat Sheet on Quizzes (also covers timers) from University of Oregon
https://teaching.uoregon.edu/resources/canvas-quizzes

EXTRA ATTEMPTS/TIME or OTHER AVAILABILITY DATES on Quizzes?
i.e., Accommodations or Exceptions?
See University of Alabama at Birmingham page below.
https://www.uab.edu/elearning/academic-technologies/canvas/quiz-moderation

Classic Quizzes:
Includes these question types: MC, T/F, Essay, File Upload, etc.
Watch Canvas Video: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-Quizzes/ta-p/650893

Read Canvas Doc: What options can I set in a quiz?:
Timer, shuffle Q’s & A’s, etc.
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/What-options-can-I-set-in-a-quiz/ta-p/683

New Quizzes (differences & info):

·       More question types (ordering, categorization, stimulus, hot spot, etc.) than classic.

·       Item banks (instead of classic’s question banks)

·       Settings panel includes Shuffle, One Question at a Time, Time Limit, etc.

·       Opens in a slightly different interface.

Watch Canvas Video: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-is-New-Quizzes/ta-p/650894

Read Canvas Doc: How do I manage settings for a quiz in New Quizzes?:
Timer, shuffle Q’s & A’s, etc.
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/What-options-can-I-set-in-a-quiz/ta-p/683

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/What-options-can-I-set-in-a-quiz/ta-p/683

• Canvas in Respondus for Students
• Canvas in Respondus for Instructors

How Students View Grades
Watch Canvas Video: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-How-do-I-view-my-grades-in-a-current-course/ta-p/655443

Watch Canvas Video: What If Grades
Students can use them to get a better understanding of how future grades will affect their overall grade) and how students view their grades.
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-What-If-Grades/ta-p/650883

OTHER USEFUL LINKS

Files Canvas Video:
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-Files/ta-p/650880

More File Uploading Tips:

Canvas has a 1 GB file upload. So large PowerPoints with Video and Audio, and large movie or other files cannot be uploaded.

Recommend following the instructions below.

Handling Large PowerPoint Files (Likely with Video and Audio Embedded)

Export your PowerPoint presentation that already contains embedded video and audio...

...into a video file.

And then export the PowerPoint again, but to a PDF version that is only slides.

Upload the video to Kaltura Drexel Streams & embed it in your Canvas section.

Attach the PDF slides to the video in Canvas, or just underneath the video in a Module in Canvas.

How to Export your PowerPoint:

Exporting Video from PowerPoint on Windows (PC):

• Click File menu > click Export > click Create a Video > choose Video Quality (recommend HD over 4K) > use Recorded Timings and Narrations (if offered) > set Seconds spent on each slide (if offered, go 5-10 seconds) > click Create Video > choose a save location and a format (MP4 recommended) > wait while PowerPoint processes (may take awhile; if you don't see progress unless you navigate up one folder level and back down to where the video file was saved).

Exporting Video from PowerPoint on Mac:

• Click File menu > click Export > for File Format, select MP4 (more compatible) or MOV > use Recorded Timings and Narrations (if offered) > choose Quality setting (Presentation, Internet [recommended], or Low Quality > click Export > wait while video rendered, progress shown in bottom status bar (may take awhile; if you don't see progress unless you navigate up one folder level and back down to where the video file was saved).

Export to PDF:

• File > Export > PDF (on Mac)

• File > Save As > PDF (on Windows)

• Note: This strips out all audio/video by default, leaving only static slides. Animations and transitions will NOT be preserved in the PDF. But you will have them in the video from the original.

See below instructions in the Video section for embedding files.

Modules Canvas Video:
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-Modules/ta-p/650887

Pages Canvas Video:
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-Pages/ta-p/650889

Peer Review Canvas Video:
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/Video-What-are-Peer-Reviews/ta-p/650890

Canvas Video Shorts:
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Video-Shorts/tkb-p/canvas_video_shorts

Canvas Instructor Guide:
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/tkb-p/Instructor

Canvas Basics Guide:
https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/tkb-p/basics 

What about Canvas Big Blue Button (BBB) Video Conferencing?

Drexel is not using BBB at all.

The BBB free-tier is disabled as it has a 25-person-per-meeting-session limit, a 30-minute-per-meeting-session limit, no recording, and is really meant for testing/demo purposes.

Neither the BBB free-tier nor the license BBB higher tier(s) for purchase provide functionality that Drexel Zoom Pro and Microsoft Teams do not already already provide for recording/streaming.