Canvas Student Guide

While this page provides some guidance to using Canvas, we recommend you check out the Canvas Student Guide for details about and how tos in Canvas.

Calendar & Notifications

The Canvas Calendar shows all your assignments and events for all your Canvas courses in one place.

Notifications are the life blood of your course. You can choose to receive them right away, daily, weekly or not at all. On the global navigation, click on Account then Notifications to set up.

Modules View

Canvas Interface with list of Module elements with check marks if viewed, marked done, or submitted as appropriate

Most courses are organized into lessons or weeks called Modules. The best way to see what is required for each lesson or week is by using the Modules View.

Completion

To complete a module you may have to Complete All Items. If there are required elements to complete for each lesson, it will be listed next to the activity.

Locked

Some modules may be locked until other conditions are met, these conditions are called Prerequisites. It is common for the Course Overview module to be completed before the rest of the course content can be unlocked.

Mobile Apps

You can access canvas on your mobile device through the Canvas LogoCanvas by Instructure apps for iOS and Android. These apps can provide a more streamlined view of Announcements IconAnnouncements, Modules IconModules, Discussion IconDiscussions, Grades IconGrades, and People IconPeople.

But some features from web browsers will not display in the Canvas app. If you find that you are missing content, please switch to your mobile web browser.

Here are some known inconsistencies:

  • In the iOS app, missing Mark as done on content that requires it.
  • In the Android app, Mark done is located at the screen bottom adjacent to the Previous ArrowPrevious and Next Next Arrow

Assignments

Canvas offers different types of assignments so it is important to read the directions carefully since submissions can include text (Word or graded discussion), media (audio or video), or URL. If you have any questions about how to receive full credit, contact your instructor.

We do recommend that you use a word processing program or Notepad for composing any longer written submissions (e.g., significant response to a discussion or assignment), and then copy/paste into the text box. This ensures that you have a backup in case anything happens with your internet connection. NOTE: Mac users need to export Pages files to Word before submitting to Canvas.

Be sure to wait for verification that your assignment has submitted. A submission box appears on the sidebar showing the submission was turned in correctly, includes date/time stamp, a link to your document if uploaded, and any comments you made. Do not leave the page until you see this submission box!

Don't miss assignment feedback. Look for the speech icon next to assignments on the Grades page or comments located in the assignment sidebar. Your instructor may also leave comments in your assignment submission as annotations.

Feedback

Make sure you check to see any feedback your instructor may have provided on your assignment. The Canvas Student Guide provides details on viewing assignment comments

Discussion Forums

Discussion forums can be threaded or non-threaded. Most discussions are threaded so users can reply to each other. When users reply to the initial discussion prompt they create a new thread.
  • On discussion pages, use the Collapse Iconcollapse icon to list individual threads.
  • Each thread shows the number of new replies and total replies: 1 with blue background and 4 with off white background means 1 unread, 4 total replies.
  • Hover over the top of thread and click the Down Arrow Iconarrow down to expand the thread.

Group Discussions

Some discussion forums may be accessed only by members of your course group. You can distinguish group discussions by:

  • The group name will appear in upper left next to the hamburger icon.
  • The group name also appears at the end of the discussion page name.

There are a few ways to exit group-space and return to the regular course:

  • If you were in a group discussion as part of the lesson module, continue in the module with the Next button.
  • You can press the ⬅️Back button in your browser to return you to the normal course space.
  • If you press Home the Course Name will appear in the upper left next to the hamburger icon. Clicking on the Course Name always returns to you the Course Home.

You can find more information about groups from the Canvas Student Guide.