Canvas

Canvas is full of tools and features to enhance your online course experience. As a student, you can view content created by your instructor and participate in course assignments and communications. Your instructor will customize the learning experience in Canvas, so each class may look different.

Below is a list of some of the features in Canvas. Take a moment to read through the lists below or to watch this Quick Overview Video.

Canvas Features

The following list includes links that will direct you to detailed guides for each Canvas feature. For a complete list of all guides or to search for a specific item, use the Canvas Student Guide.

Navigation
Communication and Your Account
Course Features
Setting Notification Preferences

Navigating through Canvas

The Dashboard shows courses and groups, recent activity, to-do items, upcoming assignments, and recent feedback.

Global Navigation is the menu that appears on every Canvas page. Global Navigation consists of navigation links that direct users to frequently-used features in Canvas.

The Calendar is a communication tool that shows users all events and assignments in their courses and groups, and manually added events.

Communicating in Canvas

Profile: Allows an individual to create a profile picture; biography; identify your pronoun preference; enable various features, such as High Contrast UI and Microsoft Immersive Reader; and link to web services as part of your Canvas account.

Files: Canvas provides a file repository for each user, group, and course. Files can be public or private.

Notifications: Notifications allow users to determine where and when they will be notified about activity in Canvas. Each Canvas user can adjust the Notification Preferences in their Profile to contact them via email or SMS on a schedule that fits their individual needs. Notifications are set for an entire user's account and are available on a course-by-course basis.

Inbox (Conversations): Conversations is a messaging tool used in Canvas to communicate with a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. Messages created in Conversations can be sent to one user or multiple users.

Course Features

Course Navigation: Course Navigation is a menu on the left side of a Canvas course. Course Navigation consists of links pointing to all the feature areas within a course. Instructors can customize Course Navigation for each course.

Discussion: Discussions is a forum designed to facilitate communication between students, or between students and the instructor in a course. Discussions can also be created as assignments for grading purposes. Students can also respond to informal and graded discussions in the context of a group. All Discussions content is visible to everyone in the course, and all students can view and reply to a discussion.

Assignment: An assignment is any activity or assessment that is created by the instructor. Assignments can include Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes. Some assignments are submitted for no grade. Other assignments may be submitted offline but tracked in the Canvas Gradebook.

Grades: See the grades for your course and use the "what-if?" grades feature.

Modules: Modules is a tool that can unify all course content into structural components. Module content is often grouped by week, topic, or day. Modules can be set up to require students to complete materials in a sequential fashion.

Groups: Groups is a tool that helps instructors separate students into smaller collaboration teams.

Please Set Your Notification Preferences

Canvas allows you to decide how (and how often) you wish to be notified about actions that take place in your course. For example, would you like to receive a push notification from the Canvas Student App if the instructor makes an announcement? How about an email to let you know when work has been graded? Or maybe you'd prefer a daily summary of the discussions you've participated in. Any contact information you add, such as an alternate e-mail address, is private. It is not shared with anyone else in the course, including the instructor.

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