The following are a few tips to help you get started with Canvas for the Fall 2017 term.
1. Create a Course Site. If you haven’t requested your site yet, now’s the time. It’s easy! Use these instructions to request your Canvas site.
2. Get Help. Register for Canvas Office Hours & Workshops at the Weigle Information Commons to meet with experts who want to help you.
3. Learn about What’s New in Canvas and Other Tools:
- New Default Homepage–Modules: In new courses that do not contain copied content, the “Course Home” page defaults to the Modules layout. Teachers can still choose any home page for the course, but this change replaces the Recent Activity Stream as the Home page default. The Modules page includes two links to help new Teachers either create a new module or add existing content through a course import.
If Modules is set to the Home page but no modules content exists, Canvas will prompt the Teacher to either publish a module or choose a different home page layout. - Canvas Teacher App: The Canvas Teacher app allows Teachers and TAs to manage their courses and use Canvas more efficiently from a mobile device. Download the Canvas Teacher app on Android and iOS devices. Learn more about the Canvas Teacher App.
- Course Setup Tutorial: The Course Setup Tutorial appears by default in new courses for all new Teachers in Canvas, and it replaces the existing Course Setup Checklist. For the Course Setup Tutorial, “new Teachers” are defined as users with Teacher roles created in an account after July 15,2017. Learn more about the Course Setup Tutorial.
- Duplicating Pages and Assignments: Canvas now lets Teachers, TAs, and Designers duplicate pages and assignments within an Canvas site. Learn more about duplicating pages and duplicating assignments.
- Late and Missing Status for Assignments: The submission details page, student Grades page, and SpeedGrader now display labels for missing submissions. Additionally, areas that already displayed labels for late assignments have been updated to reflect the same styling. Learn more about late and missing assignment status labels in Canvas.
- New Canvas Icons: The icons throughout Canvas have been updated. All new icons default as line vs. solid icons to better support the context in Canvas. Learn more about new Canvas icons.
4. Request Your Course Reserves. Planning to have the Penn Libraries’ Course Reserves Service add content to your Canvas site? Please review the Course Reserves Information.
5. Publish Your Site. Students are added to Canvas course sites automatically, but they can’t access course.
content until the site is published. Just click the Publish button when you are ready!
Questions? Email us at canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.
Here’s to a great term!
Last Updated: 1 Nov 2019