The following are steps to help you prepare for a new term in Canvas and become familiar with Penn’s digital materials and policies.
If this is your first term at Penn, you may want to start by reviewing how to set up your Canvas profile and notifications. If you have not yet logged into Canvas, see the Access Canvas & Log In page for assistance.
Review Your Settings & Preferences
The start of a new term is a great time to review or update the following Canvas settings and preferences:
Dashboard view
Your Canvas dashboard usually shows active courses for the current term or academic year. Customize your courses list by changing which courses display on the dashboard and favoriting courses. You can also change your dashboard view to display favorite course cards, recent activity, or a to-do list of upcoming course activities and assignments. If a course you expect to see does not appear on your dashboard, click Courses > All courses to check your full course list.
Default email
Click Canvas Account > Settings to check that your default email address is correct.
Canvas profile
Click the Profile link to upload or take a photo of yourself (no pets, please!) and include a short bio if you like.
Notification preferences
Click Account > Notifications to confirm how frequently you receive email notifications for different course activities. Notification settings apply to all your Canvas courses, but you can also set course-specific notifications using the View Course Notifications button on each course homepage. It is important to make sure you get timely updates about due dates, grades, announcements, and messages from your instructors.
Sync Canvas assignments to personal calendar
To keep track of due dates for assignments and quizzes, you can import your Canvas calendar to your Outlook or Google Calendar. The calendar feed will contain events and assignments from your Canvas courses.
Name pronunciation
Click the NameCoach Account Profile link to record the pronunciation of your name, add your pronouns, and share a phonetic spelling of your name. Instructors can use this information so they can learn to say your name correctly!
Preferred name and pronouns
To update your preferred first name, personal pronouns, and gender identity maintained with the University Registrar, visit the Personal Information page in Path@Penn.
Browser
For the best experience using Canvas, check that you are using a recent version of a supported browser and clear your browser cache/history.
Canvas Student Mobile App
We suggest downloading the most recent version of the Canvas Student App for your mobile device, and if you already have the app, check to make sure it is up to date.
The mobile app is a great way to stay up to date on your classes. Still, we strongly recommend using a desktop or laptop with a strong internet connection to submit assignments and for all quizzes and exams.
Download the app
The Canvas Community Mobile User Guide is an excellent resource for Canvas mobile app troubleshooting. Not all Canvas features are available through the mobile app. Canvas offers limited support for native mobile browsers on tablet devices. For additional details, please reference the limited-support mobile browser guidelines.
Log in from the app
- Click Find my school and type University of Pennsylvania
- Do not select Wharton Online or University of Pennsylvania-Law unless you have specific instructions from those programs.
- You will be directed to the login page to log in with your PennKey and password.
Access Textbook Content
After registering for classes, locate the required textbooks from the Penn Bookstore. Search for textbooks on the finder by entering the term, department, course number, and course section. Some instructors may assign a print textbook containing online exercises or a digital textbook, which may integrate with Canvas.
Instructors using digital textbooks typically post access instructions on Canvas and provide links to resources. It is good practice to log into Canvas and locate any information about your textbook before the start of classes.
Within Canvas, you can access digital textbook content via the course navigation menu:
- For Pearson textbooks, click Access Pearson
- For Cengage textbooks, click Cengage
- For McGraw-Hill textbooks, click McGraw-Hill Connect
Your instructor may also incorporate links to online textbook content within modules and pages on Canvas. Content from Elsevier, Norton, and VitalSource/CourseSmart textbooks may be integrated via a module or link. Your instructor will likely import grades from your online textbook assignments into the Canvas Gradebook for grading purposes.
Remember to regularly clear your browser cache on your PC or Mac to ensure that textbook content loads properly.
Copyrighted Material
Course reserves
Learn how to access copyrighted materials available for your course through the library’s course reserves program.
Other materials
As a student, it’s important to know how to correctly interact with copyright-protected material made available to you through a course or during your own research.
Most information shared in your courses is intended for your own personal use and should not be distributed to others.
Please familiarize yourself with the following resources and policies:
- Policy on Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources
- Penn’s Policy on Unauthorized Copying of Copyrighted Material
- Copyright Resources to Support Publishing and Teaching
Getting Help
Please contact your Local Support Provider or submit a request to canvas@pobox.upenn.edu.