FAQs

Canvas is a web-based learning management system, or LMS. It is used by learning institutions, educators, and students to access and manage online course materials and to communicate about skill development and learning outcomes. 

All LBCC faculty receive a Canvas user account upon official college hire to teach credit and non-credit courses. Certain processes must happen first, such as being given a Google Workspace user account, which includes a college email address. Once all required processes have been satisfied, you will be able to authenticate into the Canvas system (bookmark it!). 

Canvas authentication is controlled via LBCC’s Google Workspace system. 

All LBCC "Instructors of Record" in Banner who are teaching a credit course and some non-credit classes with registered students will automatically have a Canvas course shell created for them. If you would like a Canvas development shell to experiment with, contact the LMS Team. 

Once logged into Canvas, your course(s) should appear on your Canvas dashboard. 

Inheriting an LMS Course from another instructor is available and may save time on developing your course. It will benefit you to discuss the option of processing a complete or partial course import with the instructor who created the course. Keep in mind that no two instructors develop and deliver the same course, so plan to spend time and effort adapting the course content you were provided to suit your and your students’ needs.   With Canvas, we have begun utilizing the Canvas Commons to allow different departments the ability to store course "templates" for instructors wishing to utilize previous content.  Each department has at least one Group Manager who grants access to these Commons Groups and access to the courses.  If this is of interest to you, please work with your department chair to obtain access.  The Center for Teaching Excellence is available to advise and support you.

The eLearning team maintains the eLearning Support Site, one-on-one training, and recorded training sessions to get you started. 

Due to FERPA requirements, Teacher and Student enrollments in Canvas academic courses are managed through an automated process tied to the Office of the Registrar's records.

For students, this means they must register for a course through the Office of the Registrar to be enrolled with a Student role in Canvas.  We allow Wait Listed (WL) students to access the course, but they must become fully Registered (RE) in Banner to continue without interruption, beginning with the 2nd week of the term.  All WL students who do not become fully registered by Monday of the 2nd week will be automatically dropped.

To have a Teacher role in an academic Canvas site, you must be listed as an instructor with 1% or more responsibility in Banner for the course. Only instructors with more than 1% responsibility will have Student Learning Experience surveys created for them. Learn more about roles in Canvas.

If you plan to teach a course and do not see it in Canvas, contact your departmental administrator or scheduler to ensure you are listed as the instructor of record in Banner. If you are listed as the instructor-of-record in Banner, it may take up to 24 hours for you to be added to the course section.  If 24 hours have passed and you still don't have access, please email the LMS administrators your course section(s) at lms-admins-lb@linnbenton.edu so they can locate your course.

Understanding the student perspective is a critical part of educational development and delivery.  

When you click the “View as Student” button in your Canvas course...

… you will be able to view and interact with your course as if you are in the student role. A new “Test Student” user will appear in your course, including the gradebook, to reflect any graded activity you undertook while viewing your course as a student.

Tutors have limited access to Canvas to better support students’ learning and engagement in the course. This access allows them to view course materials, such as the syllabus, assignments, calendar, and instructional resources, and, in some cases, to participate in or moderate discussions to reinforce content and answer questions. Tutors collaborate with instructors and students both inside and outside of class to provide academic support, but they do not have access to grades or instructor permissions. Their role is supportive and facilitative, focused on helping students navigate course expectations and strengthen their understanding of the material.   Editing teachers in a Canvas course should partner with Tutoring Services to ensure the ease of enrollment with a college-assigned tutor in your Canvas course.

The Observer role is for any approved LBCC employee for observational purposes and can be enrolled in individual courses by Canvas Teachers, or by prefix (ART, BI, COMM, etc.) by Canvas Administrators. 

LBCC offers additional Canvas roles, but these are assigned only in special circumstances and must ensure compliance with FERPA regulations.   Learn more about the different roles in Canvas.   Contact the Office of the Registrar with any FERPA-related questions.

Please consult the DDA Considerations Checklist before moving forward. Instructors using DDA on a publisher-provided eBook will need the Teacher role in Canvas. For more information about DDA textbooks, please contact the LBCC Bookstore. 

You can use the LMS Multiple CRN Enrollment Form to initiate auto-enrollment of students registered for multiple CRNs into a single Canvas course shell.  Please note: this form can only be processed before graded activity occurs in your Canvas course, and it will be closed at the end of business on Friday of the first week of each term.  Only the instructor of record should submit this form.  After you complete the form, you will be taken to a page where you can edit your response.  Also, you will receive an automated email message containing your responses, so you know that your form submission was received.  We process these requests in batches and will send you an eMail message once yours is complete. 

Canvas notifications settings

If your textbook publisher offers a question bank you would like to use, please contact the eLearning Team for best practices and assistance. You may have access to a plain-text or MS Word document that lists questions and an answer key; the Not Forsaking the Aiken document outlines the process for importing Aiken-formatted quiz questions into Canvas. The eLearning Team also offers software to help you convert quiz questions from other Learning Management Systems and Publisher sites.  We’ve also had success using AI (such as ChatGPT) to assist with crafting Aiken-formatted questions and answers for import into Canvas. 

Textbook publishers often provide access to supplemental learning material that you may wish to take advantage of in your Canvas course. Check with your publisher representative to see what materials are available. The eLearning Team has assisted faculty in importing test banks, lecture notes, and eBooks.

Respondus Test Bank Network - Check to see if Respondus already has your publisher's test bank available. 

1. In your canvas course grades area, click the “Export” dropdown and select "Export entire gradebook".

2. Submit grades to Banner

​​We maintain courses on our LMS that instructors can reference for 365 days plus 14 days. After this period, they are archived but remain accessible to the LMS Team. We are happy to create a Development Shell for you based on the original course, if needed. If so, please contact the LMS Administrators with the CRN, URL, and/or name of the course in question. 

The LMS Team offers individualized training in instructional design, best practices, audiovisual integrations, and the myriad Canvas tools available. Please contact the LMS Team to schedule a session. Currently, sessions are handled through the College’s Zoom accounts. Please send a Zoom request via eMail: lms-admins-lb@linnbenton.edu.

Book an appointment:

Eric Bryant

Please refer your students to the Student Tech Support desk, which is equipped to support their technology needs. 

For instructional technology support in your physical classroom, visit the Classroom Support site.

Contact the Staff Help Desk for assistance with LBCC-provided computers, software, etc. 

Instructional: lms-admins-lb@linnbenton.edu

Administrative: staff.helpdesk@linnbenton.edu (on the web) 

I can't log in to Canvas. What are my first steps?

1. Canvas authentication is tied to your LBCC Google account, so it’s easier to log in to Canvas (bookmark it!) in the same browser that you are logged in to your college Gmail, Calendar, Drive, etc.

2. The Staff Tech Support desk is equipped to help you with Google and Canvas access.

3. Call (541) 917-4333 or email staff.helpdesk@linnbenton.edu 

Is Canvas down? 

The LBCC IS dashboard can be checked to see the status of most college tools. 

Is TurnItIn down? 

TurnItIn sends out tweets about its status. See their Twitter feed for more information. 

Faculty Dev & eLearning Calendar 

Subscribe to the Faculty Dev & eLearning Calendar. It contains important information on LMS and peripheral technology upgrades, scheduled downtime, training opportunities, and more.

I deleted something in my course. Now what? 

Canvas has a Restore Deleted Items (“recycle bin”) function that temporarily stores deleted activities and resources. Adding “/undelete” to the end of your Canvas course home page URL will take you to the “Restore Deleted Items” page, where you can… well, restore deleted items: 

https://linnbenton.instructure.com/courses/XXXXX/undelete