Other Essentials
Information Technology Services
The Information Technology Services Department helps students use and troubleshoot IT. Training materials (including this guide), documentation, and support are provided by the Center for Online Learning & Innovation. Both offices help students through the Canisius College ITS Helpdesk.
At any time, you can call or email the ITS Helpdesk, or go to their portal to get help with any problems, or answers to questions you may have concerning information technology in your courses.
Before beginning your coursework, scan the Quick Guide to Technology Services for Students to get a sense of what information technologies and support are available to you at Canisius College.
Microsoft 365
At Canisius you have a business-grade Microsoft 365 account, available by clicking that link under My Applications in the MyCanisius Portal. This grants you the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other popular MS Office Apps. You also have a OneDrive cloud storage account.
Google Tools
Your Gmail is part of a Canisius Google account, so you also have access to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, Meet, and so on, all part of the Google Workplace suite. Some professors use Google Drive as part of your course, so familiarize yourself with it, if you haven't used it before.
Tips
If you wish to use your smartphone to access coursework, you can access D2L via your web browser. Go to https://d2l.canisius.edu/ .
Install the Google Drive app for iOS or Android, and login using your Canisius Google Drive. (Username will be username@my.canisius.edu instead of your shorter email address.)
You may have used Google Docs or Apple Pages to create written assignment submissions you then handed in on paper. But your professor may ask you to hand these assignment submissions in through D2L dropboxes. Here's how to convert your Google Docs or .pages files to .docx format. This ensures that your professors have no trouble accessing your work.
You may need to do work on paper, and then submit it to a professor electronically. Use a camera scan app available on mobile devices. See this tutorial for one option on iOS: Microsoft Lens App. Android phones can also do this through the Google Drive app.
Where it is appropriate, try to help other students with procedural tasks. For example, if you find a really good tutorial on the web for using Microsoft Excel, suggest it to your professor to possibly pass on to students.