Canvas is the learning management system (LMS) used at UC Santa Cruz. It serves as a central hub where you can access course materials, submit assignments, and view your grades. Most courses will include the syllabus, assignments, and other key materials. You’ll also find links to course tools like Zoom, Announcements, and Grades.
If you're new to Canvas, take a moment to get familiar—this student guide is a great place to start.
For help with Canvas, click the Help button from Canvas menu to search guides, chat with support, or call the support line (844) 215-6973 (both chat and call are available 24/7). You can also email canvas.help@ucsc.edu to create a ticket with ITS.
Here are a few things you should know about Canvas:
Tracking: Canvas keeps track of what pages you visit and when you turn in work. All submissions are timestamped, so your instructor can see when you submit assignments, quizzes, or posts.
Notifications: You can choose how often you get updates from Canvas. Notification settings apply to all of your courses unless you set notification settings for individual courses.
Time Zone: Canvas shows due dates in your set local time. All UCSC courses are set to Pacific Time, so change your time zone if you’re in a different location. Learn how to change your time zone here.
Grades:
How to view your grades and check for instructor comments on your submission.
Use What-If Grades to understand how your grade may be affected by upcoming assignments
The Canvas Student mobile app allows you to access your courses and groups using a mobile device or tablet. You can submit assignments, participate in discussions, view grades and course materials. The app also provides access to course calendars, To Do items, notifications, and Conversations messages.
There’s a lot you can do with the Canvas Student mobile app, but you still need access to a computer to complete some assignments.
If you don’t have access to a computer, email deanofstudents@ucsc.edu for information about the Slug Support laptop loaner program. There are also laptop checkouts available in the McHenry Library.
Visit the Canvas Mobile guide for additional help with the Canvas app.
Canvas has two accessibility tools available: Microsoft Immersive Reader and SensusAccess.
Microsoft Immersive Reader is a full screen reading experience to increase readability of a page and allows anyone to customize how they read text. Some features include: customize the font size, background color, letter spacing, line focus, highlight parts of speech, read aloud without a screen reader, translation, and picture dictionary.
SensusAccess converts Canvas documents into a range of alternative formats including Braille, mp3, Daisy, and e-books for the visually and reading impaired. This service can also be used to convert inaccessible formats such as image PDFs to accessible formats.
To learn more about these tools and how you may benefit from using them, visit this Accessibility Tools in Canvas page.
Canvas has produced a Student Tour video series to help you learn how to get the most from this online environment, from reading content to posting discussions and submitting assignments. The tutorial videos can be viewed in any order.
Total viewing time for all videos is ~ 35 minutes and the videos will open in a new window.