Frequently Asked Questions

1. Go to the Los Rios Single Sign-on page. Use your w-ID and password to log in to Canvas.

2. Select Canvas from the list of applications

3. You will be taken to the Canvas Dashboard, which lists all your “favorite” courses.

You may find this Canvas Guide entry helpful: How to use the Dashboard

1. Canvas Guide: Set up your Canvas Course in 30 minutes or less (5 videos)

2. Canvas Community Blog: 5 things to Easily Get your Canvas Class Going

3. Canvas Community Blog: Home Page & Sample Module Template

1. Cross-listing can be done three times per year between terms (after grades are due and before the official start date): early January, late May and early June, and mid-August

2. Video demonstration: Canvas - Cross-listing Courses at CRC

1. To customize the courses visible on your Dashboard, view all courses by clicking on the “Courses” link in the Global Navigation menu (far left).

   1. Each course has a star icon to the left of the course name.

   2. Filled-in stars are the favorites, those will appear on your Dashboard.

2. To remove a course from your favorites, click the star to deselect that course. This Canvas Guide might be helpful: customize my course list

1. How to publish your course

1. View your Files area

2. Create folders for your files (organizing by week or chapter will really help)

3. Bulk upload the files your folder

Or upload files individually

We recommend using Modules and Pages to organize your course materials, including any lecture videos.

Create Modules for each Chapter or Week of class

1. How to use the Modules area

2. Create a Module

3. Add content to your Module

   1. How to add a assignments and pages to your Module

   2. Although you can directly link to files and websites from the Modules area, we encourage you to place those files on a Page (see instructions below). When placed on a page, you can include instructions for how students should interact with the files and also provide review questions, etc.

4. When you’ve finished adding everything to your Module, Publish the Module

Create Pages to share your course content

1. How do I create a Page?

2. How do I add content (edit) a page?

   1. Using the Rich Content Editor to add and edit text on a Page

3. Add course files to a Page and include instructions for how to use those files. Example file types: .pptx, .docx, .pdf

If you haven’t already uploaded your files to Canvas, here’s how you can upload them as you edit your page.

We recommend that you include instructions for what students should do as they watch the videos

How can I create videos to add to my Page?

You can create videos by using a webcam or screen capture software, or both. Studio and Zoom are good options for this. Please see separate FAQ for how to use Studio and Zoom.

Add a video you’ve recorded via zoom by sharing the link to the recording

1. How to create a hyperlink to web content

2. How to share link to Zoom recording

   1. Sign in to zoom.us

   2. On the left-hand menu, click Recordings

   3. From the list, select the recording you’d like to share

   4. Click Share

   5. Copy the web address and paste it to your Canvas Page or Announcement as a hyperlink.

Embed a YouTube video

1. In YouTube, find the video you want to share

2. Click Share and copy the web address (url) from the pop-up box.

3. Open your page for editing

4. From the Rich Content Editor toolbar, select the blue V icon (more external tools)

5. Select YouTube from the drop-down list

6. Paste the YouTube web address (url) in the search box. Click Enter

7. When the video appears, select “Embed”.

Embed a Films On Demand video

1. Open your page for editing

2. From the Rich Content Editor, select the red Films on Demand icon

3. Type in the name of the video or a keyword into the search box

4. Locate the video you’d like to share from the list.

5. Click Embed.

• If you’re using any resources that are on the web, you can link to them from a Content page.

• How to create a hyperlink in the Rich Content Editor

• How to publish your page

Announcements

Announcements are messages that are sent to all students in your course. Good for welcoming students to your course, weekly updates, reminders, etc.

1. How do I create an Announcement?

2. How do I delay posting an Announcement until a specific date?

The Canvas Inbox

The Inbox is a great place for individual communication with a student. Most students use the Canvas Student App, and these students will receive a text message or alert on their phone when you send them a message. In other words, they’re more likely to get the message than an email.

1. How do I use the Inbox?

2. How do I send a message to a student in my class?

3. How do I reply to a message I received from a student?

4. How do I sort for unread messages?

Update Notification preferences (students should do this too)

Canvas allows you to set your Notification preferences. For example, you can request to have a message sent to your work email every time a student sends you a message from the Canvas Inbox. Students can request to receive texts or alerts when you post Announcements, send them a message, or when a deadline is approaching. Please encourage your students to update their Notification preferences if they have not already.

Discussions

If your on-campus course often involves a lot of discussion during class meetings, you may want to consider using Canvas Discussions.

1. What are Discussions?

2. How do I create a Discussion?

   1. When you create your discussion instructions, here are some things to keep in mind

      • Include the due date right at the top

      • Design a prompt that is open-ended and allows for students to bring in outside information and multiple perspectives. This will result in more participation than asking students to all answer the same question.

      • Be very clear in your instructions. Should students only post their answer to your prompt, or should they also respond to at least one (or two) classmates? How are you going to grade them (consider a Rubric)

3. How do I assign a graded Discussion to everyone in my class?

4. How do I participate in the Discussion?

5. How do I use SpeedGrader to assign Grades for a Discussion?

   1. How do I get to SpeedGrader?

SpeedGrader is an awesome feature in Canvas that allows you to grade student work without leaving Canvas. You can preview students’ submissions, annotate on them, provide feedback, and assign grades all in one location.

1. How do I use SpeedGrader?

2. How do I get to SpeedGrader from an Assignment, Quiz, or Discussion?

3. How do I grade a file upload submission? (papers, reports, etc.)

   • How do I add annotations to document submissions in SpeedGrader?

   • How do my students view my annotations?

4. How do I grade a text-entry submission? (quick checks for understanding, muddiest points, etc.)

5. How do I leave feedback for my students in SpeedGrader?

   • How do my students view my feedback?

6. How do I grade Quiz questions in SpeedGrader?

   • Some questions are automatically graded by Canvas. Others may require you to input scores (fill in the blank, essay, etc)

Canvas has several different types of Quizzes: graded quiz, practice quiz, graded survey, and ungraded survey. Most likely you’re going to be interested in graded quizzes, as these most closely resemble an exam. Keep in mind that these quizzes are “open book”, as enforcing closed-book exams online is really difficult.

1. How do I create a graded quiz?

2. How do I create a question bank? (for selecting questions to create a “random block”

3. How do I create a question group that is linked to a question bank?

4. How do I use the moderate quiz feature to give students more time or additional attempts?

5. Can I import a word document or excel file to create a question bank?

   • No. Canvas only accepts quiz imports as QTI files.

6. My students can’t see my Quiz! Publish your Quiz.

7. How do my students take a quiz?

8. How do my students view their graded Quiz?

One of the easiest ways to transition from on-ground to online, is to create file submission assignments. That way, students can complete their homework or activities by editing a file that you provide to them.

1. How do I create an Assignment?

2. What options do I have when creating an assignment?

3. How do I provide a homework file for students to modify and submit? Link to files using the Rich Content Editor (just like with Pages).

4. How do I use peer review assignments in a course?

5. My students can’t see my Assignment! Publish your Assignment.

6. How do students submit their files?

   • From hard drive

   • From Google Drive

   • From Office 365