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CANVAS by Instructure is the LMS platform for Westmont College faculty and students.   On this page you will find all the information and links to information you will need to use this academic tool.

  • Sign In To Canvas

Instructors

REMOTE CONNECTION FEATURES

Video Meetings

Zoom Video is available for all Canvas courses.  If you want to use this feature, just go to Westmont.zoom.us and click on "Sign In" and an account will be created for you.  This will allow you to connect with students at a distance, share your screen with them and have discussions.  This feature may also be used to provide virtual office hours.

IF YOU DO NOT SEE ZOOM IN YOUR CANVAS COURSE: Where is my zoom - go to Settings in your course (left side column) and then click on Navigation.  There are two lists ... the top one is what is viewable in your course and the bottom one is items that are hidden.  Just find Zoom on the bottom list and drag it up to the top list.  Click on Save at the bottom of the page and you are all set.  You can do this with any other items that you want to see or do not want to see on your navigation column.
Getting Started With Zoom Video Conferencing

Video Recording using Canvas Studio - 

- Record a Screen cast - You will be asked to do a one time download of screen recording software

- Record using a webcam - You will be able to make a video and audio recording

- Add your video to your course - How to add your recording to an Assignment or Announcement in your course.

Google Docs

Westmont provides access to the Google Apps suite for all Students and Faculty.  Google Docs can be effortlessly integrated with Canvas so you can work on shared documents with your students.   

For more information on integrating Google Docs with Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

 

CANVAS basic course set up

The list below is a condensed group of instructions to help you get started using Canvas.  For more information, check out Canvas Guides.

Setting Up a Course Home Page

Select Choose Home Page from the navigation menu on the right side of your course to configure a home page.

For more information on creating a course home page in Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

Creating Assignments

Set up your scheduled readings, quizzes, activities etc.  Creating assignments allows you to define due dates or when materials can be viewed by students.  Assignments also allow you to create groups for collaborative work.  The creation of assignments populates the Syllabus section of Canvas and connects these activities to your class calendar.

For more information on creating assignments in Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

Modules

Modules are one great way to organize your assignments once you have created them.  Using modules, you can set when course materials will become available to students, track student progress, and set requirements that must be met before students can move on to the next module.

For more information on using modules in your Canvas course, View The Canvas Guide 

File Management

You can upload presentation slides, docs, pdfs to use in your course.  Please limit your use of videos to inserting links to videos (YouTube or Vimeo share private links) as opposed to actually uploading video files into to your course.

For more information on using files in your Canvas course, View The Canvas Guide 

Publishing Your Course

Courses must be published before students can view and interact with your course content.  On your course Home Page, click on Publish to enable your course in Canvas.  

For more information on publishing courses in Canvas, View the Canvas Guide 

Publishing Your Content

Both individual Assignments and Modules need to be published (click on cloud icon to right of name of item to make it green) for your students to view and interact with this content - Even if course is published. Assignments and Modules can be left unpublished if you want and then published later to control when students have access to these items.

Filtering The Dashboard

Use this feature to choose which of your courses you see in your Home or Dashboard view.  
Click on Courses in your sidebar, click on All Courses and star the ones you want to see on your Dashboard. To FILTER THE DASHBOARD in a Canvas course: Click on Courses on the far left navigation column and then All Courses.  You will see a list of current and past courses you have been enrolled in.  Click on the star next to the name of any course you want to show up on your dashboard turning the star yellow.  Only courses that have yellow stars will show up on your dashboard.  This does not remove the course but it does hide it from view.  You can always return to this area to change your selections.

 

Grading

SpeedGrader makes it easy to evaluate individual student assignments and group assignments quickly.  
For more information on using SpeedGrader, View The Canvas Guide

Gradebook helps instructors easily view and enter grades for students. Depending on the Grade display type, grades for each assignment can be viewed as points, percentage, complete or incomplete, GPA scale, or letter grade.  
For more information on using the Gradebook, View The Canvas Guide

Weighted Grading can be configured for different assignments using Assignment Groups.
For more information on weighted grading, View The Canvas Guide

Student View

To view your course from the perspective of your students, use Student View.  Use this feature to see how your course components look to your students.

For more information on using student view, View The Canvas Guide

EXAMS AND QUIZZES

Creating tests in Canvas

Tests you create in Canvas are not proctored, so they work more like a take home exams.  Here are some examples of different ways to do this:
Quiz Basic Info 
Essay Exam 
Multiple Choice 
File Upload 

Test/Quiz Settings

Several settings can be adjusted on quizzes/tests to shuffle answers, set a time limit, allow students to see incorrect responses, etc.

For more information on Tests/Quizzes in Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

Essay Exams

For exams that involve essays you can click on Assignments and choose Online submission. Then you can opt for Text Entry, File Uploads, Media Recordings, and enable TurnItIn Submissions. You can also set a day and time when the submission link becomes available, a day and time when the submission is due, and a day and time when the submission link becomes unavailable.

Timed and Un-Timed Tests

If you want to have an untimed exam, create an assignment.  If you want a timed final, create a quiz (you can write an essay in the quiz and you can set the time to finish).  

 

ADDING AND REMOVING STUDENTS

Student Rosters

Your course and student rosters are connected to our campus database and will be automatically and regularly refreshed until the Add/Drop date of the semester.  After the add/drop date has passed, students will need to be removed or added manually.

Removing Students

Students can be removed from your course once they are off your official roster by following the steps below:

  1. Select Courses in the sidebar.
  2. Once you have selected the course, select People.
  3. Find the student you want to remove and select  ⋮
  4. Select Remove From Course to remove the student from your course.

MORE BASIC INFO

Syllabus

The syllabus feature in Canvas is populated as you create assignments.  These are also automatically linked to your course calendar.  If you would like to make your official class syllabus available on Canvas, you can still upload it as a file to any section of your course (Pages is a good place to do this).

For more information on using the syllabus feature in Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

Calendar

The Calendar feature in Canvas allows you to create events, upload and associate files with those events, set up scheduled "office hour" type events using Scheduler and more.

For more information on using the calendar feature in Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

Conversations

Use Conversations to send a message to students enrolled in your course, send a messages to yourself (displays in your Sent folder), reply to messages from students enrolled in your course, filter conversations by course or type, and view and reply to assignment submission comments.

For more information about using the conversations feature in Canvas, View the Canvas Guide 

Canvas App for Teachers

Download the Canvas app for use on your Apple or Android devices.  Canvas Teacher gives you on the go access to many of the features of the Canvas LMS in a convenient mobile app and allows greater interaction with your course while you are on the go.

  • Canvas Teacher - iOS
  • Canvas Teacher - Android

Tips & Shortcuts

Canvas Community
Learn tips and tricks about implementing Canvas for your courses and discover some of Canvas' best kept secrets.

Visit The Canvas Community 

Canvas Commons
The Canvas Commons is a web resource with many course related templates, tips from Canvas users and valuable information and communication from the Canvas Users community.  Also you can save any course or course content to Canvas Commons to use or refer to in the future.  Access permissions for uploaded content in the Canvas Commons can be set at varying levels to suit your needs (personal, department, all of Westmont, all of Canvas community).  To access the Canvas Commons, click the link below.

Visit the Canvas Commons


 


Students

Canvas LMS (Learning Management System) is a helpful tool for interacting with your course materials, professor and classmates.  Here are some links with basic getting started information to help you get the most out of your learning experience.

 

GETTING STARTED

Navigating Courses

If you are enrolled in a course as a student, the Course Home Page helps you navigate your course and manage your coursework.

For more information on navigating your courses, View The Canvas Guide  

Contacting Support

Access our on-campus Canvas support by clicking on the Help link in your left-side navigation bar.  Choose the help option best suited to your situation.

For more information on using the Canvas Help menu, View The Canvas Guide

Viewing Your Grades

The Grades page in a course displays all current grades for all course assignments. You can also view scoring details, comments, rubrics, and filter grades by grading period.

For more information on accessing your grades on Canvas, View the Canvas Guide

Viewing Your Assignments

View all assignments in your course by using the Assignments link in your left-side navigation bar.  By default, Assignments are organized into four categories:  Overdue Assignments, Upcoming Assignments, Undated Assignments, and Past Assignments.

For more information on viewing your assignments in Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

Using the Calendar

The Calendar is a great way to view everything you have to do for all your courses in one place. You can view calendar events by day, week, month, or agenda list. The calendar also includes access to the Scheduler, which is an optional scheduling tool in Canvas.

For more information on how to use the Calendar, View The Canvas Guide

Using Conversations

Conversations is the messaging tool used instead of email to communicate with a course, a group, another individual student, or a group of students. You can communicate with other people in your course at any time.

For more information on using Conversations to communicate with your instructor and classmates, View The Canvas Guide

Using Discussions

Canvas provides an integrated system for class discussions, allowing both instructors and students to start and contribute to as many discussion topics as desired. Discussions allows for interactive communication between two or more people; users can participate in a conversation with an entire class or group.

For more information on using Discussions to communicate with your instructor and classmates, View The Canvas Guide

Creating An ePortfolio

ePortfolios are a place where you can display and discuss the significant submissions and experiences that are happening during your learning process.  You can use an ePortfolio to publicly display work you are proud of for friends, educators, future employers, etc., and talk about the thought and work that went into your submissions and your educational experience as a whole.

For more information on the creation of ePortfolios in Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

Setting Notification Preferences

​Notifications are sent as one of four delivery types: notify me right away, daily summary, weekly summary, or don't send. If you change a setting, the change is made immediately to your account.  Notification settings are global, and apply to all of your enrolled courses in Canvas.

For more information on how to set your notification preferences in Canvas, View The Canvas Guide

Canvas Mobile App For Students

Download the Canvas app for use on your Apple or Android devices.  Canvas Student gives you on the go access to many of the features of the Canvas website in a convenient mobile app.

  • Canvas Student - iOS
  • Canvas Student - Android

Knowledge Base

To find answers to FAQs and other useful information about Canvas, Search The Canvas Guide

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