UW LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES

Content Management

Canvas provides several tools and pathways for managing your course, and organizing and delivering your course content, depending upon your needs. Learn how to add and organize Files, adjust settings in the Gradebook, and create Student Groups to increase collaboration and facilitate group assignments.

 

CONTENT MANAGEMENT – BEST PRACTICES/TIPS AND TRICKS

  • Use Student View to test out the way that your course looks and operates. This is especially useful when you are still in the building stages, before the quarter begins.
  • Organize your files into folders to make it easier for both you and your students to find what you need.
  • Accidentally delete a part of your course? There may be hope! Go the Home page for your course and add “/undelete” to the end of the URL. This opens the undelete page where you may be able to recover and restore lost content that was already saved.
  • Modules provide structure for your course, making it easier for you to organize content and simpler for students to navigate.

 

CONTENT MANAGEMENT – FAQ

Course Home Page

How do I change the Course Home Page?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2554

What layout options are available in the Course Home Page

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2681

How do I use the Syllabus?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1860

 

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Draft State (Publish/Unpublish)

Canvas makes use of publishing and unpublishing, which they call draft state, to give you space to develop course content even after the course is open for students. When content is unpublished students cannot see or access it.

How do I publish a course?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2707

How do I use Draft State in Assignments?

(This model applies to all content types)

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2618

 

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Files

The Files section of your course is the storage area for content like readings in .pdf format or a printable copy of your syllabus. Canvas makes it easy to upload, organize, and control access to the files that you add to your course. You have 1GB of storage per course by default.

Files: Add Course Content – VIDEO (5:39)

https://community.canvaslms.com/videos/1111-files-add-course-content-instructors

How do I upload a file to a course?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2553

How do I upload ZIP files?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2754

How do I insert course files into the Rich Content Editor using the Content Selector?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1874

 

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Organizing and Managing Files

How do I create a folder in Files as an instructor?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2749

How do I move and organize my files as an instructor?

Note: By default, files are sorted alphabetically

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2729

How do I restrict files and folders to students in Canvas?

Canvas allows you to edit permissions to restrict student access to your files and/or folders. You can hide files entirely, make them only available to users who have the link, or add specific dates of availability.

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2770

How do I download files?

How do I preview a file as an instructor?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2761

How do I rename a file as an instructor?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2741

How do I delete a file or folder as an instructor?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2766

 

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Pages

Pages store content and educational resources that are part of a course but don’t necessarily belong in an assignment. Pages can include text, video, and links to files and other course content. Pages can also be linked to other pages. They can also be used as a collaboration tool for course or group wikis where only specific users can have access. Canvas keeps the entire history of the page to account for changes over time.

Pages: Creation and Management – VIDEO (4:59)

https://community.canvaslms.com/videos/1115-pages-creation-and-management-instructors

How do I set a Front Page in a course?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10204

How do I use the Pages Index Page?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10077

How do I view the history of a page in a course?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9969

 

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People

If your course is affiliated with the UW time schedule, then registered students will automatically be added to your Canvas course. However, you may wish to manage students manually or create student groups to help facilitate group work.

Overview of Student Groups – VIDEO

https://community.canvaslms.com/videos/1113-groups-creation-and-management-instructors

What are Groups?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10717

How do I add a group set?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9998

How do I automatically create groups?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2807

How do I manually create groups?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2798

How do I visit the student groups in my course?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2843

 

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Assignment Groups

Assignment Groups are a feature in Canvas that allows you to organize your assignments by type, determine how the gradebook is structured, drop grades, or weight the final grade.

How do I add an assignment group in a course?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10149

How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10059

 

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Gradebook

There are numerous settings within the Gradebook that will allow you greater control and flexibility of how you manage your course. It is possible to add notes, set a default grade, excuse assignments for specific students, import/export grades from a .csv file, and more.

Note: Dashes do not count toward the final grade. You must enter zeros or set a default grade if you want that grade to be counted. The default grade option can make this process easier in large courses.

How do I set a default grade for an assignment?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10150

How do I excuse an assignment for a student in the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10230

How do I hide student names in the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2792

How do I use grading history in the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9947

How do I sort columns in the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10173

How do I view grades for concluded student enrollments in the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10141

How do I view grades for inactive student enrollments in the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10018

How do I use the Notes column in the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10188

How do I view assignments or students individually in the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10310

How do I import ScorePacks into Canvas?

https://itconnect.uw.edu/learn/tools/canvas/canvas-help-for-instructors/assignments-grading/import-scorepacks/

 

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Muting Assignments

By default, grades entered into SpeedGrader or the Canvas Gradebook are automatically visible to students. Muting allows you to control when students have access to their grades and feedback. This gives you more flexibility on how and when you grade and the privacy to adjust or change grades and feedback without students being notified immediately. Muting is controlled on an individual assignment basis, and affects all students.

Note: In order to submit grades at the end of the quarter, all grades must be un-muted. Learn more…

How do I mute assignments from the Gradebook?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2823

How do I mute assignments from SpeedGrader?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2952

 

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Student View

Student View allows you to experience your Canvas course as a student. Every course has a unique Test Student, that can also be reset at any time. Student View is not bound by course-level publishing, so it can be used to test and see exactly what students can view and interact with, as you build your course.

Student View does not work with the following tools/features:

  • Attendance
  • Conferences
  • Conversations
  • Collaborations
  • Differentiated assignments
  • External apps
  • Groups
  • Peer reviews
  • Profiles

How do I view the course using a test student?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10058

 

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Course Navigation

Canvas allows you to reorder items in your course navigation or hide them to limit student access.

You may notice that items in the course navigation are greyed out. Greyed out items in course navigation can indicate either that those tabs are not visible to students or there is no content in that section (for example: if there are no pages or assignments in the course).

Pay close attention to any notes on navigation links that are automatically hidden from students. Disabling some of these links will cause loss of functionality, such as with Student Photos.

How do I reorder and hide Course Navigation links?

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2555

 

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