Getting Started

Canvas is an LMS, which stands for Learning Management System. This means the system is an integrated set of tools for use in online, hybrid, and face-to-face courses. All of the tools you might find individually in other places, discussions boards, online assignment submission, collaboration tools, exist in one place with a single login.

Thanks to the built-in backend database you can create content, like an Assignment, in a single place and it automatically shows up multiple places in your course, the Calendar, the Assignment list, the Assignments page, and as an entry in the Gradebook.

Benefits of an LMS:

Easily move content between quarters
All student data in one place
Integrated tools save you work – make a change in once place and it updates across the system!

IT Connect has a page to walk you through some of the things you should consider at the start of the quarter, especially if you’re new to Canvas.
https://itconnect.uw.edu/learn/tools/canvas/canvas-help-for-instructors/getting-started/beginning-of-quarter/

GETTING STARTED – BEST PRACTICES/TIPS AND TRICKS

Set your notifications! Canvas can give you lots of information or just a little, it’s up to you. Try different settings until you discover the right balance.
Take some time to add a picture to your account, to start creating your identity online.

GETTING STARTED – FAQ

When is my course available?

Official, for-credit courses which appear in the UW Time Schedule are automatically provisioned into Canvas and are made available up to two quarters prior to when they will be taught. However, you must be made Instructor of Record via your departmental Time Schedule Coordinator in order to have access to the course shell in Canvas.

https://itconnect.uw.edu/learn/tools/canvas/canvas-help-for-instructors/getting-started/course-available/

What if I don’t see my course?

https://itconnect.uw.edu/learn/tools/canvas/canvas-help-for-instructors/getting-started/dont-see-my-course/

What are the supported and appropriate uses of Canvas?

https://itconnect.uw.edu/learn/tools/canvas/canvas-use-policy/

How can I use Canvas to publicize my individual course description (ICD) in MyPlan?

https://itconnect.uw.edu/learn/tools/canvas/use-canvas-to-publicize-your-individual-course-description/

How can I learn more about the UW Canvas course template?

https://itconnect.uw.edu/learn/tools/canvas/canvas-help-for-instructors/getting-started/canvas-course-template/

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Dashboard

Navigation

The purple bar on the left-hand side of the Canvas interface is the Global navigation. Items in the Global navigation are system-wide and apply to all of your courses. Once you’ve entered a course the list of items you see to the far left, starting with Home, are the Course Navigation. Items in the Course navigation direct you to resources inside a single course.