If you want to search for a certain topic, use CTRL + F on your keyboard to open a search box.

Access to Canvas

What’s the best way to have students enter Canvas?

Send them to the NWACC homepage. Use the Login button on the upper right and choose Canvas to login.

Is there a direct link to Canvas?

Yes, there is: https://nwacc.instructure.com

I have students who say they can’t see my course in Canvas. Why not?

Have you published your course? Students don't see anything unless you publish. Also note that student enrollments are added to Canvas every two hours. That means students who enroll late are not instantly added to your class. Please ask them to contact us if they do not see your class in Canvas after two hours: dl@nwacc.edu

Accommodations

I have a student who requires extra quiz testing time through the DRC. Is there a way to individually increase the length of time for a quiz per student?

For Classic Quizzes: This page gives the instructions to adjust Classic Quiz duration for an individual. A couple things to note:

- - The quiz has to be published or you will not see the Moderate This Quiz option.
  - Time added for a particular student is additive, meaning you only have to put the extra time beyond what the quiz is already set for. For example, if everyone already gets 60 minutes, you only need to add the number of extra minutes for the student. So if they need 1.5 time, you would put the extra 30 in the “Extra time on every attempt” box, not the whole 90.

For New Quizzes: This page gives the instructions to adjust accommodations for a student for all their New Quizzes. To adjust a single New Quiz, see this page for instructions.

I had a student who missed taking a quiz. Can I open up the quiz again just to that one student? How?

Yes you can! Here’s the procedure:

1. 1. Go into the quiz and the Edit page.
  2. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click on the “+ Add” at the bottom of the Assign area.
  3. In the Assign to box, start to type the student’s name. Her/his name will appear on a list – click on the correct name and it will populate the Assign to box. You’ll note that the section above above now says “Everybody Else”.
  4. Set the dates for that one student. Note that the “Everybody Else” section will retain the original dates.
  5. Click Save & Publish.

I have a student who was trying to take an exam and said she got kicked out. Can I reset her exam so she can take it again?

There isn’t a way to reset a quiz, but you can add an additional attempt for the student. There are a couple different ways to do this:

- - Classic Quizzes: through Moderate Quiz or through the Quiz Results screen. Full instructions are here.
  - New Quizzes: manage additional attempts. Full instructions are here.

Announcements

I imported all my Announcements from my previous class. How can I hide announcements that I am not ready to show to students yet?

ALL your announcements will show to students unless you put a delay date on them! There is no way to hide announcements unless you add a delay date. Alternative method: If you use the same announcements every term, copy them into a Word document and save it, delete the announcements in your Canvas class, then re-post them as you go through the semester. Switch to Student View to be sure you have the correct items showing.

Does the announcement also send an email copy to me? I didn’t get an email of the announcement I sent this morning.

Yes, but you have to adjust your personal notifications if you want to get a copy. Go to Account > Notifications > and switch to the ‘right away’ (green check) option for “Announcement Created by You”.

I don’t like the way the three announcements at the top of the homepage pushes everything down the screen. Can I reduce this to just the most recent one? How?

Yes! Go to Settings on the left menu, and scroll down on the Course Details tab to the section “Show recent announcements on the course home page”. There is a dropdown that will allow you to reduce the number of announcements – “1” will show only the most recent announcement. WARNING: Don’t increase this number beyond 3! You are required to have the green student resource buttons at the TOP of the homepage, and a higher number will push them too far down the page.

I want to change my announcements on the Home page so that students only see the most recent. I followed the directions you gave earlier, but I am still not seeing Course Details. What am I doing wrong?

After you enter Settings, there is a row of tabs at the very top that is easy to miss (see picture below). Click on the one called Course Details. Then scroll down to the section “Show recent announcements on the course home page”. Reduce the number of announcements to “1” to show only the most recent announcement.

Are announcements sent out to students as an email notification before the start date of the class if I publish the course early?

No. Announcements that are posted to the class won't go out as an email notification before the class start date. Announcements with a delay date will be sent to students if the date is after the start date of the term (but see caveat about copied announcements below). However, you can use Inbox email to contact your students once the course is published, even before the start date of the term.

If I copy over Announcements from a previous Canvas class, will an email notification go out if I update the announcement?

Copied announcements will go out as an email notification if:

1. - You add or change the announcement’s delay date to a future date that comes after the official start date of the class.
  - And if the course is published.

I put links to Canvas pages and other course items in my announcements. Will those update for the new course when I copy my announcements?

No, they won’t. Just like any link, they will remain linked to the same location. So links in copied announcements will still point back to the previous course, which your students cannot access. The links will still work for you since you are also enrolled in the previous course, but not for your students. Your best option is to not put links to course items in the announcement, but tell them how to find the item instead (“Go to the left menu and click on Modules, and look for the item called Research Paper Instructions in the module called Term Paper”).

Assignments

What is the difference between an assignment due date and availability dates?

Due date is the date the assignment is due. Availability dates are when you want the students to have access to the assignment before and/or after the due date. More information is available here.

What does ‘no submission’ mean? Where do you find it, and when would you use it?

‘No submission’ is a Submission Type option under assignment settings. You would use it when you want to create a gradebook column for something students have done in the classroom. For example, for an activity or attendance points. You create an assignment with ‘no submission’ (since students are not actually submitting anything), and then you can add their grades to the Canvas gradebook. It does not create a place for students to submit anything in Canvas, just a column in the gradebook so you can add a grade. Contact dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance or more information.

I noticed Plagiarism Review as a feature on the Edit screen for assignments. This scans the student paper when they submit. Is there a feature that would allow me to also scan student work apart from the student submission? Do we have something like that?

Yes, we do! We use a tool called Turnitin for our plagiarism detection tool in Canvas. Turnitin allows us to set up an instructor account for you on their website where you can scan student work independent of Canvas submissions. Contact Digital Learning dl@nwacc.edu if you would like one of these accounts.

I unpublished a bunch of assignments. Why are they still showing on the Course Summary?

ALL assignments, unpublished also, still appear on the Course Summary to the instructor. Only the published ones appear to students. Switch over to Student View to verify.

How can I annotate student submissions when grading?

In Speedgrader there is a text box for a number grade and a box for feedback comments. You can also use the toolbar at the top of the left document pane to write directly on the document. Note that the annotation feature works only on the File Uploads submission type, not on the Text Entry option. More information about annotating student submissions here.

Canvas App

When I look at the student app, I can’t see my test student grades. Is that only something I can see in the teacher app?

For the student app – that is correct. For more information about the teacher app, consult the Canvas guide for your device.

Course Copy

I copied some content from another Canvas course, and the students are saying they can’t access it. I can see it just fine, and don’t know why they can’t. Any idea?

Most likely you have links that still point back to an old class that your current students cannot access. Contact us at dl@nwacc.edu for assistance.

Is there an easy way to find out if I’ve linked something incorrectly?

Yes, you can use the Validate Links in Content function on the Settings page (link on the right side) to check your links. Note that the Student Resources and Canvas Support buttons on your homepage will be flagged but that’s OK. Contact us at dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance.

Course Menu

How can I add links to the left course menu?

You can’t, but there are other options. You can put links on a page and make the page available to your students instead. Contact dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance.

I have links on my left course menu that I don’t need. How do I get rid of them?

If you a not using some of the left menu items, you need to hide them so the students don’t get confused. Click on Settings at the bottom of the menu, then the Navigation tab at the top. Drag top section items down to the bottom section to hide them. And don’t forget to hit the Save button!

What is that LockDown Browser link on the left course menu? How do I keep the students from seeing that link?

Respondus LockDown Browser (LDB) locks the students into a browser window when they are taking a test so they can’t surf the internet while testing. Even though it’s not grayed out, students don’t actually see the LDB link on the left course menu – only instructors see it. Switch over to Student View to verify. Contact Digital Learning at dl@nwacc.edu if you’d like to know more about LDB.

Dashboard

My Canvas dashboard is a mess! Way too many courses. What can I do to clean it up?

First, you can drag those dashboard course cards around as needed. Left click on the card and drag it where you want it. You can also go to Courses on the left gray menu > All Courses at the bottom, and star/un-star classes as needed. Note that some courses may not star/un-star if they are in past/future terms, so dragging courses around on your dashboard may be your best bet. Contact dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance.

Where did all those old course cards go? I am glad they are not on my dashboard, but can I still access them?

Yes! Courses go into a ‘completed’ archive state at the end of the term, which removes them from your dashboard. Go to Courses on the left gray menu and click on All Courses. You can enter old courses from there and you can download and copy content. However, you cannot edit the course. Copy it to a new course to make any changes.

Discussions

My students are having a hard time knowing how to reply to discussions. What advice do you have?

Students are dependent on you to help them navigate Canvas. Post something like this at the end of your discussion questions: “Respond to this discussion by clicking on the Reply link below. You can reply to others by using the Reply link right below their comment.”

I went to Speedgrader to grade a file attached to a discussion, and I cannot locate the annotation tools on the top bar in the document frame. Is this normal?

Yes. The annotation tools are only in the Speedgrader for files uploaded to Assignments, not discussions.

Can I email a student directly from a discussion?

In the discussion, click on the name of the student who has posted, and a side card will pop out with a little envelope next to the student name near the top. Click on that to message/email the student.

I teach an online class, and noticed that under Discussions the order of the discussions keeps changing. Although I don’t have that page showing to my students (I use modules for the weekly content), I would like the discussions to remain in a certain order. Why do they keep moving around?

You’ll notice the Discussions page has three sections: Pinned Discussions, Discussions, and Closed for Comments. When you create a discussion, it is automatically added to the Discussions section, which is ordered by recent activity. In other words, whichever discussion has the most recent posting will always pop to the top of that list. If you want to see a static list, drag your discussions up to the Pinned Discussions section. This makes no difference functionally to the students, but will keep them in order.

Email

How the heck do I email a student or the whole class?

If students are loaded into your course (in the People tab), please see the Canvas Inbox tutorial here. You can also send messages through the Canvas Teacher app. If students aren't yet in your Canvas course, please reference this guide to go through Workday to access your roster.

What are these mysterious emails I keep getting called 'submission comments'? They seem to come from my students but they are not in my Inbox. What are they and where can I find them?

Students can add a submission comment when they submit an assignment to Canvas. They have a text box on the submission page for this purpose. Canvas sends you a copy of their comments by email so you will be aware if there is a question or problem. You can view all the submission comments in your Inbox, using the right drop-down menu > Submission Comments, and you can reply from there as needed. Your reply will also be appended to the assignment comments. More information can be found here.

I am trying to email 20 of my 24 students. What are the options for only emailing part of my class?

In the Inbox, you can click to select each student you wish to include in the email. If you wish to contact students based on an assignment outcome, you should look at the “Message students who” function in the gradebook. You can also set up a column for an activity that takes place outside of Canvas, and use “Message students who” to email sub-sets of students as needed. Contact us at dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance.

Is there any way to email or post an announcement to all my course sections, or do I have to do one for each section?

Yes! We have a tool called Qwickly Course Tools that will allow you to do this. More information is here.

Gradebook

When I put grades into the gradebook, will students only see their own grades?

Each student will only see their own grades. Try this: Go to Grades and give your Test Student some grades (Test Student is always the bottom line in the gradebook). Then switch over to Student View and go to Grades to see how they look. It will show you exactly what students will see.

What do students see in their Grades area? I want them to see points and percentage.

Your students already see both total points and percentage. Give your Test Student some grades, then switch to Student View and see what it looks like. Scroll down to the bottom to see the totals.

I don’t like the way my columns are arranged in the grade book. What are my options?

You can click the top of gradebook columns and drag where you want them. You can also sort columns under the View button > Arrange By at the top of the gradebook. Contact us at dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance.

What are those extra columns in blue/gray at the end of the grade book? I recognize Total, but not the others.

The columns at the end of the gradebook are total columns for whatever categories you have under Assignments on the left menu. If you group your assignments by type – for example, Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions – you will have those at the end of your gradebook. Likewise your students will see those categories at the bottom of their Grades area.

Is there a way to add an “Average row” at the bottom of the grade book (besides going to each assignment to find this)?

You cannot add rows to the grade book, but there are places to find this information in the course. Quizzes will each have their own Quiz Statistics link on the right when you enter the quiz. Items graded with Speedgrader (like Assignments and Discussions), will have an average shown at the top of the Speedgrader screen. You can also find statistical information using the New Analytics button on the right of the home page.

Help! When I click on Grades, I don’t see anything like a gradebook. It says “Individual View”. What do I do?

There are two views for the grade book in Canvas. The default view is a grid. The second view is called “Individual View”, which allows you to look at each student’s grades all on one page, one page per student. You can enter Individual View by clicking the Gradebook link on the upper left of the grade book, and return to the default grid view by clicking on the upper right dropdown and switch to Gradebook. Contact us at dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance.

Something is weird about the Canvas gradebook when I download it. The first few columns are ones that I have added but there are a bunch of columns at the end that say "Read Only" and should not be there. I have no idea where those columns came from.

This is actually normal. All those extra columns are put there to slice and dice the grade data. Some of them will be statistics, some will be repeats of grades. If you use assignment categories for weighting, those will be there too. If you use certain advanced features of Canvas (like the Mastery Grade Book), those extra columns would have a purpose. You can just delete the ones you don’t want.

I need more information on the gradebook.

If you have not used the Canvas gradebook before, New Canvas Gradebook Training is available online! Click here to self-enroll in the training.

Help! It looks like some of my grades are missing from the gradebook! Are these backed-up somewhere?

If you are using Internet Explorer browser, there is a known issue of ‘visual weirdness’ in how it displays the grades in the gradebook. Switch to a supported browser like Chrome or Firefox so you can see them. See here for more information.

The entire Canvas system is in the cloud and backed-up daily, including the gradebooks. You can always download a copy of your gradebook under the Export button under Actions > Export.

How do I add a column in the Gradebook? I need to add an assignment that I forgot to add when I set up the course.

All columns in the gradebook are connected to an assignment, so you have to start there. Instructions are here.

Grading

Students are submitting their assignments to Canvas, but I don’t know where to grade them! Is there something like the “needs grading” there is in Blackboard?

Yes, there is! On the home page of the course, look to the right for the To Do section. This shows the assignment name and number of students who have submitted it. Click on the item to go to SpeedGrader, which will show you each student’s work and you can add a grade and feedback comments. Be sure to click on the Submit button to save your comments! You can also find To Do on the main Dashboard, but there it will show assignments that need grading for all your classes. More about SpeedGrader can be found here.

I have written feedback comments in Speedgrader, but some of my students cannot see them. Why?

Most likely you forgot to hit the Submit button for the comment before advancing to the next student. There will be a message flash at the top of the screen, “your comment was auto-saved as a draft” which means it was not returned to the student. Return to Speedgrader and look for the Submit button next to the student’s comment – click Submit to return the comment to the student, or the X to remove the comment and start over.

If I remember right, students get a notification when I grade an assignment. But I want to keep grades from being released to students until I have them all graded. How do I do this?

Canvas has a Grade Posting Policy feature in the gradebook. Go here to read more about it.

The big caveat is if you hide grades, you must also UN-hide to release the grades. If you don’t UN-hide, the grades and feedback will remain hidden from the students. Tip: If you use the hide feature, switch over to student view to get an idea of what it looks like to the students. Note that hide will affect the totals at the bottom of their Grades page, so be sure to post after grading to keep points looking correct to students.

When I go to Speedgrader, I get the assignments in order of the student's last name alphabetically. I'd rather grade by who turns in things first. Is there a way to grade them by times they were turned in?

Yes. Inside Speedgrader in the top left corner is a gear icon. Click on that and you will find the options for sorting the order.

Home Page / Template

What is this “template” with the green buttons I am supposed to have in Canvas?

The ‘template’ adds a home page and green student resource buttons to your Canvas class. If you don’t see 4 green buttons straight ahead when you enter your Canvas class, the correct template is not installed. Contact us at dl@nwacc.edu so we can add it to your course.

I am only using Canvas for a couple of things – do I have to have the template too?

Yes! All courses in Canvas must have the template. The green resource buttons for students must be at the top of the home page. Contact dl@nwacc.edu so we can add it.

My Canvas Home page looks very bare. What am I supposed to put on the Home page?

The Home page is very important because it is the first thing students see in the course. You can make it more friendly by adding some words of welcome and basic information on how to get started in the class. Contact Digital Learning at dl@nwacc.edu if you need help adding a banner, picture, or multimedia. Be sure to also keep the green student resource buttons at the top of your Home page!

I am having a hard time navigating around my course. What is the best way to return to the home page? I've looked and tried several things, but so far I haven't found anything.

Your browser settings will affect how Canvas pages open. On most pages you will still have access to the left menu, so just click Home. The Grades area is an exception and will depend if your browser opens the gradebook in a new tab or window or if it uses the same tab. You can always click on the breadcrumbs at the top of the screen to return to the main course area. You can also use the back arrow/button on the browser to return to a previous page. Another neat trick is to right-click on the browser back arrow/button to see a pop-down menu of previous pages you have visited on that tab, so you can select one to return to.

Modules

How do I unpublish or hide modules we've already completed? I tried to do that to my activities in Module 1 since we're in the second week but received a message that I couldn't unpublish the assignment since students had made submissions.

You can unpublish a whole module using the + to the right of the module name, and it hides everything inside the module. For individual graded items (assignments, quizzes, discussions), once there are student submissions, you cannot unpublish the assignment. The rationale is that students should always be able to see their own submissions and grades, hence you cannot unpublish (hide) the item. If you want to make it unavailable to the students so they cannot submit any longer, add an end date to the Availability section of the assignment settings.

I have my content in modules, and I have them published, but my students are still saying they can’t see it. What should I do?

Check to see that both the module itself and the content within it are published. Both have to be published for students to see the content. See arrows below. Also be sure to switch over to Student View - that will tell you exactly what your students can see. Contact us at dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance.

publishing arrows

What are those cute little icons I see when I add items to modules? What do they mean?

They indicate what type of item it is. For example, the rocket ship is a quiz (if it's "filled in," it's a New Quiz) See the common ones below. There may be others, too.

I've had several students that don't understand using Modules in my online class. They have been using the To Do list or the Calendar to know what to do each week, but they are missing the other materials in the Modules. What can I do to make this clearer?

Modules are a great organizational feature of Canvas! A module should contain all the content materials for a week (or a unit, or other organizational structure), and creates a linear flow of what students should do in a course. A couple suggestions to help familiarize your students:

- - Make sure you have a comprehensive overview of how the class works in your starting materials. That is, explain the ‘big picture’ of what will be found in the modules and the weekly rhythm of the assignments. Students often cannot look over a course and figure out how it works without an explanation. An example overview is here.
  - Send out a weekly announcement on a regular schedule (like every Monday morning) that tells exactly which module the class is on and what assignments are due that week. You can schedule these to go out using the delay feature if needed. An example is here.

If you need assistance to set up modules, please contact Digital Learning at dl@nwacc.edu

Pages

How do I add a picture or banner to a page?

Click the Edit button on the page. Insert your cursor where you want the image to go. On the editor bar, find the icon to upload a picture. Use the browse and upload buttons to find and upload your picture. This will insert the image in the page. You can resize by clicking on the picture and using the corner squares to adjust. Contact Digital Learning at dl@nwacc.edu if you need help.

Wow. I just realized that there is no ‘undo’ button on the text editor bar. If I mess up a page, do I have to re-type it all again?

Good news! There is an undo button! When typing in a text box, click "Edit" up at the top.

There is also a feature that captures previous versions of pages so you can revert to them if needed. View the page (not the edit area), and look for the ‘three dots’ button at the top right. Go to View Page History and on the right you will see a small list of previous versions of the page. Click on a link to see the version, and then “restore this version” to revert to the one you want.

WARNING: There is no auto-save in Canvas, so if you are working on a lot of page content, hit Submit often to capture the most recent version so you can revert to it if needed. Saving content in a Word document is also a good idea!

How can I get external web links to open in a new tab?

If you want a link to a website to open in a new browser tab, first add the link to the Canvas page as normal. Then put your cursor inside the link text (don’t click on it), and hit CTRL + K. This will open a dialog box, and choose “new window” in the Target dropdown. Click OK to save.

People

I have a bunch of students marked as "inactive" in my class's People list. I don’t see them on my Workday roster. Who are these people?

Students who have enrolled and then dropped (or have been dropped) will show under People. You are the only one who sees them there. They cannot access the class once rendered inactive. But you can still see their last activity date (if any) and grades (if any) if needed for reporting – like for FP’s and such.

Is there a "last access" date to let me know when a student had last entered the class?

Yes: Look under People on the left menu in the class. The column called “last activity” shows when a student last entered your class. You can also see a full list of an individual’s activity by clicking on their name under People, on their name again in the pop-out panel, and then the Access Report button.

Publishing

Can I go ahead and publish my class early?

Yes. If you teach online or hybrid classes, the content must be complete and updated for the new term before publishing. If you teach in the classroom, be sure that your content meets the basic requirements (green buttons at the top of the Home page; syllabus under Syllabus on the left menu), and check Student View to verify what students can see.

Remember that, once published, students can enter the course early and preview the materials you have made available. They cannot take quizzes, post to discussions, etc. until the first official day of the term.

Are students notified when I publish my class?

No. If you want students to know your class is opened early, you need to email them. You can use the Canvas Inbox once the course is published, or go through Workday.

What’s the difference between publishing a course, and publishing items within a course?

Publishing single items within a course – like a quiz, assignment, or discussion – shows or hides the items from students. That is not the same as publishing your whole course, which allows students access to the course itself. Use the big ‘publish’ button on the top right of the Home page to publish your course and give students access.

Is somebody going to publish my course for me?

No. It is your responsibility to publish it when ready so students can access it. Courses do not become available to students automatically on the first day of class. Students won’t be able to see your class if you don’t publish it!

Why do I need to publish my classes in Canvas?

Here is an example of emails we get from students on the first day of class:

“I am a worried, because I have (such-and-such) class but I don’t see anything about it in Canvas. I am able to access my other class. I just don’t want to miss anything.”

Students expect to see your class on their dashboard, and they see nothing if you do not publish. Literally nothing, blank space, nada, as if they are not enrolled in your class. So be sure to publish your courses in Canvas by the first day of the term.

Publisher Systems

I use a publisher’s online system with my classes. It doesn’t work the same in Canvas as it did in Blackboard. Why not?

Publishers each develop their own connector (called an LTI) for Canvas. We follow the instructions sent to us by your publisher to connect their system to our Canvas. But after that, we don’t have access to their system to make any functional adjustments. You need to work with your publisher’s rep and their tech support to make it work for you on that level.

Quizzes

How do students see the results of a quiz? Where do they go, and what do they see?

What a student sees after taking a quiz will depend on the settings you chose when you set up the quiz. You can let them see correct answers or not, their responses or not, etc. They can see all their quiz (and other assignment) results by going to Grades and clicking on the name of the assignment.

I set up a quiz in Canvas so that I could record student grades for a quiz in the classroom, but a few students said they have a button that says “Begin Quiz”. I only want to record grades, not give a quiz. What is the problem?

If you only want to record grades, you need to set up an assignment, not a quiz. Go to Assignments on the left menu, and click the +Assignment button at the top. Be sure to use “no submission” as the type so students don’t see anything (except the grade) on their side.

Most of my students’ quiz attempts show a little page icon and not a score in the gradebook. What do I need to do to get those scores to show up?

The icon means that something on the quiz cannot be graded by the system. For example, essay questions or other questions in which the student is required to add a unique answer that you need to grade. Go to SpeedGrader to grade the questions, and be sure to click Update Scores at the bottom.

I have a student who was trying to take an exam and said she got kicked out. Can I delete her attempt so she can take it again?

You can add an additional attempt for the student. There are a couple different ways to do this: full instructions are here for Classic Quizzes, and here for New Quizzes.

Help! I tried to extend quiz dates for a student, and all the other students' grades disappeared! What am I doing wrong?

First, return to Edit for the quiz, and change the "Assign To" setting to "Everyone" and set the dates back to what you had previously. Save, and the grades will re-appear.

plus add button

Then use the +Add button (above) to add a date extension only for the one student. Here’s the procedure:

1. 1. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the quiz edit page and click on the “+ Add” (picture above) at the bottom of the Assign area.
  2. In the Assign to box, start to type the single student’s name. Her/his name will appear on a list – click on the correct name and it will populate the Assign to box. You’ll note that the original Assign To section now says “Everybody Else”.
  3. Set the dates for that one student. Note that the “Everybody Else” section will retain the original dates.
  4. Click Save & Publish.

Roster/Enrollments

I have a roster in Workday, and now a list of students under People and the gradebook in Canvas. Which of these is an accurate list of students enrolled in my class?

Your Workday roster rules! Workday the main student information system of the college as of Summer 2023. Canvas is a satellite system of Workday, and the student enrollment data is updated from Workday to Canvas every two hours. Be sure to use your Workday roster as your official class list – it is the current correct list of students. If you notice any discrepancies between Workday and Canvas, contact Digital Learning: dl@nwacc.edu

What do I do if I have students who are not on my Workday roster, but they still show up in Canvas?

Send us the name of the student, and the class course code + section and we will take care of it.

Can faculty block or remove no-shows from our roster?

You cannot block or remove students from your class in Canvas. When you officially report the no-shows after the term census date, the college will administratively drop them, which (1) cuts off their access to your Canvas class, (2) hides them in your grade book, and (3) renders them ‘inactive’ under your People list. If you need to see their account after that, you can go to People and click on their name. Remember that your official roster is in Workday, and be sure to send students to Enrollment Support if they think they are enrolled but are not on the roster.

Student View

How can I see what my students see?

Use the Student View button at the top of the page.

Success Planner

Where did Success Planner go??

As of Fall 2022, we are no longer using Success Planner at NWACC.

Syllabus

How do I add my syllabus?

Go here for more information.

Why does it say “Syllabus” on the left menu? All I see is something called ‘Course Summary’?

‘Syllabus’ is where you need to add your syllabus! Edit the page and upload your syllabus as a file – required for all classes. Don’t copy and paste the syllabus text into the page, because students cannot download or print your syllabus unless you have it as a file, which is required for ADA compliance. Contact dl@nwacc.edu if you need assistance.

You said to not paste my whole syllabus into the Syllabus page, but to add it as a file. But I really want my students to have both the full text of my Syllabus and a file. How can I do this?

You can put your syllabus text on a new page and link to it from the top of the Syllabus page. Procedure:

- - Go to Pages on the left menu and create a new page.
  - Paste the text of your syllabus into that new page.
  - Save and publish.
  - Next go to Syllabus on the left menu and click Edit.
  - Insert your cursor in the text box where you want the link to go.
  - Go to the Links tab on the right, Pages section, and click on the name of the new page you created for your syllabus text. That will insert the link into your Syllabus page.

Contact dl@nwacc.edu with any questions.

I unpublished a bunch of assignments. Why are they still showing on the Course Summary?

ALL assignments, unpublished also, still appear on the Course Summary to the instructor. Only the published ones appear to students. Switch over to Student View to verify.

Tech Support

Tell me again how students should contact tech support?

There are two sources of tech support depending on what the issue is. For Canvas issues or questions, send them to Digital Learning at dl@nwacc.edu. For issues with their NWACC password, NWACC email, the website or My NWACC Connection, send them to the IT department: techsupport@nwacc.edu

Training

Where can I find a copy of the Canvas Quickstart Guide?

It's right here :)

I'm a new faculty member, and I was told that I need to do Canvas training before starting to work on my courses. How do I start?

If you are a newly hired faculty member, you need to complete our Canvas training before working on your courses. Email dl@nwacc.edu to request to be enrolled into a Canvas training course. If you're not sure if you've completed training or not, the official training badges are posted here.

Misc.

What does that string of numbers on my class mean? I see it at the top left of the screen when I am in my class.

You see something like Fall 2023 MATH1313-3. That’s a unique identifier called the ‘course ID’ in Canvas. It consists of the term (Fall 2023), the subject code (MATH1313) and section number (3). Note that if you nickname your class on the course card, you will see the nickname at the top of your course screen instead, but your students will not see the nickname (only you see it).

Help! My class was cancelled due to low enrollment. Where did my content go?

Never fear! Your content is still there! Contact us with the course ID and we will give you access to it again: dl@nwacc.edu

Is there any way to add the student’s ID number and/or username to my courses in Canvas just in case we have same-name students?

Yes! Look under People in the column called SIS ID. Remember, if you need to verify student information, your official roster is always in Workday.

Please contact Digital Learning at dl@nwacc.edu with any questions or if you need assistance.