Canvas LMS Course Design E-Book

John Ryan

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 320

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Canvas is an online learning management system (LMS) and one of the most powerful teaching tools that educational institutions worldwide have adopted thanks to its streamlined functionality, intuitive user interface, and robust features. This revised second edition of Canvas LMS Course Design will show you how to design, create, and teach engaging classes in online, hybrid, or fusion settings using the Canvas LMS.
The book will guide you through the steps of setting up your Canvas account, creating activities and assignments, designing and customizing the course layout, and teaching your course. Whether you're using an institutional or Free-for-Teacher account, you'll be able to use Canvas for grading, feedback, and communication with and between students. As you progress, you'll learn how to integrate external apps and services with Canvas. Finally, the book features an exclusive section detailing how you can use Canvas' built-in resources as well as other resources to tackle challenges while working with the LMS. Throughout, this book will give you the technical knowledge you need to create unique learning experiences for students.
By the end of this Canvas LMS Course Design, you'll be able to successfully teach online with the help of logical descriptions and step-by-step screenshots that clearly explain how to build a phenomenal course.

Leseprobe

Canvas LMS Course Design

Second Edition

Create and deliver interactive online courses on the Canvas learning management system

Ryan John

BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI

Canvas LMS Course Design

Second Edition

Copyright © 2021 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Publishing Product Manager: Pavan Ramchandani

Senior Editor: Hayden Edwards

Content Development Editor: Abhishek Jadhav

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First published: August 2014

Second Edition: May 2021

Production reference: 1110521

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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This book is dedicated to all of the incredible educators and resilient students worldwide who have persevered through the experience of school during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially my amazing colleagues and outstanding students at Léman Manhattan Preparatory School. I would like to thank Frank Abrahams, Heeyoung Kim, Shaun Holland, Scott Hoerl, Boris Villic, and the many other mentors I encountered at Westminster Choir College and Rider University for the incredible opportunities they afforded me during my time there. Many thanks to Lisa Nowicki for her decades of mentorship and support, to Helen Vermeychuk for guiding and inspiring me as a writer, and to all those at Sanford School who have helped me throughout the years. A huge thank you to everyone at Packt Publishing, especially Abhishek Jadhav, Hayden Edwards, Pavan Ramchandani, Divij Kotian, Manthan Patel, and Saurabh Kadave. Finally, thank you to my family and to my husband, Joshua, for your unending care and support.

– Ryan John

Contributors

About the author

Ryan John teaches at Léman Manhattan Preparatory School in New York City. He holds degrees from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where he has served as an adjunct professor, technical assistant, and course designer for online learning. Ryan spent 3 years as a technical assistant for the pilot program of Canvas LMS at Rider University and has delivered over a dozen online courses for students in middle school through adult continuing education. Ryan has presented his scholarly work in the US and abroad, and his publications include Canvas LMS Course Design (2014), Planning Instruction in Music (2015), Becoming Musical (2017), and Planning Instruction in Music Online (2020).

About the reviewer

Shaun Holland is an instructional designer and LMS administrator with over 20 years of experience in the administration and application of LMSs. Shaun has cultivated a specialization in online course design, single and programmatic course design, and game-based (game theory) course design where courses are sculpted around the idea of incorporating game-based mechanics. A veteran of US higher education, Shaun has extensive experience transitioning from one LMS to another having completed this process at both a small private school and a large state university. Shaun currently works at a large state university in New Jersey where he helps build and deliver thousands of fully online courses and several graduate degree programs and undergraduate certification courses.

Table of Contents

Preface

Section 1: Designing and Creating Your Course

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Canvas

Technical requirements

Reviewing instances of Canvas

Institution-specific instances of Canvas

Free for Teachers instance of Canvas

Accessing Canvas and creating your account

Accessing your institution's Canvas site

Creating a Free for Teachers account

Navigating Canvas

Adjusting your profile, settings, and notifications

Editing your profile

Adding a profile picture

Adjusting your account settings

Creating your Canvas course

Joining a course created by your institution

Creating a new course with a Free for Teachers account

Summary

Chapter 2: Building Your Canvas Course

Technical requirements

Planning your course – from syllabus to screen

Importing content from another course

Creating assignments

Adding an assignment

Editing an assignment

Using the Rich Content Editor

Publishing an assignment

Creating discussions

Adding a discussion

Pinning or closing discussions

Creating quizzes

Adding a quiz

Adding questions

Managing question banks

Creating assignment groups

Weighting assignment groups

Summary

Chapter 3: Getting Ready to Launch Your Course

Technical requirements

Choosing a Course Home Page layout

The Course Activity Stream layout

The Pages Front Page layout

The Course Modules layout

The Assignment List layout

The Syllabus layout

Selecting navigation links

Adding course calendar events

Testing your course with Student View

Adding participants to the course

Managing users

Creating user groups

Publishing your course

Summary

Section 2: Teaching and Enhancing Your Course

Chapter 4: Teaching Your Canvas Course

Technical requirements

Communicating through the Inbox feature

Learning the layout of the inbox

Composing and sending a message

Organizing your inbox

Posting announcements

Providing feedback and grades

Accessing the Gradebook and entering grades

Accessing and using SpeedGrader

Setting up synchronous meetings using Conferences

Creating a Conference

Starting and facilitating your conference

Summary

Chapter 5: Exploring Special Features

Technical requirements

Creating Collaborations

Editing or deleting collaborations

Setting up Outcomes

Creating outcomes

Creating Outcome Groups

Importing existing outcomes

Finding existing outcomes to use

Creating rubrics

Adding rubrics to assignments

Using rubrics for grading

Using the Learning Mastery Gradebook

Using Course Analytics and Course Statistics

Viewing Course Analytics

Viewing Course Statistics

Summary

Chapter 6: Utilizing and Integrating Apps

Technical requirements

Using Canvas on your mobile devices

Downloading and configuring the mobile app

Using the features of the mobile app

Navigating your course within the mobile app

Using the To Do feature of the mobile app

Viewing and sending messages within the mobile app

Accessing your settings within the mobile app

Finding help within the Canvas mobile app

Integrating external apps into your course

Summary

Section 3: Practical Ideas and Resources

Chapter 7: Where to Go for Help

Technical requirements

Finding help within Canvas

Exploring the Canvas Guides

Exploring other resources

Finding help outside of Canvas

Summary

Chapter 8: Now You're Ready!

Technical requirements

Exporting your course

Connecting Canvas to education in the 21st century

Enacting the Framework for 21st Century Learning

Looking to the future

Summary

Appendix: References and Resources

Teaching and learning in the 21st century

Battelle for Kids: Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Understanding by Design

Timeless Learning: How Imagination, Observation, and Zero-Based Thinking Change Schools

Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses

Designing online learning environments

The Distance Learning Playbook, Grades K-12: Teaching for Engagement and Impact in Any Setting

The Interactive Class: Using Technology to Make Learning More Relevant and Engaging in the Elementary Classroom

How to Design and Teach A Hybrid Course: Achieving Student-Centered Learning Through Blended Classroom, Online and Experiential Activities

Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning: Theory, Practice and Assessment

The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education

Conceptualizing online education

Closing the Gap: Digital Equity Strategies for the K-12 Classroom

Balance with Blended Learning: Partner with Your Students to Reimagine Learning and Reclaim Your Life

Essentials of Online Course Design: A Standards-Based Guide (Second Edition)

Best Practices for Teaching with Emerging Technologies (2nd Edition)

The Complete 15-Volume Jossey-Bass Online Teaching & Learning Library

Other online course design resources

Course Design Academy

The Blended Learning Toolkit

Distance Learning: A Gently Curated Collection of Resources for Teachers

Online Course Development Resources

The 5 Pillars – Sloan-C Quality Framework

Quality Matters: A National Benchmark for Online Course Design

Teaching Online: Design of an Online Course

CanvasLMS YouTube Channel

Why subscribe?

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

Canvas is an online Learning Management System (LMS) and one of the most powerful teaching tools that educational institutions worldwide have adopted thanks to its streamlined functionality, intuitive user interface, and robust features.

This revised second edition of Canvas LMS Course Design will show you how to design, create, and teach engaging classes in online, hybrid, or fusion settings using the Canvas LMS.

The book will guide you through the steps of setting up your Canvas account, creating activities and assignments, designing and customizing the course layout, and teaching your course. Whether you're using Canvas through your institution or using a Free for Teachers instance of Canvas, you'll be able to use Canvas for grading, feedback, and communication with and between students. As you progress, you'll learn how to integrate external apps and services with Canvas. Finally, the book features an exclusive section detailing how you can use Canvas's built-in resources as well as other resources to tackle challenges while working with Canvas. Throughout, this book will give you the technical knowledge you need to create unique learning experiences for students.

By the end of this book, you'll be able to successfully teach online with the help of logical descriptions and step-by-step screenshots that clearly explain how to build a phenomenal course.

Who this book is for

This book is for educators who want to use Canvas to deliver instructions in online, hybrid, or fusion teaching models. Whether you're new to online learning or a seasoned expert, you will learn both the primary functions and the advanced features of Canvas with this book. As a minimum, beginner-level experience with online learning is assumed given the widespread implementation of distance learning due to the pandemic.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with Canvas, covers how to access Canvas, create an account, and navigate the home screen. Once you have learned your way around the site, you will learn how to set up your Canvas profile, enter your contact information, adjust your general settings, and configure your notification preferences. Next, you will learn how to create a Canvas course and how to begin participating in a course that has been set up by your institution.

Chapter 2, Building Your Canvas Course, covers the foundations of building your Canvas course. You will start by exploring the Course Status checklist, which will guide you through the process of building your course. Next, you will consider some important ideas in planning your course and how to best use the features of Canvas for teaching. After this, you will learn how to import content from another course on Canvas or from another LMS. Finally, you will learn how to add your own content to the course, and we will explore the types of assignments and activities you can create within Canvas.

Chapter 3, Getting Ready to Launch Your Course, covers how to add students to your course, select which content will be most useful to your students, choose a layout for the sequence of the content, add calendar events, and publish your course. By the end of this chapter, your course will be totally built, organized, designed, and published and you will be ready to begin using Canvas to teach your course.

Chapter 4, Teaching Your Canvas Course, teaches you how to communicate with students using the Inbox, post announcements for students to see, use the Gradebook and Learning Mastery features, grade using the SpeedGrader, and schedule and run synchronous online class meetings. Working through these features will ensure you have the skills required to engage with your students in effective and personalized ways to empower them to master the course's content.

Chapter 5, Exploring Special Features, looks into some of the more advanced special features available through Canvas. You'll begin by learning how to create collaborations between students that allow them to work on documents together online. Then, you will learn how to set up learning outcomes and create rubrics. Finally, you will look into using the powerful analytics and statistics tools within Canvas to monitor your students' progress, gauge and bolster student engagement, and map interactions between users from course to course.

Chapter 6, Utilizing and Integrating Apps, begins by exploring the Canvas mobile app. After becoming familiar with the functionality and power of the Canvas mobile app, you will move on to learning how to integrate outside apps and services into Canvas. These integrations will harness the power of many apps and services that have become prominent in the world of education to engage your students with course content and skills in thoughtful and meaningful ways.

Chapter 7, Where to Go for Help, examines the vast number of built-in resources Canvas has to offer that you can utilize to help solve any questions or problems you may encounter. You will also discuss other resources, whether online or through your institution, that can help you solve problems and answer questions you might encounter. You will learn about the Canvas Guides, reporting a problem to Canvas, how to obtain pricing information for an institutional Canvas account, requesting a new feature for Canvas, and finding help from colleagues.

Chapter 8, Now You're Ready!, teaches you how to export your course to your computer for preservation or later use. Next, you will tie everything you've learned together through a discussion of how Canvas can help you and your students achieve educational goals while acquiring important 21st-century skills. Given the unprecedented events of 2020 that necessitated all educators to adapt their instruction significantly, often to online platforms such as Canvas, this chapter provides an opportunity for reflection and looks to the future relationship between technology and education.

Appendix: References and Resources, provides information on materials and concepts referenced throughout the book, as well as other resources that you might find helpful as you learn and grow as an online educator. Many of these resources reference broader topics relating to teaching and learning in the 21st century, designing online learning environments, and conceptualizing online education. In addition to a description, connections to Canvas are included for each resource that you might find helpful as you explore online education through Canvas.

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Section 1: Designing and Creating Your Course

In Section 1, you will learn how to customize your user profile and settings, create and sequence course content, and finalize and publish your course.

This section contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Getting Started with CanvasChapter 2, Building Your Canvas CourseChapter 3, Getting Ready to Launch Your Course

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Canvas

Welcome to the updated Canvas LMS Course Design! This revised edition will guide you through the world of Instructure Canvas as a Learning Management System. This book covers the use of Canvas as a powerful and revolutionary tool for education, both in the traditional classroom and in virtual and hybrid learning environments.

The chapters in Section 1 explain how to set up your Canvas experience, from setting up your personal profile to designing and building your first course. Section 2 focuses on teaching you about the tools and features Canvas offers to meet the needs of educators, students, and guardians. With all the skills you will have gained over the course of these two sections, Section 3 will provide you with additional resources for any questions that may arise, as well as practical ideas for ways to cultivate many of the skills necessary for contemporary learners to succeed. As a product, Canvas has been designed to meet the unique needs of its users within contemporary education. As a powerful educational tool, Canvas opens the door to countless possibilities for you and the students you teach as citizens of the digital age.

As we begin our exploration of Canvas, we will cover the two main instances (or versions) of Canvas that exist and how to access or create your Canvas account for each instance. First, you will learn how to navigate the layout of the site. Once you know your way around, you will learn how to set up your Canvas profile, enter your contact information, adjust your general settings, and configure your notification preferences.

Next, we will learn how to join a course that your school has created for you in an institutional instance of Canvas or how to create a Canvas course yourself. Once we have created a course, we will be ready to move on to building a course in the next chapter.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

Reviewing instances of CanvasAccessing Canvas and creating your accountNavigating CanvasAdjusting your profile, settings, and notificationsCreating your Canvas course

Technical requirements

To complete this chapter, you will need the following:

A computer or tablet with internet accessAn up-to-date internet browser such as Chrome, Firefox, or SafariAn email address to create a Canvas account withAny instructional materials or documents that your institution has provided

Reviewing instances of Canvas

A wide range of institutions across the world use Canvas as their institutional Learning Management System (LMS). In addition, Canvas can be used in a variety of learning situations outside of traditional institutions. To accommodate the different situations in which users may find themselves while teaching or learning, there are two instances or versions of Canvas you may wish to access depending on your teaching situation.

Let's discuss the two instances of Canvas that you may encounter.

Institution-specific instances of Canvas

If the school that you work for uses Canvas for its LMS, you will most likely receive information from the IT department or an administrator regarding the best way to access and use Canvas. Institutional instances of Canvas typically have certain features and settings preset to ensure that every user within the institution has a similar experience while using Canvas.

Canvas is a highly customizable LMS, which means your institution's IT team can customize aspects of Canvas, such as how accounts are created, the look and feel of the site, how courses and course rosters are created or managed, which features are available to users, which settings certain users can access or adjust, additional integrations, and more. As you work your way through this book, it is important to keep in mind that every feature that's discussed may look or function in a slightly different way if you are accessing an institutional instance of Canvas rather than a Free for Teachers account.

Each situation is slightly different, so reach out to someone in your IT department or administration to get specific information for your school, especially if the instance of Canvas you are using looks or functions in a different way than described in this book.

Free for Teachers instance of Canvas

Canvas offers a Free for Teachers instance of Canvas for educators who do not have access to Canvas through their school. This instance of Canvas allows you to register using any email address, then create and build courses that you would like to teach, regardless of whether you work for an institution that uses Canvas as its LMS. Free for Teachers accounts include access to the features and functionality of Canvas, some of which may be limited, altered, or restricted for those using an institutional instance of Canvas.

While Free for Teachers accounts have access to the robust features and settings available through Canvas, the default design of Canvas remains user-friendly and intuitive, especially for the most important features and settings.

Note

All the examples and screenshots in this book have been taken from a Free for Teachers account since institution-specific instances of Canvas may look different and have customized procedures, features, settings, branding, or color schemes. If you are using an institutional instance of Canvas, prioritize the instructions and guidance that have been provided by your school or IT team in addition to the information in this book.

We will go over how to set up a Free for Teachers account in the next section, where we will begin with a discussion of how to access Canvas.

Accessing Canvas and creating your account

In this section, we will learn how to access Canvas. To begin, you will use your web browser to access the Canvas website by using common web browsers such as, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. First, we will address how to log in for institutional instances of Canvas, after which we will cover how to create and log into a Free for Teachers account.

Accessing your institution's Canvas site

To access your institution's Canvas site, perform the following steps:

Consult any information that your institution has provided to obtain the URL (that is, the web address) for your institution's instance of Canvas.Consult any instructions that your institution has provided for setting up your account and prioritize following the steps in those instructions.Open your web browser and enter the URL for your institution's Canvas site. While your institution's Canvas URL may follow a variety of formats, a common formula for the institutional Canvas URL is http://institution.instructure.com, in which you will enter the actual name of your school instead of institution. For those teaching in K-12 settings, this may be your school's name or your district's name.If you have instructions from the IT or administrative team at your school, follow those instructions to set up your account. As mentioned previously, each school's situation is slightly different, so you may need to get support for your specific case if you have questions.

You may receive an email invitation to join Canvas that includes a link to a website with clear step-by-step instructions. In other cases, the login credentials that you use to access your school's email account or registration system may automatically be carried over to Canvas, depending on how your school has integrated Canvas with the rest of their management systems.

Note

In most cases, if your institution uses Canvas as its LMS, you do not need to create a Free for Teachers account, as described in the following section. However, please consult the members of your school's IT department or administration for specific instructions if you are not sure.

Creating a Free for Teachers account

The following steps will walk you through how to create your own Free for Teachers account to access Canvas:

To create an account so that you can use the Free for Teachers instance of Canvas, open your web browser and navigate to http://canvas.instructure.com.Click on Need a Canvas account? Click here, it's free! in the top-right corner. You will be taken to a registration page:

Figure 1.1 – Clicking the link in the top-right corner to create your account

Select I'm a Teacher on the following page:

Figure 1.2 – Selecting "I'm a Teacher"

Enter your name and select Teacher from the Account Type drop-down on the right-hand side of the page that appears:

Figure 1.3 – Initial Create Your Account options

Fill in your information on the registration screen and select the appropriate options from any drop-down menus that appear. Select I want to teach my course on Canvas. from the Why Canvas? drop-down menu (unless one of the other options applies to your circumstances better). Enter and make note of the password you will use to log into your account. You'll need to check the marketing tick box at the bottom to proceed, and you can unsubscribe from marketing communications later on if desired. Click SUBMIT to continue:

Figure 1.4 – Entering your information on the registration form

Once you click SUBMIT, you will receive a confirmation email with the steps you need to follow to finalize the account creation process.Once you have successfully created your account, you can return to http://canvas.instructure.com and log in using your email address and password to begin using Canvas!

Now that you have learned how to access your institutional instance of Canvas or to create your account to use the Free for Teachers instance of Canvas, next, we will explore the layout and navigation tools of the Canvas user interface.

Navigating Canvas

When you log in for the first time, you will be taken to the Canvas Dashboard. You may see a pop-up window offering an orientation tour, which Canvas provides to help familiarize you with its layout and features. The tour highlights Canvas' features and includes video explanations of each feature. You can choose Start Tour if you would like, or you can click Not Now if you would prefer to explore on your own. This book will serve as a resource that will help you review these features throughout your time using Canvas.

Note

If you would like to view the Welcome Tour section at any time after you first log in, click on Help from the left Global Navigation menu, then scroll down and click Show Welcome Tour.

Now that you've logged in, let's explore the three main sections in the layout of Canvas:

On the left-hand side of the screen, you will see the Global Navigation menu, which may include icons for Account, Dashboard, Courses, Calendar, Inbox, History, Commons, and Help. The arrow icon at the bottom will expand or collapse the menu. The Global Navigation menu, shown in the following screenshot, will usually be visible to you on any page you are viewing in Canvas:

Figure 1.5 – The Global Navigation menu

In the center of the screen, the largest section will show you the main content of whatever page you are viewing. While you are on the Dashboard page, this will display your Published and Unpublished courses:

Figure 1.6 – The center content portion of the screen showing the Dashboard

On the right-hand side of the screen, you will see the Sidebar menu, which will show you more detailed options for whatever page you are viewing. When you're viewing the Sidebar menu of the Dashboard page once your courses are up and running, it will show you a To Do list, as well as assignments or activities that are Coming Up:

Figure 1.7 – The Sidebar menu

Another helpful section to notice is the menu in the bottom-right corner of the screen. This menu includes links to Canvas' Privacy policy, Acceptable Use Policy,Facebook, and Twitter. These links are useful guides to general information about Instructure, the company that runs Canvas, and your usage of Canvas. The bottom menu will usually be visible to you on any page you are viewing within Canvas, just like the left Global Navigation menu.

Now that you're familiar with the basic layout of Canvas, let's work through how to set up your personal settings and communication preferences.

Adjusting your profile, settings, and notifications

In this section, we will address how to set up your Canvas profile, adjust your account settings, and customize your notification settings. If you are using an institutional instance of Canvas, the ability to adjust your profile, settings, and notifications may be different than what's described in this section, but the basics will be the same.

While your individual situation may vary, let's start by covering how to set up your Canvas profile, which other users will see as they interact with you on Canvas.

Editing your profile

Your Canvas profile includes your profile picture, name, pronouns, contact information, bio, and website links. To add and edit this information, follow these steps:

Click on Account at the top of the left Global Navigation menu.Select Profile from the menu that appears. This will bring you to your profile page.On your profile page, click on Edit Profile from the right sidebar menu.This will open editing boxes for the Name, Pronouns, Title, Biography, and Links fields. You can click on each editing box to adjust or add content.Once you've finished editing, click on Save Profile at the bottom of the screen.

Adding detailed information to your Canvas profile will help other users gain a better understanding of who you are as a person. Within a fully online learning environment, establishing personal connections with other users can be very important in building a productive and comfortable learning community.

Once you have saved your updates, they will be visible to other Canvas users when they view your profile. You may notice a message under the Contact section that mentions you have not registered any services. We will learn how to add registered services and add your contact information once we've covered how to add a profile picture.

Adding a profile picture

Including a photo of yourself immediately makes your presence on Canvas more relatable and inviting. When participants can see a photo of who is writing to them, providing feedback, or posting on discussion boards, the Canvas community becomes more vibrant, personalized, and engaging. Especially in fully online learning environments where students and the teacher are never physically together, a profile picture can be an important way to build relationships and make interactions more personal.

To add or change your profile picture, perform the following steps:

Click on the gray outline of a person next to your name on your profile page. Notice that when you hover your mouse over this gray image, an icon appears in the bottom right of the image that looks like a pencil. You can click this pencil icon to add or edit your profile picture.Once you've clicked on the pencil icon, a pop-up will appear with options along the top to Upload a Picture from your computer, Take a Picture of yourself using your built-in camera, or to add your globally recognized avatar From Gravatar if that is a service you utilize. If you are not familiar with Gravatar, you can select one of the first two options.If you choose to Upload a Picture, click on choose a picture, find and select the photo file from your computer, follow the on-screen instructions to crop your photo, and then click Save.If you choose to Take a Picture, provide permissions in the pop-up window to Allow Canvas to use your built-in camera. You will see a preview appear. Make sure to smile, click Take Picture, and then click Save.If you use Gravatar, you can add your avatar From Gravatar by entering the email address connected to your Gravatar and following the on-screen instructions, and then clicking Save.

Once you have added your profile picture, it will appear next to your name on your profile page, as well as other places throughout Canvas, when you use a variety of features.

Note

The pencil icon you saw when you hovered over your profile picture is the symbol for editing something within Canvas. Whenever you see the pencil icon, you can click on the icon to edit what you're viewing.

Next, we will learn how to adjust your account settings and add alternative forms of contact, including email addresses, cell phone numbers, or registered services such as Google Docs, Twitter, or Skype.

Adjusting your account settings

To adjust your account settings, such as your display name, contact information, language, time zone, and integrated web services, click on the Account option of the left Global Navigation menu, and then click on Settings.

Let's begin by adjusting your contact information so anything you receive from Canvas goes to an address or device that you check frequently.

Adding a new email address

On your Settings page, the Ways to Contact section of the right sidebar menu includes the email address with which you registered. It also includes the option to add more email addresses and other methods of contact. To add an email address, perform the following steps:

Click on the + Email Address link.A pop-up window will appear that will let you add an alternate email address. You have the option of signing into Canvas with the new email address if you check the box below the new email address you have entered.Click on Register Email in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up window.Check the email account you've just added for a confirmation email from Canvas, which will contain instructions for verifying your new email address so that you can use it for Canvas.

Once you have verified your new email address, you can continue editing your contact information.

Adding a cell phone number for SMS text notifications

Canvas offers the option for you to receive notifications about course activity directly to your cell phone. To add your cell phone number so that you receive SMS text message notifications, perform the following steps:

On the Settings page, click on + Contact Method under the Ways to Contact section of the right sidebar menu.In the pop-up window, enter your cell phone number and select your provider. The SMS email address should automatically appear once you select your provider.Once you have entered your number and selected your provider, click on Register SMS in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up window.You will then see a new pop-up window appear in your browser that asks for a confirmation code. You should receive a text on your cell phone with a case-sensitive confirmation code, which you should then enter into the pop-up window on your screen. Then, click on Confirm.

If you do not receive a text with a confirmation number and you entered your phone number correctly, click on the Re-Send Confirmation link in the pop-up window. If you entered your number incorrectly, close the pop-up window and begin the process again.

Once you have confirmed your cell phone number with the confirmation code, you will be able to receive notifications via text message.

With your contact information updated, you're now ready to personalize your general settings within Canvas.

Note:

For international users using an institutional instance of Canvas, your institution may have the SMS text notification feature enabled for international numbers. In this case you would follow the on-screen instructions that appear to select your country and enter your mobile number. The SMS text notification feature may be unavailable for international users using a Free for Teachers instance of Canvas or if your institution has not enabled this feature. If this is the case, you can still receive notifications in several other ways discussed in this chapter.

Editing your general settings

As with many other online services you may have encountered, configuring the general settings of your Canvas account is important so that your account functions correctly and accurately. Your general settings include your name, pronouns, preferred language, current time zone, and password. Also found within the general settings menu are the options to receive Instructure informational emails. To edit your general settings, perform the following steps:

Select Account from the left Global Navigation menu, and then click Settings.On the right sidebar menu, click on the Edit Settings button underneath the Ways to Contact menu, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 1.8 – Edit Settings button

You will see textboxes and drop-down menus appear in the center part of the screen so that you can adjust your general settings. When adjusting the Full Name, Display Name, Sortable Name, and Pronouns fields for your account, each section includes a brief description of where that name or item will appear. For example, if you are teaching a college course, you may want your name to be displayed with the title of Professor or Dr. for discussion posts, messages, and comments. The following screenshot provides an example of each type:

Figure 1.9 – Example settings

Below your name settings, you can use the Default Email, Language, and Time Zone drop-down menus to adjust the email used for Canvas, the language of your Canvas experience, and the time zone in which you live, respectively. Click on the drop-down menu and select from the listed options to adjust any of these settings.

Note

The Time Zone option you choose in your settings will only apply to your account. Any due dates posted on Canvas will be adjusted to each user's time zone, so keep that in mind for later if you are teaching students in multiple time zones.

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