...
Whitman’s Canvas is https://canvas.whitman.edu, with shortcuts from myWhitman, https://whitman.edu/canvas, and from its formal address https://whitman.instructure.com . Note
* Note that it’s actually hosted by Instructure (the makers of Canvas), not Whitman, but if you have trouble accessing it, please let us know.
How do I set up my courses?
Go to myWhitman / Faculty tab / Faculty Tools, and click “Canvas Course Site SetupCreation":
How do get Canvas help? What about course design consultation, or my "what if?" questions?
canvas_help@whitman. edu is the best place to get support, ask questions, inquire about training, and more. Officially, we pledge to respond to messages within one business day. Unofficially our response time is usually far faster than that-- within a couple hours or less!
Another great help resource is built right into Canvas! See the "Help" link at the bottom of the left hand blue bar.
Use Universal Design guidelines
...
Also note that Whitman employs the Blackboard Ally plug-in, which helps you identify which parts of your courses can be improved to make them more accessible. Just look for and click on the Speedometer icons that appear in your course:...
Note that Ally does more that just evaluate and help you fix course material. Learn more
... and click on the icon for more information and actions you can take. When you make your course materials as fully accessible as possible, your students will get options like these:
... which is immensely helpful to them for a wide variety of reasons.
Learn more about Ally (from Stockton University).
...
You might also find Transparency in Teaching and Learning useful when building assignments. Check out the Transparent Assignment Template by Mary-Ann Winkelmes.
Files
→ The ‘Files’ “Files” tool consists of a hierarchical file location to store all manner of computer files that you would want access to in Canvas. A folder structure like that of both Mac and PC (and /Windows/Google Drive for that matter) can be built here, and populated with various files uploaded from your office (or any) computer, using the tools built into Files.
As with any item listed in Course Navigation (the items in the column in white, just to the right of the blue column) ‘files’ must be listed in the Navigation portion of Course Settings.
Files files and folders that you upload.
→ The Files tool can be used directly by displaying the folder for students, or it can be more of a ‘loading dock’ staging area for items that you would you’ll use elsewhere in Canvas. For example, you could have a file folder full of PDF’s that are linked from either Modules, or Pages.
Once in Files, you will see a ‘map’ of the folders you’ve built on the left, and on the right, the files that are in the selected folder.
Tools for getting files where you want them to be are found on the upper right: There are 3 items:
- +Folder - to build a new folder in the selected location.
- Upload - to upload files from your computer to Canvas.
- The vertical ellipsis (I call it the kebab) that, once expanded, shows options for files.
...
There is also an ‘accessibility’ column, that rates a given PDF for its ease of access by students. More on this later.
, but not visible to students in the Files tool.
Note that each file/folder on the right side of the screen has three key options to the right of the “size” column.
- Accessibility - Blackboard Ally (see above) at work on many files-- a “speedometer” icon will appear, indicating the accessibility “rating” of the file. Clicking on it will give you more information and options.
- Publishing status -
- where you set how and when a student sees the file - Vertical ellipses - (only visible when you mouse over the file) where you can affect file location and more.
Modules
Modules let you group together items of various types: Assignments, Quizzes, Files, links to external resources, etc., for easy access by students. Most instructors group them week-by-week, or topic by topic.
...
Notifications
Please see our Recommended Settings Guide.
Pages
- How to see Pages, and who sees them when
...
- Syllabus Tool: The Syllabus Tool is a special page that (as you see above) can be chosen to be the Home Page as well. The Syllabus page has the same page building tools that ‘pages’ has, with one addition: Any assignments built (using the assignments tool) will be shown on the bottom portion of the Syllabus page as a bulleted list. Building a Syllabus page does not automatically make it the Home Page, it must be selected from the ‘Choose Home Page’ menu.
- Do note that if you add assignments using the Assignment tool over the course of the semester, they will be added to the Syllabus page at the same time.
Old School to New School: migration from CLEo to Canvas:
...
...
Other questions? Please contact us at
...
canvas_
...