Canvas Tips and Tricks

Overall course/Canvas tips

(1) My course list is too long!

Customize your course list.

For your course list, you can rename your previous courses so that you effectively “archive” them. You can rename your current courses so that they are easier to distinguish. You can also 'customize' your course list (click 'customize' on the right side of the 'courses' dropdown menu) and select only your current courses to show up in the “Courses” drop down menu. Also, to clean up your list (and your students' lists!) you should conclude your courses at the end of a semester. 'Concluded' courses are frozen from further input but still accessible to you if needed.

(2) Students say: "I can't find anything in this course!"

Simplify simplify simplify

For the course menu, we recommend having as few tabs as possible.

Have a 'Start Here' link prominently placed on your course home page, which links to a simple course outline indicating where everything the student will need is located (linked if possible). Some professors link everything from this page, so the student never needs the left side course menu at all.

If the course material is arranged into weekly modules (or similar), organize these in as consistent a way as possible! Students will learn the module format and know where to look within a module for assignments, lectures, etc.

(3) Linking to external websites: avoiding legal issues.

Do you link to external websites? Add a disclaimer such as this one from Michael Brooks:

"Disclaimers Regarding External Links

The course website provides links to external web sites. These include links to web sites operated by government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses. When a student leaves the course website and visits another site, the student is subject to the privacy policy of that new site. While every effort is made to link to quality websites, some web hosts may run advertisements or offer comments sections that contain objectionable material. Neither the instructor nor BGSU is responsible for the contents of any off-site pages referenced.

The student specifically acknowledges that the instructor and BGSU are not liable for defamatory, negligent, inaccurate, offensive, or illegal conduct of other website users, links, or third parties. Moreover, the risk of harm from any external websites rests entirely with the student. Links from the course website to other sites do not constitute an endorsement from the instructor or BGSU. Since the instructor and BGSU are not responsible for the availability of these outside resources or their contents, the student should direct any concerns regarding any external link to the specific site administrator or webmaster for the site in question."

Discussion Board Tips

(1) Due dates for initial versus response posts.

If you have a discussion where students are required to make response posts, it can be helpful to have a separate due date for the initial posts a couple days before the response posts are due. This avoids people procrastinating in getting their initial posts done until the last minute, which gives other students problems in having posts available for response writing. One can set a separate Calendar note up for the 'due date' for the initial (or response) post since one cannot give two separate due dates for the same assignment.

(2) Conveying discussion expectations to students.

This is an example of Discussion expectations for a graduate class that is conducted via distance education. The gradebook is set up so the instructor is able to assign a letter grade and then the grades are weighed so that all the discussion grades combined are 25% of the student's final grade. The discussion expectations appear on the traditional syllabus (a link appears on the Home Page of the course, and on the Syllabus page of Canvas), and as a pinned discussion prompt so that the instructions are available every time a students makes a discussion posting.

DISCUSSION EXPECTATIONS FOR THE COURSE

A. The purpose of the discussions are to support comprehension, or showing that you understand facts and ideas by organizing, giving descriptions, translating, comparing, interpreting, and stating main ideas. Discussions also show that you are able to evaluate the module materials by presenting and defending opinions and by making judgments about information, validity of ideas, or quality of work. Thus, these are academic discussions where you will show comprehension and analysis of the assigned readings.

B. A minimum of two posts is required for each discussion.

The first discussion posting must be at least 250 words and refer to the specific reading assignments from a module. You are expected to cite from all required readings in each of these postings.
The second (or more) posting(s) should be in response to another student’s comment. This posting must be at least 100 words and include at least one citation from the required readings. Additional posting that are more informal, respond to what others have said about your posts, and/or describe your related experiences are also very much encouraged (citations not required)

C. The first posting is due on Thursdays by midnight. Postings made late on the last day are less useful as they do not allow your classmates an opportunity to consider your comments and respond. Please try to start the discussions as early in the week as possible. All follow up postings are due on Sundays by midnight.

D. The highest grades are for thoughtful postings that summarize, synthesize, and critically evaluate material from the readings for that module. A letter grade will be assigned for each discussion (A, B, C, etc). Discussions posted after the due dates will be scored as an F.

Grade Center Tips

(1) Peer Review of draft essays.

For the peer review of an essay’s draft, it’s best to set up the draft review as a separate assignment and add the peer review questions to the assignment. Then you just “grade” the review as “complete” or “incomplete.” Weights for the assignments are assigned when you set up the assignment and not through the Grade Center as it was in Blackboard.

(2) Participation/attendance as assignment.

Participation/attendance can also be set up as an “assignment.” The word “assignment” is a bit of a misnomer because anything that you want to tally up on your “grade book” should be added as an “assignment,” so that Canvas can do all your calculating for you at the end of the semester.

(3) Muting assignments.

You can mute an assignment while you are grading the assignments so that students won’t see them until you have graded all of them. They will receive your comments in their inbox as a conversation. Unfortunately you can’t mute the final grade calculation for the course, so when you grade the last essay, they will know what the final grade for the course is.

(4) Reading discussions/comments in review pane.

Because of the way Canvas sets up the discussion and comment boxes in the review pane, it may be hard to read other people’s comments unless you hit control/- (control minus) to minimize the comments.

Known contributors:

Susan Carlton, General Studies Writing, susanrc@bgsu.edu

Allen Rogel, Physics & Astronomy Instructor, abrogel@bgsu.edu

Rebecca Pobocik, Food and Nutrition, pobocik@bgsu.edu