#1 Tip When Using Canvas

The #1 Tip When Using Canvas: ta da, the Help button!

It's amazing and always there... it is in the upper right hand corner of your screen and by clicking on it you will be transferred to a world of Canvas Guides complete with step-by-step instructions and many videos.

Once you click the Help Button, you will be prompted to Search a variety of Help options.  

Click on Search the Canvas Guides

Click Canvas Instructor Guide 

you may scroll and select from a large variety of topics
OR
'search' the guide for your issue!

If you prefer learning from videos, please click here. Then, select from this list of video instructions.
As always we are here to assist you, so don't hesitate to call, email or drop by to visit.
We always enjoy helping and sharing our knowledge about Canvas.

The details for these new features have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides and Product Release Notes. If you have any specific question we would be happy to speak with you directly, please call 413-565-6880 or email us at online@baypath.edu.

Weighting Assignments in Draft State

In Draft State Weighting Assignments works ever so slightly different. Fear not! Canvas is very intuitive and soon those who weight their Assignments will be zipping along in Draft State.

Here are some simple steps.  Read all the details here too.

Open Assignments

In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.

View Assignments Index Page

The Assignments Index page is designed with global settings at the top of the page [1], followed by the Assignment groups [2]. Individual assignments are nested within each Assignment group [3].

View Assignment Global Settings

Global settings include searching for assignments [1], adding a new assignment group [2], and adding a new assignment [3]. To weight assignment groups, click the Settings icon [4].

View Assignment Groups

Assignment Groups house the assignments within each group. Groups can be expanded and collapsed by clicking the arrow next to the group name.

Manage Assignment Group Settings

The icons and links to the right of the assignment group control the entire assignment group.

If assignment groups have been weighted, Canvas will display the weighted percentage of the total assignment score [1]. Additionally, if rules are assigned to the group, Canvas will show the number of rules; hover over the link to view the rules [2]. You can add a new assignment to the group with the Add icon [3], and in the Settings drop-down menu, you can edit, delete, or move the assignment group [4].

 Manage Individual Assignments

For each individual assignment, you can use the settings drop-down menu to edit, delete, or move the assignment.

View Module Association

If an assignment is associated with a module, the module name will appear on the individual line item of the assignment.

View Status of All Assignments

On the Assignments Index page, you can view the status of each assignment. Green cloud icons with a white checkmark [1] indicate the assignment is published. Solid gray cloud icons [2] indicate unpublished assignments. You can change the status of an assignment by toggling the published and unpublished icons.

Publish an Assignment

To publish an assignment, click the assignment’s unpublished icon. The hover text will confirm you want to publish the assignment.

Unpublish an Assignment

To unpublish an assignment, hover over the assignment's published icon and view its status. If the assignment can be unpublished, the hover text will confirm you want to unpublish the assignment, and the icon will change from gray to red [1]. Click the icon to confirm.

Assignments with student submissions cannot be unpublished, and the hover text will notify you accordingly [2].

View Status within an Individual Assignment

Within individual assignments, the assignment status is shown next to the assignment name.

Publish an Assignment

To publish an assignment, click the assignment’s Publish button. The button will change from gray to green.  

Unpublish an Assignment

To unpublish an assignment, hover over the published button for the assignment and view its status. If the assignment can be unpublished, the hover text will confirm you want to unpublish the assignment, and the button will change from gray to red [1]. Click the button to confirm.

Assignments with student submissions cannot be unpublished. The the hover text will notify you accordingly [2].

Assignments Student View

Students cannot see any of the actions involved with Draft State, such as published and unpublished icons and setting icons. Students will only see published assignments, which are posted in gray text.

The details for these new features have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides and Product Release Notes. If you have any specific question we would be happy to speak with you directly, please call 413-565-6880 or email us at online@baypath.edu.

S.O.S. = Save Our Syllabus

If you are tired of reminding your students to, "Read your syllabus for that information," you might be interested in how one faculty decided to incorporate her syllabus into a learning resource....and saved her syllabus.

Joanne Marciano Crossman, EdD. professor of Education at Saint Leo University in Florida, always provides her syllabus to her students.  Yet she was bewildered by the fact her students still didn't seem to actually 'read the syllabus'.

Joanne has come up with a few strategies. While Joanne teaches Face-to-Face courses, her techniques can easily be adapted for online delivery.

• As you probably do, Joanne includes an index of recommended website resources in her syllabi.  She was finding [as you might] that many of these pertinent resources were ignored.  So, Joanne correlates several website resources into each class.  You might consider adding your website resources into your Weekly Overviews.  

• this might be a link to a website that gives an overview of the week's content or a link to interactive tools relevant to your course.  Just add the website links to serve as resources so students don't just "Google" information and use the top ranking website.

• You might want to refer to your syllabus when describing an Assignment and refer to learning activities and objectives, listed in your syllabus. 

• If you list any rubrics in your syllabus, add them into Canvas.  This not only offers your students a graphic representation of your expectations, it will help you when grading assignments etc.

• This last tip is one of my own.  You might also want to add a little 'Quiz' into your Introductory Module, with all questions leading your students back to the syllabus for answers.  It can even be 'Open Syllabus'.  Anything to get them to read this important document.

If you would like to read more from Joanne, please take a look at her June 9, 2014 article in Faculty Focus, Using Your Syllabus as a Learning Resource.

If you have any specific question we would be happy to speak with you directly, please call 413-565-6880 or email us at online@baypath.edu 

Draft State in Canvas

As we have mentioned in previous posts, Draft State is coming to Canvas and we are busy planning how to best support you as you navigate these exciting changes in Canvas.

Briefly, Draft State allows content in Pages to exist in an unpublished (or draft) state.

Draft State changes are visible only to you [the instructors].

Students will only see pages once you have published them. Unpublished content is invisible to students. 

Please take 5 minutes to watch the video below to get an overview of how to use Draft State in your Canvas course.

Note: Draft State will be enabled, campus wide, beginning July 12, 2014 and will not be turned off once enabled.

In the big picture, these changes are going to make your work inside your Canvas course much easier. However, as we all know change can be, challenging. So, take a few minutes to watch the video and start to get familiar with Draft State.

If you have any specific question we would be happy to speak with you directly, please call 413-565-6880 or email us at online@baypath.edu 

Future Forecast: Green Clouds on the horizon

No, it's not climate change creating Green Clouds.

In fact, Green Clouds will soon be part of your daily forecast as we roll-out Canvas' new Draft State functionality starting July 12, 2014.

Briefly, Draft State will allow content in your Canvas course to exist in an unpublished (draft) state until you click the Green Cloud icon  button and publish your content.

As you create your course content in the Draft State changes you make are visible only to you [the instructors]. Students will only see pages once you have published them, using the Green Cloud icon.
All your unpublished content remains in your control and invisible to students until you are ready to share.

• You will soon have the ability to open a Module and keep specific content 'closed' until you publish it...such as a Discussion, Assignment, Quiz or other Pages.

• Draft State will give you more consistency in the layout and functionality of your Canvas course.

• Canvas' Draft State will give you better global functionality as you work within your online course and enable you to view all the pages in your course,  edit pages, and publish & un-publish pages -all from your course dashboard inside Canvas.

The Draft State changes will soon be second nature to you as you create, manage, and publish content in your Canvas classrooms.  We will be providing more information about Draft State in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
                                                                   

If you have any specific question we would be happy to speak with you directly, please call 413-565-6880 or email us at online@baypath.edu