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Canvas Faculty Support

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Updated, March 6, 2024

Notes and News

Faculty/Staff Canvas users have access to vendor-provided 24/7/365 technical support via live chat and telephone. Information about both options is provided via the Help icon within Canvas. IMPORTANT! Canvas staff cannot answer questions about UHCL-specific topics, such as student enrollments, course shell visibility, and login problems. Questions about those issues should be sent to the OIT Support Center at supportcenter@uhcl.edu.

Please email any Canvas-related questions to IDT@uhcl.edu. You may also use this email address to opt in to the IDT team's weekly newsletter through which we'll post most of our Canvas-related updates and information.

General Canvas Faculty Resources/Status Reports

Canvas System Status - Wondering whether Canvas is or has been offline? All Canvas users (faculty, staff, and students) can visit the Instructure Status Page, where you can see the current operational status of Canvas, review recent system outages/incidents, and even check on status data for UHCL's instance of Canvas.

Image of a table for Important Canvas-Related Recurring Dates. Blank Shells Released to Faculty. (1) Fall Classes – No Later Than July 1, Spring Classes – No Later Than November 1, and Summer Classes – No Later Than April 1. Student Enrollments Added. 2 Weeks Before Semester Start. Published Shells Released to Students. 2 Calendar Days Before Semester Start. Bulk Publish All Shells. 4:00 PM on Day 2 of the Semester. Student Access to Shells Removed. 3 Weeks After Last Day of Finals. Faculty Access to Shells Removed. 2 Years After Semester Ends.

Primary Canvas Resources

Canvas Support Request Forms

Canvas Training Options

Canvas Basic Training

Faculty can complete either the fully online asynchronous course (Growing with Canvas) or our increasingly popular Hybrid Video-Based training.

  • 100% Asynchronous Self-Paced Online (Growing with Canvas) Training -  All instructors should already have access to the Growing with Canvas training shell and an empty "sandbox" shell in which to practice and complete assignments during the online course. If you don't see tiles for these on your Canvas dashboard, please notify the team via email (IDT@uhcl.edu), and we'll get those set up for you ASAP. IMPORTANT! If you take the online version, please email our team upon completion.
  • Hybrid Video-Based Training - Attend the 30-minute Orientation Session (in-person or virtually) at 9:30 AM on Friday, (2) Watch the Two Videos [~45 minutes each] and answer the embedded questions on Friday anytime between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM, and (3) Attend the 60-minute Capstone Session (in-person or virtually) at 3:00 PM on Friday.

To register for the new Blended Video-Based version of the training or to gain access to the 100% Online Asynchronous option, simply send an email to IDT@uhcl.edu!

Canvas Intermediate/Advanced Training

Instructure, the vendor who brought us Canvas, offers a wide range of asynchronous online and synchronous virtual training sessions on a wealth of topics. UHCL faculty and staff can access those free courses via the Canvas Training Portal, accessible via the Help menu within Canvas.

Topics available this month through the portal include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • On Demand Online Asynchronous Offerings
    • Nontraditional Courses in Canvas
    • Canvas Field Guide
    • New Quizzes Essentials
    • Cengage Training Course
    • Repondus Training Course
  • Live Webinars
    • Integrating Canvas and Office 365
    • Exploring the Canvas Commons
    • MasteryPaths Creation
    • Managing Classic Quizzes
    • Managing Assessments with New Quizzes
    • Gradebook and SpeedGrader

For more information about the Canvas Training Portal, including where to find it and how to register for training session, please review the IDT team's video tutorial, Crash Course - Canvas Training Portal [3:02].

Canvas "Crash Course" Video Tutorials

The IDT team creates short "crash course" videos for the many tools we support. Shown below are those we've generated for our new learning management system, Canvas. If you would like to see a "crash course" video on a specific Canvas topic, please email your  request to IDT@uhcl.edu. We'd love to create a new tutorial for you!

Canvas Interactive Lessons

Quickly access individual interactive articles from our Articulate-based newsletters via the hyperlinks below.

From Blackboard to Canvas

Canvas Basics

Intermediate Canvas

Advanced Canvas

Miscellaneous Canvas Information

Digital Accessibility Resources

Student Resources

Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) Team

Through training, documentation, and consultation, the Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) Team supports faculty in identifying, evaluating, and implementing instructionally appropriate software tools to deliver and support face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online learning. We also provide ongoing technical support for university-approved applications and tools for web-based teaching and learning, thereby facilitating the creation and maintenance of easily navigable, well developed, accessible, high-quality web-based instructional environments for our users – the faculty, staff, and students of University of Houston-Clear Lake. Please see our team's blog for more information.

Contact

  • Instructional Design and Technology

    Phone: 281-283-2981
    IDT@uhcl.edu 

    Bayou 3608
    2700 Bay Area Blvd.
    Houston, TX 77058-100


    Virtual Drop-In Hours

    Zoom Meeting Link
    Monday: 10-11 a.m.
    Tuesday: 1-2 p.m.
    Wednesday: 6-7 p.m.
    Thursday: 10-11 a.m.

Related Links