Canvas Faculty Support
Updated, December 12, 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.
REMINDER! The university and all offices (including the IDT Team) close at 5:00 PM on Friday, December 20, 2024, and reopen on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
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.
Important Canvas-Related Recurring Dates
| Action | When It Occurs |
|---|---|
| Blank Shells Released to Faculty | Fall Classes – No Later Than June 1 Spring Classes – No Later Than November 1 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 Semester End Date |
| Faculty Access to Shells Removed | 2 Years After Semester Ends |
Primary Canvas Resources
Canvas Support Request Forms
- Request Development of New Fully Online Course
- Request to Add Non-Instructor to Course(s)
- Canvas 3rd-Party Tool Integration Request NOTE: Please also review the web page, Manual Canvas Enrollments, for information about procedural changes effective as of the SU24 term.
- Looking for the Course Merge Request Form? IDT staff had to complete course merges in Blackboard because that system had no DIY option. Canvas, however, provides a mechanism that enables faculty to merge/crosslist shells without IDT assistance. For more information on how to merge/crosslist courses in Canvas, please review the following resources:
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!
- Crash Course - Canvas Copy Course to Course [4:04] / Document Version
- Canvas Tutorial - Adding a Landing Page [9:15]
- Crash Course - Articulate and Canvas: Better Together! [7:26]
- Crash Course - Zoom in Canvas [6:32]
- Crash Course - Respondus LDB and Monitor (Canvas) [6:18]
- Crash Course - Respondus Exam (Canvas) Part 1 [5:57]
- Crash Course - Respondus Exam (Canvas) Part 2 - New Test [5:44]
- Crash Course - Canvas Folio [2:28]
- Crash Course - UHCL Canvas Template [4:03]
- Crash Course - Turnitin First Look! [2:36]
- Crash Course - Canvas Collaborations with O365 [4:33]
- Crash Course - Canvas Grade Categories and Weighted Grading [5:58]
- Crash Course - Canvas Dashboard Items [3:07]
- Crash Course - Canvas Training Portal [3:02]
- Crash Course - Canvas Course Merging [6:45]
- Crash Course - Edit a Canvas Page Image Link [5:24]
- Crash Course - Edit Canvas Course Card [4:45]
- Crash Course - Editing the Canvas Syllabus [4:02]
- Crash Course - Echo Video Editing Basics [7:49]
- Crash Course - Zoom Meeting Settings (In Canvas Integration) [3:14]
- Crash Course - Canvas Zoom Appointments (Faculty) [4:44]
- Crash Course - Editing Your Course Menu [2:53]
New! Canvas "Housekeeping" Series
Canvas Interactive Lessons
Quickly access individual interactive articles from our Articulate-based newsletters via the hyperlinks below.
Canvas Basics
- Canvas Support Spectrum: Finding the Fastest Route to Solutions
- Canvas Related News: New Roles and Instructor Changes to the Class Schedule
- Faculty Canvas Support Options
- Canvas Basics Part 1 - Course Navigation Links
- Canvas Basics Part 2 - Understanding Modules
- Canvas Course Design Essentials: Creating Engaging and Interactive Courses
- Utilizing Modules in Canvas
- Adding and Creating Items in Modules
- About the UHCL Canvas Template
- Student-Student and Instructor-Instructor Communication in Canvas
- Changing the Canvas Course Nick Name
- Using Canvas to Apply Universal Design for Learning Principles to Your Courses
- Canvas Accessibility Checker
- Canvas Dashboard Course Tile/List Limits
- Untimed Quizzes in Canvas
- Advanced Canvas Training Option - Canvas Training Portal
- Coming Soon: Recurring Calendar Events in Canvas!
- Start-of-Semester Checklist
- A Faster Way to Update Assignment Due Dates in Canvas
- Canvas "Locked" Files Explained
- Unlocking the Benefits of the Canvas Community
- Canvas Roll Call Attendance
- Canvas Third-Party Integrations
- Crash Course - Screen Share Grade Feedback (Canvas) [4:28]
- Crash Course - Grade Feedback Entire Screen Share Error (MacOS) [5:39]
Intermediate Canvas
- Exploring a Canvas Tool (Roll Call)
- The Canvas Chat Tool: Another Way to Communicate with Students
- Optimize Your Course with the Canvas Syllabus Summary Tool
- Canvas Basics: Adaptive Releases
- Using the Ally Tool to Make Your Canvas Course Accessible
- Creating a Rubric in Canvas
- Student Video Submissions in Canvas
- OneDrive - Canvas Integration: NOW LIVE!
- Promoting Student Collaboration: Canvas Collaborations with O365
- Using Canvas Surveys to Improve Student Learning
- Turnitin: Live in Canvas!
- Improving Digital Feedback Support in Canvas
- Canvas Grade Categories and Weighted Grades
- Understanding the Canvas Moderate Quiz Feature's Role and Functions
- Reassign Button in Canvas
- Canvas Grade Book: Turnitin Icons
- Canvas Tip: Help! My Canvas Rubric is Acting Funny!
- Customizing Your Gradebook
- Canvas Tip: Fixing the "This file is currently locked" Student Error
- Respondus Lockdown Browser in Canvas
- News Flash! Saving Time with the Canvas-Zoom-EchoVideo Integration
Advanced Canvas
- Canvas New vs. Classic Quizzes
- Canvas Assignment Weighted Groups
- Investigating Canvas Test Bank Conversion Methods
- Using Microsoft Office 365 Collaborations
- Peer Review Assignments in Canvas
- How to Engage Students in Canvas?
- Enhancing Learning Engagement: Enabling Podcast in Canvas Discussions
Miscellaneous Canvas Information
- New UHCL Library Modules - Now Available in the Canvas Commons!
- Enhancing Academic Integrity: Turnitin Integration in Canvas
Digital Accessibility Resources
- Digital Accessibility: From Understanding to Meaningful Change with CAST
- Canvas Accessibility: Navigation, Aids, Assignments, and Quizzes
- Accessibility: Tips for Making the Content in Your Course Accessible for Everyone
- Reminder: Canvas Accessibility Checker
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.