Introduction

Complete the activities on this page to get started using Canvas at Temple!

On This Page:

Download the course design checklist
Request a Canvas shell or create a Canvas course from your Banner class list
Set up your profile and notification settings
Locate hidden courses in Canvas
Add TA’s and others to your course roster
Create a Temple compatible grading scheme
Introduce your students to Canvas

Download our course design checklist

This is a step-by-step guide and checklist you can use to keep track of important tasks as you create your Canvas course for the first time. Select the first link to download the checklist as a pdf, or select the second link to preview the document in another window:

Checklist: Creating Your First Canvas Course

Request a Canvas shell or create a course from your banner class list

Follow the instructions in the document below to get a course shell on Canvas:

Create a course shell

A "sandbox" is a practice course that only you can access. All Temple users of Canvas have a sandbox created and ready for their use. Use your sandbox to try out new features in Canvas as they are released, playing with options and exploring possibilities before making changes to any of your actual courses. We will also ask you to use your sandbox for all of the practice activities in this learning path and during any live training you may attend.

A "course shell" not associated with a banner class list can be requested at any time following the instructions above. This is similar to a sandbox in that only you will have access to the course unless you choose to add others to the roster manually. A course created this way could be used as a development area or template course that could later be copied to a course created from a banner class list.

Set up your profile & notification settings

Follow the steps of this tutorial to set up your profile in Canvas. NOTE: The tutorial includes information for editing your user profile name; however, at Temple, the only way to change your profile name is to contact Canvas support.

How do I edit my profile?

Read an overview of Canvas’s notification options:

How do I add contact methods to receive Canvas notifications?

Follow the steps in this tutorial to customize your notification settings:

How do I set my notification preferences?

Please Note: Notification settings cannot be customized for individual courses. These are global settings that will determine how and how often you are notified of a variety of activities across all of your courses.

Locate hidden courses in Canvas

Follow these steps to locate hidden courses in your Canvas account:

Click Courses on the global navigation menu.
Click All Courses located in the bottom left corner.
The courses you have access to will be displayed in a list.

After you have located your hidden course, follow the steps below to add the course to your Canvas dashboard:

Click the star to the left of the course you want to add to your dashboard. Be sure the star color changes to orange.
From the global navigation menu, click Dashboard to confirm the course you starred is displayed.

Add TA’s and others to your course roster

Follow the steps in this tutorial to add people to your course roster using the “people” tab in your course:

How do I add users to my course?

Choosing User Roles

When you add someone to your course roster, you will be asked to choose a role for that individual. Use the list of available roles below as a guide to make your selection:

Teacher - Access to all available features within a course. This includes content building, student data, assignments, grading, communications, and the ability to add other staff members to the course
Course Admin - Same access as teachers, but distinctly labeled so as to not confuse students
TA - Access to all student interactions, grading, and communication
Designer - Access to content editing features only
Observer - View Only Access to Course Content

Changing a User's Status

There are three status options in Canvas: Enrolled, Inactive, and Concluded. When a student enrolls in your class, they will automatically appear on your course roster as enrolled, and if a student drops your class, they will be automatically listed in the roster as inactive. You can also manually change a user's status by clicking the gear icon next to their name in the roster. See below for details about each of the three status options.

Enrolled - The user is enrolled in your course and assigned one of the roles described above.
Concluded - If you change a user's status in the roster to "concluded," they will still be able to view the course and its content, but they will not be able to interact with any part of the course (i.e. They will not be able to participate in discussions, assignments, etc.)
Inactive: If a user is listed as inactive, they will no longer have access to any of the content or activities in the course.

Create a grading scheme

Canvas allows you to create your own grading scale or "scheme." We recommend that you contact your department to ensure that the appropriate grading scheme is being used in your Canvas course. Your Canvas grading scheme should match the grading scale provided to students on your course syllabus.

How do I enable a grading scheme for a course?

Introduce your students to Canvas

Canvas has several video tutorials available for students. CAT recommends that you share this video providing an overview of Canvas with your students. You may also want to consider sharing other videos listed for students available at community.canvaslms.com/videos

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