Canvas Course Setup (Backup, Navigate, Import, Blocks, Quickmail, Outcomes, Proctorio)

This article pertains to everything related to your course setup in Moodle. Layout of the Course. Adding Blocks. Pages. Navigation. Profile Information, Proctorio, Backup, Import

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Accessibility Checklist for Canvas Course Setup

Signing into Canvas

Description: Instructions for logging into your Canvas account.

Additional Help for Signing into Canvas

Description: Resources and support for resolving login issues.

Accessing Course Administration

Description: Instructors have comprehensive control over course settings and features.

Attendance Block

Description: Tools for instructors to monitor and record student attendance effectively.

Backup Your Course in Canvas

Description: Instructions for exporting all course content to a new location for backup purposes.

Course Completion Tracking

Description: Methods for tracking student progress and allowing students to view their own progress.

Course Layout

Description: Overview of the components that make up a Canvas course structure.

Drag and Drop Files

Description: Guidelines for uploading files into your Canvas course using drag-and-drop functionality.

Groups

Description: Instructions for organizing students into groups and assigning tasks individually.

Groupings

Description: How to create parent groups to manage multiple groups effectively.

Using Groups with Activities/Resources

Description: Guidelines for integrating group functionality into course activities and resources.

How to Hide/Show a Course

Description: Options for controlling student visibility of the course.

How to Import Courses

Description: Step-by-step instructions for copying content from one course to another.

Accessing Student View

Description: Instructions for viewing the course as a student to ensure accessibility and usability.

Icons

Description: Explanation of icons used in Canvas and their meanings for easy navigation.

Managing Course Size

Description: Strategies for limiting file uploads to optimize course performance.

Setting Up Forum Subscriptions to Email

Description: Instructions for receiving email notifications for forum submissions.

Navigation as an Instructor

Description: Tips and guidelines for effective navigation within the Canvas interface as an instructor.

Signing into Canvas

 

Step 1:

Navigate to Canvas

1. Open your web browser.
2. Enter the following URL in the address bar: https://mtech.instructure.com.
3. Press Enter to go to the Canvas login page.

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Step 2:

Sign In

1. Enter your MT Tech credentials (username and password).
2. Click the Sign In button.

 

Accessing Course Administration

What Is It?
The Administration section provides instructors with extensive control over their courses. It includes various tools to manage course settings, users, and content.

Where Can I Access It?

From the Canvas homepage, locate and click the Admin icon to access the Course Administration section.

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Common Course Administration Tools

• Settings:
  Allows you to edit course settings, such as changing the format, adjusting the number of weeks or topics, and making the course available to students.

• People:
  This collapsible sub-menu lets instructors view enrolled users and manage groups. You can create groups and see all participants in the course.

• Admin Tools:
  Options for auto-linking activity names, using emoticons, and applying algebraic notation.

• Grading:
  Directs you to the gradebook for managing student grades.

• Rubrics:
  Import, export, reset, or restore rubrics for your course.

• Student View:
  This collapsible menu allows you to experience Canvas from a student's perspective. Switching to this role hides items not visible to students.

• Statistics:
  Access detailed reports of all actions within the course, including what users have viewed and done.

• Question Banks:
  Import question banks from previous classes and create or apply new ones.

 

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Attendance Block

Step 1:

Navigate to Canvas

1. Open your web browser.
2. Go to your Canvas homepage: https://mtech.instructure.com.

Note: Ensure the external attendance tool is set up in your course before you can take attendance.

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Step 2:

Open the Attendance Tab

• From the Course navigation menu, click on the Attendance tab.

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Step 3:

View Attendance

• Roll Call:
  Click the List View tab to see all students listed.

• Class View:
  To view the class in a seating chart format, click the Class View tab.
  If your course includes sections, both views will display a drop-down menu to select the course section(s).
  To view students in a specific section, click the section drop-down menu.

Note: Attendance marked in one section does not transfer to other sections if a student is enrolled in multiple sections.

 

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Step 4:

View Attendance Dates

• The Roll Call will display the current date.
• To edit attendance for a different date, use the arrow icons next to the date or click the Calendar icon.

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Step 5:

Take Attendance in List View

• List View:
  Select the appropriate mark next to each student's name:

  • Present: Click once (green check mark icon).
  • Absent: Click twice (red X icon).
  • Late: Click three times (orange clock icon).
  • Un-marked: Leave the button gray (no symbol icon), which indicates an excused absence.

• You can also click the Mark All Present button to mark all students as present.

• If you need to reset all entries, click the Un-mark All button.

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Step 6:

Take Attendance in Class View

• Class View:
  Select the appropriate mark next to each student's name (present, absent, or late).
• Alternatively, click the Mark All Present button.
• To un-mark all student entries, click the Un-mark All button.

 

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Step 7:

Add Badges to Roll Call

• As part of the attendance entry, you can view more options for each student and add the selected badge.

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Backup Your Course in Canvas

 

Step 1:

Navigate to Canvas

1. Open your web browser.
2. Go to your Canvas homepage: https://mtech.instructure.com.

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Step 2:

Access the Export/Import Options

• Navigate to the Courses section.
• Look for the Export/Import Courses option to begin the backup process.

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Instructions for Exporting Your Course:

1. Select the course you wish to back up.
2. Follow the prompts to export your course content.
3. Once the export is complete, you will receive a file that can be downloaded and saved for future use.

 

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Course Completion Tracking

 

Step 1:

Navigate to Canvas

1. Open your web browser.
2. Go to your Canvas homepage: https://mtech.instructure.com.

 

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Step 2:

Select the Desired Course

• Click on the course you want to track.

 

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Step 3:

Access Progress

• From the course navigation menu, open the drop-down menu and click on the Progress link.

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Step 4:

Open Learner Progress

• Click on Learner Progress to view detailed information

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Step 5:

View Progress

• The learner progress will display in a table format, showing an overview of badges earned within the group.

You can view and sort by:

• Learner’s Name (1)

• Last Badge Earned (2)

• Progress (3)

• To see a learner's completion status and pathway progress, click the Details link (4).

• To export the learner progress, click the Export as CSV button (5).

 

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Drag and Drop Files into Canvas

 

Step 1:

Navigate to Canvas

1. Open your web browser.
2. Go to your Canvas homepage: https://mtech.instructure.com.

 

 

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Step 2:

Access Pages

• From the Course navigation menu, locate and click on Pages.

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Step 3:

Use the Rich Content Editor (RCE)

• In the Rich Content Editor (RCE), you have three options to drag and drop files:

  • Upload Image (from your device)
  • Course Images
  • User Images

• From here, you can drag and drop or select the desired image to link it.

 

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Managing Groups and Group Sets

 

Step 1:

Navigate to Canvas

1. Open your web browser.
2. Go to your Canvas homepage: https://mtech.instructure.com.

 

 

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Step 2:

Access the People Tab

• Locate the People tab from the Course navigation menu.

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Step 3:

Create a Group Set

1. In the People section, click + Group Set.
2. Within a Group Set, create multiple groups where students can sign up. You can also require certain students to be in specific groups.
3. By default, you can manually create groups or allow Canvas to create them automatically.
4. Set limitations on the number of students per group.
5. Optionally, enable the automatic leadership feature to randomly assign group leaders.
6. Click SAVE to finalize your settings.

 

 

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Step 4:

View Newly Added Groups

• Once saved, return to the page to see the newly added group.

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Step 5:

Manage Group Options

• From the options menu on the group set, you can:
  • Message students who are not participating in a group.
  • Randomly assign students to groups.
  • Edit group names, sign-up options, and leadership settings.
  • Copy or delete groups

 

 

Group Set Notes

• Within a Group Set, you can have multiple groups and move students between them.
• For example, in a class of 20 students, you can create various configurations, such as 1 Group Set with 4 groups of 5 students each.

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Groupings in Canvas

 

Step 1:

Navigate to Canvas

1. Open your web browser.
2. Go to your Canvas homepage: https://mtech.instructure.com.
3. Locate the People tab from the navigation menu.

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Step 2:

1. Create a New Group

   • Click the + Group button.
   • Enter a Group Name and set a Member Limit.
   • View all groups in the course along with enrolled students.

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Step 3:

 Assign Students to a Group

• Manually Assign a Student
  • Drag and drop the student’s name to the desired group on the right.
• Alternative Method
  • Click the + next to the student’s name to assign them to a group.
• Search for a Student
  • Use the search bar to locate a specific student.

 

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Step 5:

Group Management Options

• Drag and Drop

  • Move students by dragging their name to another group.

• Using the Kebab Menu

  • Click the kebab menu and choose Move To... to select the appropriate group.

 

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Step 6:

Manually Add a Group to a Group Set

  Click the kebab menu next to +Group to access:

• Message all or any students not participating in groups.
• Randomly assign students to groups.
• Edit group name, student leadership options, and sign-up options.
• Copy the group set.
• Delete a group.

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Step 7: 

 Manually Add a Group to a Group Set

1. Click the +Group button.
2. Enter a group name and member limit, then save.

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Step 8: 

 View and Manage Groups

• The group section lists all groups in the set.
• To manage options, click the kebab menu on the right of the groups column:
  • Visit a group’s homepage to view activity.
  • Edit the group name and student limit.
  • Delete a group.

 

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Step 9:

  Assign a Student Leader

• Manually assign a student leader by selecting the kebab menu and choosing the highlighted option.

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Step 10:

Create Group Assignments and Discussions

1. Scroll to the Group Assignment box on the Assignment Details page.
2. Select This is a Group Assignment.
3. Choose to Grade Individually if needed.
4. Use the group set dropdown menu to select a group set.
5. Create a new group category directly from the assignment page (Click to View Full).

 

 

 

Note:

Once students submit to a group assignment, group settings cannot be changed.

 

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How to Hide/ Show a Course

 

Step 1:

Access Your Canvas Homepage

Open your web browser and navigate to your Canvas homepage using this link:
https://mtech.instructure.com/

 

 

 

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Step 2:

 

Locate Admin in your navigation bar.

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Step 3:

 Click on the User Name dropdown menu and select Admin.

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Step 4: 

   Select the Catalogs tab.

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Step 5:

  Choose the desired catalog (the name of the root catalog).

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Step 6:

In the Account Navigation menu, the Catalog Info tab will display by default.

 

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Step 7:

To show Canvas-enrolled courses on the Student Dashboard, toggle on the option Show Canvas-enrolled Courses on Dashboard.

   ​​​​​​

 

 

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Step 8:

Save

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How to Import Courses

 

Step 1:

On your web browser, navigate to your Canvas homepage using this link

https://mtech.instructure.com

 

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Step 2:

Locate and select Import Existing Content from the course navigation homepage.

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Step 3:

 

In the Content Type dropdown menu, select the type you want to import:

• Copy a Canvas Course: Import directly from another Canvas course.
• Canvas Course Content Packages: Upload course content packages.
• Unzip Course Content Files: Import files that have been unzipped.
• Upload Course Content Files: Upload files from another LMS or a QTI file

 

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Step 4:

 

To copy content from another Canvas course:

• Select a course from the dropdown menu or type the course name in the search field.
• Include concluded courses by checking the Include completed courses checkbox.
• Optionally, choose to automatically adjust event and due dates during the import.

   

 

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Step 5:

To begin the content import, click the Import button.

• If you want to select specific content, click the Select Content button.

 

 

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Accessing Student View

 

Step 1:

• On your web browser, navigate to your Canvas homepage using this link: https://mtech.instructure.com

Note: If you have any issues accessing Canvas, please navigate to the Login section.

 

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Step 2:

• On the homepage, locate the Admin navigation tab and select People. Choose the member you would like to masquerade as and click the mask icon on the right of their row.




 
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Step 3:

In the course navigation, find the View as Student button in the upper right corner of the page

 

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Icons

Canvas Icons and Their Meanings

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Assignments

 

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Attachment/Paper 

 

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Discussion Icon

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Page Icon

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Quiz Icon

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Visibility Icon

 

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Warning Icon

 

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Managing Course Size

What Is It?

Canvas has a maximum upload size of 500MB. If your course backup is over that size, it will take significantly longer for the I.T. department to restore your course. Here are ways you can keep your course under the limit while keeping all the functionality and content.

OneDrive

With your Office365 account, 1TB of space is available for you to upload larger files such as videos, audio files, or large PowerPoint presentations. Once files are uploaded to the OneDrive get a link with the share button and include that link to the file in the course.

Learn more about the OneDrive

Legacy Files

Every time you upload a file to a course on Canvas , it is saved to the main Canvas database. Even after you delete the file from the course, it will be in that database. These files are "Legacy" and get backed up and carried over every time a course is backed up. These files should be cleared out regularly.

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Show/Hide Content and Reports to a specific tool category in the Impact Dashboard

How do I show or hide content and reports related ... - Instructure Community - 496701 (canvaslms.com)

 

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Navigation as an Instructor

Canvas has several built in methods of navigation:

• Breadcrumbs 
• Course Navigation Tabs  

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Course Navigation Tabs

Note:

 Configured external (LTI
) tools may create additional Course Navigation links.

However, these links do not display the visibility icon. You can disable Course Navigation links for LTI Tools in course settings, and the link will no longer display in the Course Navigation menu for you or your students.

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Bread crumbs

"Bread crumbs" are the links at the top left of the window in canvas that direct you to your current location on the page

See image 

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For example the breadcrumbs highlighted above read:

1) course name: 12345

2) Assignments navigation

3)Assignment name

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Outcomes

NOTE 

Outcomes and outcome sets for the non-legacy outcomes MUST be added by the I.T. Help Desk. To add a new outcome please contact the Help Desk by submitting a ticket on our website with what set you would like the outcomes in (including whether it is a new set or not), the names of the outcomes, any documentation numbers or identification numbers it should be listed under, and a description of each outcome.

   Outcomes enables the faculty to track student progress as measured by pedagogical goals or desired outcomes

   Assessments created to test student knowledge or to require students to demonstrate a specific skill resulting from a learning activity = learning outcomes (which can be used for grading simultaneously)

   Grading student work automatically compiles data on student progress for Outcomes. 

This approach reduces work required to implement Learning Outcomes through the reuse of assessment in the grading process   (Data is available for reporting to support teaching improvement, identify at-risk students, and support the accreditation process)  

 

   Use Outcomes to:

• Focus student attention important key skills and activities in your course (find existing outcomes/create new ones)
• Align Quizzes and Assignments to different mastery's
• Run reports at account-level about student artifacts of learning mastery
• Assess student progress through calculation methods
• Track student progress - learning outcome or overall in the Learning Mastery Gradebook
• Align accreditation/other core standards to programs of study, courses, or student assessments

   Calculation methods:

Users create outcome, users can set one of four calculation methods used for student mastery: Weighted Average, Decaying Average, n Number of Times, Most Recent Score / Highest Score. Calculation methods are used in conjunction within the Learning Mastery Gradebook.

   Default: Canvas weighted average is set at 65/35, meaning the current item is weighted at 65%, and the average of all other user scores is weighted at 35%.   However, users can specify between 1% and 99% for the current percentage, and prior scores are weighted against the percentage difference. Note that the average is rounded to the next two decimals. If there is only one result, then the single score will be displayed.

   Decaying Average calculation uses a formula to determine proficiency based on students' average scores, giving more weight to the most recent scored. To determine the weight given to the most recent score, the formula uses a decay rate. The higher the formula's decay rate, the more heavily the most recent assessment is weighted. By default, the decay weight is set at 65%. However, you can adjust the rate to any percentage between 50% and 99%.

   Most Recent Score calculation always selects the most recent score for all assessment items

   Highest Score calculation always selects the highest score for all assessment items

   If the Account and Course Level Outcome Mastery Scales feature option is enabled for your account, you can set mastery scales for the entire account

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Admin-Guide/How-do-I-manage-outcome-mastery-scales-in-an-account/ta-p/429017

   

   If Account and Course Level Outcome Mastery Scales feature option and the Improved Outcomes Management feature option are enabled for your account, the Outcomes page displays an improved interface for viewing and managing outcomes. How do I use the outcomes page in an account in Im... - Instructure Community - 486333 (canvaslms.com)

 

 

What are Outcomes? - Instructure Community - 75 (canvaslms.com)

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