Getting ready for winter & spring: 10-point Canvas checklist
1. Check that you can access your courses in Canvas.
Go to canvas.harvard.edu. You will need to enter your HUID and PIN on the Harvard Key
page. Once you see the Canvas Homepage, hover over the “Courses” (or “Courses &
Groups”) tab at the top of your screen [1] – this will open a drop-down menu display of
the courses you are listed in. You can also select the “View All or Customize” link [2] at
the top of that drop-down menu, which will bring you to a page that lists all of your
courses.
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To add or remove a course from the drop-down menu, click the star icon [3] to the left
of the course name – when the star is highlighted, the course will appear in the dropdown menu. You will see past Canvas courses under the “Past Enrollments” heading. If
you don’t see the correct list of courses, contact TLC.
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2. Check that the information on the course home page is correct.
Click on the course name in the “Courses” drop down menu. This will bring you to the
course home page [4]. Check that all the information on the home page is correct. Click
the “Edit” button to change or delete information on the home page [5]. You can add
the course location once it is finalized in the Course Information table [6] and update or
correct any information listed. The TLC group will populate the “Teaching Staff” section
[7] with pictures and contact information. Feel free to change or update this information
as needed. If you want to delete any of the information on your homepage, click “Edit”,
then highlight the text and click the delete button on your keyboard. Remember to
click Save at the bottom of the page when you are done.
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C
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3. Determine how you will organize and distribute
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Under the “Syllabus and Course Materials” section
[see 8 above], add information
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and/or links that will direct students to your syllabus
and course materials. Canvas gives
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faculty many options for organizing and presenting course materials. The simplest
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solution might be to upload your syllabus (see point #6 below) in Canvas and use the
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copy center to distribute materials. You can also link to online documents (best practice)
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in pages or modules. If you want more information on how to organize and present
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materials to students, see our Managing Course
r Materials webpage, read more about
Canvas files, pages and modules in our HLS Canvas
Reference Guide, or contact us for a
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consultation.
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4. Customize your Left Navigation tabs for students.
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On the left navigation bar [9], all tabs that areo “greyed out” will be invisible to students.
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All tabs that are bold are visible to students. By default, we have enabled the People
tab, the Syllabus tab, Lecture Videos, TLC, and Library Resources for all 2016 course
sites. The course Settings tab is visible only to faculty and course support staff.
To enable or disable left navigation tabs for students, select the course “Settings” tab at
the bottom of the left navigation bar [10].
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On the Settings screen, click on the “Navigation” tab [11], and select the gear icon [12]
to the right of whichever tab you want to enable or disable. You can edit the
arrangement of these tabs in the left navigation by selecting “Move” when you click on
the gear icon, or by clicking and dragging the tab up or down. Remember to click Save
at the bottom of the page when you are done. Note that even if you enable some tabs
for students, they will continue to appear greyed-out until you create and publish
content in them.
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5. Upload and manage your course files.
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Click on the Files tab in the left navigation. You can upload files one at a time, in groups,
or all at once in a large zip file. Click the blue “Upload” button to upload files, and add
folders by clicking the “+ folder” button [13]. Note that all folders and files are listed
alphanumeric only (TIP: add alpha or numerical prefixes (“01” etc.), to folder and file
names to order them the way you want). You can enable the Files tab for students to
see, or you can keep the Files tab hidden and instead link to the files on a page, in the
syllabus, in an assignment, an announcement, or a module. Note: it is best practice to
link to full text articles directly from the source website, rather than a pdf. The HLS
Library’s FRIDA team offers a free service to convert your citations into links that can be
used in Canvas.
If you have enabled the Files tab for students to view, make sure that all files within the
Files tab are ones that you want students to see; otherwise delete, unpublish or restrict
the file. To restrict a file in the Files area, click on the Files tab in the left navigation of
the course. Then, hover over the file and click the green published cloud [14]. This will
give you various restriction options [15]. Note: If you unpublish a file it will not be
viewable anywhere in Canvas – for example, if you unpublish the teaching staff picture
files in the Files area, students will not be able to see the pictures on the Home Page. If
you want students to see files elsewhere in Canvas, but not in the Files tab, click
“Restricted Access” and then click the “only available to students with the link” option.
You can also delete or change the name of folders and files by clicking on the wheel icon
to the far right [16].
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6. Upload your Syllabus to the Syllabus area.
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Add your syllabus by clicking on the “Syllabus” tab then click the “edit syllabus
description” button on the upper right of the screen [17]. The Syllabus table will
automatically list links to assignments, appointments or events you create for your
course [18].
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Copy and paste the contents of your Syllabus in the content area [19]. Or link to a
PDF of your syllabus: place your cursor in the content area and click on the “Files”
tab on the Right Sidebar [20] under “Insert Content into the Page,” click on “course
files” and choose the syllabus you uploaded to your Files area (see #5 Files, above).
If you haven’t uploaded the syllabus to your course, search for it on your hard drive
by clicking “upload new file” [21]. Remember to click the “Update Syllabus” button
when you are done [22].
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7. Publish all content you want students to see. Unpublish or delete any “test” or
unfinished content you do not want students to see.
Go through all of the enabled (not hidden) tabs in the Left Navigation bar and unpublish,
edit, or remove any content (test assignments, etc) that you may have added that you
don’t want students to see. Conversely, make sure that all content that you do want
students to see is published. Note: Individual assignments, pages, discussions, etc. will
not automatically be published when you publish the course. You have to publish each
piece of content individually for students to see it. If you would like more information
on creating and publishing online submission assignments in your course, check out our
HLS Guide to Online Submissions on our website.
8. Check how students will view your course. Click on Course Settings in the left
navigation bar, then click on the “Student View” button on the upper right (see [9] and
[10] above). This will show you how students will view your course once it is published.
Notice what is visible on the left navigation bar. Click on the tabs that are visible and
notice what content is visible to students.
9. Publish your course! Students will not be able to access your course or receive
announcements until you publish the course. Students will see a link to the course in the
“view all courses” link, but receive an “unauthorized” message [23] if they click on the
course name.
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When you are ready for students to view your course, click the Publish button on the
right of the Home Page [24]. This will remove the Course Setup Checklist box and allow
students to access the course. Note: Publishing the Course will not automatically publish
any files, assignments, etc that you have designated as “unpublished”. You will need to
publish each of those items separately for students to see them. Also note that you can
unpublish a published course up to and until students have interacted with the course
(for example, posted to a discussion or uploaded an assignment).
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10. Communicate with your students. There are two primary ways to communicate with
students in Canvas: Announcements and Course Emailer. Both are accessible on the
left navigation bar (you can access tabs even if they are grey-ed out). When you create
an announcement, it will list in the Announcement tab and Canvas will send an email
notification to all students with the full text of the announcement (by default). Students
will not receive announcements unless you publish the course. Students who are
enrolled after you post an announcement will not get an email notification of that
announcement (although they will see the announcements when they log into the
course and click on the Announcement tab).
Alternatively, you can use the Course Emailer to email students (individually or as a
group) from your email account. The Course Emailer will send to all enrolled students
even if the course is not published. Canvas will not archive a copy of emails sent from
the Course Emailer; you will need to manage all such communication from your email
account.
A note on attachments: It is best to avoid attaching documents in either
Announcements or the Course Emailer. If you want students to view a document, link
to the document in the body of the announcement or email (if using the Course
Emailer). This will bypass any email attachment limits and also enable students to
download the documents(s) directly from the email or the email notification they
received. To link to a file in a Canvas announcement: when you are creating the
announcement, place your cursor in the content area and click on the “Files” tab on the
Right Sidebar [20] under “Insert Content into the Page,” click on “course files” and
choose the document you uploaded to your Files area (see #5 Files, above) or click
“Upload a new file” to search your hard drive. If using the Course Emailer, link to a
document in the email: first upload the document to a page in Canvas and copy the URL
or - if the content is available online - copy the URL of the webpage where it can be
found, then click “Insert” and “Hyperlink” (for Outlook).
TLC is here to help. It’s our job to make sure the Canvas migration goes as smoothly as
possible. We are happy to answer questions over the phone or in person in your office. If
you have questions or want a “house call”, please contact us or call our help line: 617-5001038. If you need help after hours, click the “Help” link in the top right of your Canvas
page. You can call, chat or email with Canvas support 24/7.
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