Canvas FAQs

The links below will take you to a series of guides and videos designed to provide you with the basics for teaching online. To view all Canvas Guides, visit the Instructure website. 

• First - Get up and running (Basic Course Settings )
  • Publishing Your Course
  • Updating Course Navigation
  • Adding your Syllabus
• Second - Establish a communication plan with your students
  • Full Class Announcements
  • Direct Student Messages
  • Organizing Your Content In Modules
  • Creating Discussion Boards
• Third – Add your Assignments, Quizzes, Exams and Manage Grades in Canvas
  • Creating an Assignment
  • Grading Online Assignments
  • Creating a Basic Quiz
  • Other Quiz Guides
  • Managing Online Grades
• Fourth – Create and add content in Canvas – (create web pages, videos, audio)
  • Create a content page
  • Requesting Camtasia
  • Creating Videos with Camtasia
  • Rich Text Editor
  • Larger Video Files

The Center for Faculty Excellence and Online and Summer Academic Programs, in partnership with Instructure, have developed an editable Canvas course template that faculty can adopt to make their courses easier for students to navigate. This template, which has been designed with the student experience in mind, is informed by Quality Matters principles and standards. It contains elements that are essential for providing students with high-quality hybrid, remote, and online courses.

This template also serves as the base for the Content Restructuring initiative.

Employing a course template allows faculty to spend less time on course design so they can focus on their learning objectives and on interacting with students. Widespread use of this template will help ensure that students have a more consistent experience in Canvas, regardless of the courses they are enrolled in.

Faculty can access this template through Canvas Commons. Use of this template is voluntary.

• If you would like to preview what the template looks like – go here: https://bgsu.instructure.com/courses/1328680
  
  
• If you would like to request a development shell to import the template into and begin working on the development of a course do the following:
  • Request a blank canvas development shell from this link. You will be asked on the form to include a subject and catalog number so that ITS can associate the template with a specific course.  

Once the shell is created, you can install the BGSU Template into the development shell from Canvas Commons so you can see what it looks like and begin editing it and adding content to it.

It’s important to know that if you decide to import the template directly into one of your canvas course shells, it doesn’t remove any of your content, it only adds the new example modules, pages, and course file to your course.  

Video Tutorial of how to import and edit the BGSU Template into your Canvas Course.

Please contact Terence Armentano (terence@bgsu.edu), Online and Summer Academic Programs, if you have questions.

BGSU Approved Canvas Learning Tools

The list below contains all of the LTIs (Learning Tool Interoperability) that have been approved at BGSU. LTIs allow for external tools to be integrated into Canvas to add enhanced functionality.

While there are many more LTIs available, the list below represents those that BGSU has worked with to ensure that no FERPA protected data is exposed to unsecured systems. Instructors are asked to be cautious regarding the use of External Tools in order to avoid being personally responsible for data that might be shared and misused in any manner by an External Tool.

If you would like to request an LTI be evaluated for addition to this list, please use this form.

TopHat

TurnItIn

Watermark

Pearson - MyLabsPlus

Respondus

Cengage Learning

MacMilan Stats Portal

Do you have a Canvas role of Teacher, Teaching Assistant or Course Designer? Canvas Commons is a new tool that enables faculty to share learning resources with other users at BGSU and to import learning resources shared to Canvas Commons from hundreds of other institutions.

Instructional Videos: An Introduction to Canvas Commons (3:25)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Canvas Commons? 

• Commons is a learning object repository that enables educators to find, import, and share resources. A digital library full of educational content, Commons allows Canvas users to share learning resources with other users as well as import learning resources into a Canvas course.

Where can I go for help with Canvas Commons?

• The first point of contact is the TSC help desk at 419-372-0999. For in person assistance, contact the Instructional Designers at the CFE or the faculty librarians at University Libraries.

Where do I go to access Canvas Commons?

• The Canvas Commons link is located in the global navigation menu on the left side in Canvas. You must have a Teacher, Teaching Assistant or Course Designer role in at least one Canvas course at BGSU in order to access Canvas Commons.

What content am I able to share in Canvas Commons?

• You can share a variety of content to Canvas Commons including the following: courses, modules, assignments, quizzes, discussions, pages documents, videos, audio, and images.
• Content must first reside in an existing Canvas course shell in order to share it to Canvas Commons.

How do I share an entire course in Canvas Commons?

• Open the course you wish to share.
• In course navigation, click the Settings link.
• In the sidebar, click the Share to Commons button.
• Select a sharing option.
• Select your content license from the Copyright and License drop-down menu.
• Enter resource metadata and add an image thumbnail.
• Select the appropriate grade level(s).
• When you are done, click the Share button.

NOTE: When sharing an entire course, we recommend that you add a Credit and Attribution page to your module and make it visible. This reminds users of the terms of use and licensing conditions of your work.

How do I share just a single learning object or a module in Canvas Commons?

• Open the course that contains the item/learning object you wish to share.
• In course navigation, click the feature area where your resource is located (e.g. assignments, files, pages, modules, etc.)
• Locate the resource you’d like to share within the feature area page, click the Settings icon, then click the Share to Commons link.
• Select a sharing option.
• Select your content license from the Copyright and License drop-down menu.
• Enter resource metadata and add an image thumbnail.
• Select the appropriate grade level(s).
• When you are done, click the Share button.

Can I share a module with several different learning objects (e.g. a video, an activity and a quiz)?

• Yes. A module can contain multiple learning objects including Canvas pages where you can embed videos or text content, files, assignments, quizzes, etc. Resource authors should provide as much descriptive information about the contents of the module when filling out the Canvas Commons metadata page to ensure discoverability by others searching through Canvas Commons.

Can I share quizzes?

• Yes, you can share a quiz, but we highly recommend that you DO NOT update an imported quiz during the semester. This may cause issues for anyone who has downloaded the quiz from Commons into their course.

Technical support for Canvas is being provided by Information Technology Services (ITS). You may direct your Canvas related inquires to the ITS.

Please contact ITS:
by phone at 419-372-0999
http://ITSChat.bgsu.edu

Support for learning about Canvas for your teaching is provided by the instructional designers at BGSU's Center for Faculty Excellence.

Please contact CFE:
cfe@bgsu.edu
Instructional Design Consultation Form