In order to activate, deactivate, or just re-order different course navigation links in Canvas, please follow the instructions below:
You can also enable the link by dragging the item to the top list of links (the one that starts with Home) and dropping it.
You can also deactivate the link by dragging the item to the bottom list of links (the one that doesn't start with Home) and dropping it.
Drag and drop the links into the order that you want them to be in the top menu. Keep in mind that Home always has to be on top and Settings will always be on bottom (although it does not appear in the list).
Grades/Outcomes
Student Success (this is a link to the Student Resources page created by the CTL)
Syllabus (this gives the students a view of the timeline of the course)
This just hides the view from the students that would allow them to go searching through your content. You can still access and use the following without the link being enabled for students.
One way that Canvas helps instructors get prepared for new courses is that it makes it so that instructors can copy previously created content into new courses. This content typically comes from previously taught courses already within Canvas or development courses.
Development courses are pretty simple. They are "sandbox" courses that instructors can use to create content outside of any ties to the term or to students. They are extremely helpful because they allow the instructors a place to keep a running tally of what is working and what is not working in their course and can serve as a template for all future versions of that course. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of development courses or in having a development course created for your teaching assignment, please contact Blake Ide.
Previously-taught courses are usually courses taught by the same instructor either in previous terms (or can be from the same term if the instructor teaches multiple versions of that course (NOTE: There is also another workaround that can help with this, for more information on that, see this article on cross-listing (coming soon)). An example of a previously-taught course might be: ENG-101 was taught in the Fall of 2022 by Mary Westmacott and, after an unexplained absence in the Spring of that year, she wants to copy that content into her ENG-101 course in Fall 2023.
The process for both of these situations is the same.
Please view this video here to go through those steps.
The other option for copying a Canvas course might be if you want to copy a course between two instructors. For example, maybe our English instructor Mary wants to help out a new hire to the department, Robert Galbraith, by allowing Robert to access Mary's version of the content. This can be done as well, but the two instructors should reach out to Blake Ide to help facilitate the transfer.
Cross-listing is when you put two sections of students into a single Canvas course. Sections are what normally define the roster of students for any given class. If you teach the same content to multiple sections (for example HUM-101-MM01, HUM-101-MM02, HUM-101-MM03) then you might want to cross-list those sections into one Canvas course that hosts all of the sections.
Instead of copying content and pages for multiple courses, you only have to upload the content once.
Students remain in their Colleague/MU-HUB assigned sections. If you need to send out messages to only one section, you can still do that in the Inbox and/or Announcements fields.
You retain control over timelines of when each group can see announcements, assignments, and discussions, while also getting to control the deadlines for when items are due for each section. For example, if your MM01 has an assignment due on Monday and the MM02 has the same assignment due on Tuesday, you can set that up in the assignment settings.
It must be done as early as possible in the term. Grades from non-cross-listed courses can be moved with the students but submissions cannot.
While dated material (assignments, discussions, etc.) can be given different timetables for each section. Content (pages and modules) is shown to all students at the same time. For help in restricting these, contact the CTL to ask about setting up modules with prerequisites.
The process for cross-listing is fairly easy but, remember it should be done early in the year if possible. Ideally, it should be done before the first assignments are submitted or any grades distributed.
First, choose which course will "host" the other sections. If you already have content in one of the courses, choose that one. If you do not, the choice does not really matter. The only thing to consider is that whatever course you choose will be the one that shows on all of the students' dashboards (regardless of what section they are assigned).
Second, follow the instructions in the video below to cross-list your courses.
If you have any questions reach out to Blake Ide.
While adding the announcement, you will notice that the "Post to" field is set for "All Sections". If you want to target just a single section click the X on the All Sections selection and then you can search the sections in your course to target either by typing the name of the section or clicking the down arrow on the right side of the box.
While adding the assignment (or editing it), look at the Assign box at the bottom of the page. By default a new assignment is assigned to "Everyone" but you can change this to match a single section in the same way that you can change it to match a single student. Click into the Assign To box and you should see your section appear at the top of the list. Select the section that you want to target and then fill out the Due, Available from, and Until sections with the timeline associated with that section.
If you want another section to have that same assignment but want any of that timeline to be different, click the + Add button at the bottom of the box and select another section to associate with the custom timeline.
Discussions are a little more complicated in cross-listed courses. By default, discussions take place at the course level, and including "Everyone" as we did in assignments will put all sections into the same discussion board (even if they have different timelines).
However, if you do not want all of the sections to participate in one discussion board, then you have two options.
Create a discussion specific to individual sections. This means that if you wanted to have a discussion regarding Classical Literature in your course you would create three separate discussions: Classical Literature MM01, Classical Literature MM02, and Classical Literature MM03.
The other option is to go to your People page and create a group for each section in your course (MM01, MM02, MM03) and then create one Classical Literature discussion and check that it is a group assignment.
The drawback of number 1 is that you are creating multiple assignments that will clog up your grade book. By identifying the different sections (as we mentioned in Assignments), the students will not be penalized for not participating in a discussion for a different section (they won't even see the other sections on their grades), but it will still show up in the Instructor's view of the grade book.
The drawbacks of number 2 are that it takes a little longer to set up the first time but it only has to be set up once for the entire semester.
For more detailed descriptions of these options, see the document here. If you have any questions reach out to Blake Ide.
This section will cover how to add users to courses in Canvas and what roles are available. There are also instructions for changing a user's role and section.
In general, the roles available to all courses are Designer/Librarians, Observers, and TAs. The roles of Teacher and Student are by the Registrar in Colleague/MU-HUB courses. If you are wanting to add a Teacher or Student to one of those, contact the Registrar (or Dr. Sarah Zahl if the course is in COM).
For more information on the roles that are available (including an analysis of everything they can and cannot do), click on the name of the role.
These users are able to create and edit content but they cannot see student information (such as grades or submissions).
These users have view-only access to Canvas courses. They can see pages and files but cannot edit or participate.
These users have almost complete access and control of the courses in which they are enrolled. They can edit content, grade assignments, and see student information. Instructors are highly encouraged to view this link and become familiar with what these users can do before giving them access. Also, it is important to note that due to their access to grades and grading, Instructors are responsible for ensuring that their TAs are educated in and bound by FERPA regulations.
These courses are not enrolled via the Registrar (typically development courses, sandbox, or organization courses).
NOTE: This process only works with users that have been added manually. Users added via MU-HUB/Colleague cannot be removed manually. Contact the Registrar for more information.
Instructors may also have the ability to change a user's section (the group of students they interact with during a particular course). Multiple sections of students allow the Instructors to post the same content for different groups at the same time.
Usually, MU-HUB/Colleague courses are enrolled one section of students per course. Instructors can cross-list sections, which moves multiple sections into the same Canvas course. For more about cross-listing, click here.
Unfortunately, since these courses are enrolled via Colleague/MU-HUB teachers may be unable to manually change their student's sections. If you need to do this, contact Blake directly for assistance.
For non-MU-HUB/Colleague courses, Instructors can use sections to identify different groups of students (such as those graduating in different years, or different cohorts in the same club or organization).
NOTE: When you give users access to your course, you also select which section they have access to. If you want them to have access to multiple sections, you will need to add them to each section separately.
This menu will allow you to search the sections you have in the course. Everyone is assigned a default section. Selecting a different one will put the user into both sections. After assigning them to another, though, you can remove them from the default. NOTE: Users must be in at least one section.