Introduction

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

On This Page:

Download the course design checklist
Create a sandbox, master course, or manually enrolled course
Set up your profile and notification settings
Locate hidden courses in Canvas
Add TA’s and others to your course roster
Create a Penn State compatible grading scheme
Introduce your students to Canvas

Download the 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:

(PDF Download) Checklist: Creating Your First Canvas Course

Create a sandbox, master course, or manually enrolled course

Follow the instructions in the article below to sign up for your own Canvas sandbox, master course(s), or manually enrolled course(s), and to learn how to merge courses in Canvas:

Course Sandbox, Merge Courses, and Master or Manually Enrolled Courses in Canvas

A "sandbox" is a practice course that only you can access. We strongly recommend that all users of Canvas request a sandbox. 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.

NOTE: Only one sandbox may be created per user ID.

A "master course" 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. Master courses should be used as a development area for your courses. You can design and develop your course using a master course shell and then copy the entire course into one or more "live" course shells. Using a master course makes it easier for you to revise/update content and assignments in a single location at the end of each term in order to redeploy the course in your live sections from semester to semester.

A "manually enrolled course" is a non-credit bearing course that has student enrollment, but is not connected to LionPATH.

Follow the steps in the article below to bulk enroll students into a manually enrolled course:

Bulk enrollment available for Manually Enrolled Courses in Canvas

Set up your profile and 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 Penn State, the only way to change your profile name is to contact Canvas support.

How do I edit my profile in my user account as an instructor?

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 Canvas notification preferences as an instructor?

Follow these steps to customize your notification settings per course:

How do I manage notifications for a single course as an instructor?

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.

Follow these steps to unfavorite or hide a course:

Click on the Dashboard menu from the global navigation.
Find the course you wish to unfavorite and click the menu drop-down.
Select the Move tab and click on Unfavorite.
Click Submit.

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 a 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.

Please Note: Individuals who do not have a Penn State access id can still be added to a course roster if they create a Limited Access Account.

Create a Penn State compatible grading scheme

Follow the steps in this tutorial to create a Penn State compatible grading scheme in your Canvas course:

Creating a Penn State Compatible Grading Scheme in Canvas

Review Faculty Senate policy 47-60 to ensure that you have the correct letter grades that must be in a course:

Faculty Senate Policy 47-60: Definition of Grades

Introduce your students to Canvas

IT Learning and Development has created a Student Orientation Module that is available through Canvas Commons.

If you are logged in to Canvas, navigate to the Canvas Commons using the global navigation menu at the left.
On the Search page, search for "Canvas Student Orientation (Penn State)".
Select the module from the search page.
Select the Import/Download button to import the module into any of your Canvas courses.
Select the course to which you want to import the Canvas Student Orientation module.
Go to the "Modules" tab in your course to customize the module to suit your specific needs.

You can also download the entire module below. Then, you can import the file into your course using the "import" button in your course settings:

Download: Student Orientation Module

Follow the steps in the tutorial to learn how to import a Canvas course export package into your Canvas course:

How do I import a Canvas course export package?

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Learning Path Overview Module 1 Overview