Learning About Canvas

Summary:

This article is a launching point for Boise State Teacher and Staff to learn about the Canvas LMS.

Canvas Status Page

What is Canvas?

Canvas is the official Learning Management System of Boise State University.

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application or web-based technology used to plan, implement, and assess a specific learning process. It acts as a centralized hub for creating, managing, delivering, and tracking educational courses and training programs for schools, universities, and corporate organizations.

Key components and functions of an LMS include:

Centralized Learning Content: A single, organized repository for storing, managing, and delivering educational materials.
User Management: Allows administrators to register users, track their progress, and manage training data.
Tracking and Reporting:
Records user performance, compliance, and engagement through dashboards and analytics.
Accessibility: Enables learners to access content from multiple devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Content Creation: Tools for creating, organizing, and delivering training, assessments, and courses.

Common Uses

Corporate Training: Onboarding employees, compliance training, and professional development.
Academic Education: Managing virtual classrooms, assignments, and curriculum in schools and universities.

The two main roles in Canvas are Teacher and Student.

Explore other available roles on Canvas: Canvas Course Roles.

Student

Teacher

Canvas LMS at a Glance: Students vs. Teacher

Students can…	Teacher can…

Students can…	Teacher can…
View the course syllabus and schedule	Create and organize course content (Modules, Pages, Files)
Access learning materials (readings, slides, videos, links)	Publish or unpublish course content and entire courses
Submit assignments and projects online	Create assignments, discussions, and quizzes
Take quizzes and exams	Build and manage the Gradebook
Participate in discussions and group activities	Grade submissions and provide feedback (SpeedGrader)
Check grades and instructor feedback	Set due dates and availability dates
Track upcoming work in the To-Do list and Calendar	Send announcements and course messages
Message the instructor and classmates (Inbox)	Communicate with students via Inbox and Announcements
Join web conferences (if enabled)	Set up groups and collaborative activities
Create and edit ePortfolios (if used)	Manage course navigation and settings
View rubrics for assignments	Create and attach rubrics for assessment
Receive notifications and course updates	Monitor student participation and analytics

Video Resources

Teacher Videos	Student Videos

Teacher Videos	Student Videos
Groups Overview in Canvas (4.5 min/Teacher)	Groups Overview in Canvas (3 min/Students)
Discussions Overview in Canvas (5 min/Teacher)	Discussions Overview in Canvas (3 minutes / Students)
Assignments Overview in Canvas (4 min/Teacher)	Assignments Overview in Canvas (3 minutes / Students)
Gradebook overview in Canvas (9 min/Teacher)	Grades Overview in Canvas (2.5 minutes / Students)
Modules Overview in Canvas (4 min/Teacher)	Modules Overview in Canvas (3 min/Students)
Rubrics Overview in Canvas (4 min/Teacher)	(Article) Students: How do I view rubric results for my assignment?
Quizzes Overview in Canvas (4 min/Teacher)	Quizzes Overview in Canvas (3 min/Students)

Call, Chat, or Email the Boise State Help Desk.

Activities: Getting Started with Canvas at Boise State

cartoon of silhouette crawling. text says crawl.

Beginner Canvas Skills For Everyone (Students & Teacher)

Sign in & set up your environment

☐ Log in to Canvas using your Boise State credentials

☐ Locate the Global Navigation Menu (left blue menu)

☐ Open Account → Settings

☐ Add a profile photo

☐ Set your notification preferences

☐ Add a secondary email or contact method (optional)

Find your courses & key tools

☐ Click Dashboard and identify your course cards

☐ Use Courses → All Courses to view your full list

☐ Open a course and locate the Course Navigation Menu

☐ View the Calendar and filter which courses display

☐ Open the Inbox and send a message

Understand updates & help

☐ Check the To-Do list on the Dashboard

☐ Open Recent Feedback

☐ Use the Help menu to locate Boise State support resources

Beginner Canvas Skills For Teacher

Build your course foundation

Very Important: Create a Canvas Sandbox Course to practice in: Create A Sandbox Site

☐ Open your course Settings and review:

Course details
Participation dates
Navigation menu

☐ Upload your syllabus

☐ Create a Home Page

Create and organize content

☐ Create a Module

☐ Add a Page to a module

☐ Upload a File

☐ Add:

☐ Assignment
☐ Discussion
☐ Quiz

Grade & communicate

☐ Open the Gradebook

☐ Use SpeedGrader to:

☐ View a submission
☐ Leave a comment
☐ Apply a rubric (if available)

☐ Post an Announcement

☐ Send a message through the Inbox

Manage the course experience

☐ Set due dates

☐ Use Student View

☐ Publish and unpublish content

☐ Check Analytics/New Analytics

Beginner Canvas Skills For Students

Get oriented in a course

☐ Open a course and read the Home Page

☐ View the Syllabus

☐ Open a Module and move through the content in order

Participate in coursework

☐ Submit an Assignment

☐ Post a Discussion reply

☐ Take a Quiz

Track your progress

☐ View Grades

☐ Open assignment feedback

☐ Check the Calendar for upcoming due dates

☐ Use the To-Do list to plan your work

Stay connected

☐ Send a message to your instructor via the Inbox

☐ Adjust your notification settings for due dates and feedback

cartoon of silhouette walking. text says walk.

Intermediate Canvas Skills for Students

Manage your learning workflow

☐ Use the Calendar to create personal study events

☐ Manually add to-do items that are not Canvas assignments

☐ Filter the Calendar to view only selected courses

☐ Use the List View / Weekly View to plan your workload

☐ Mark items as complete in the To-Do list

Fine-tune notifications & communication

☐ Set different notification frequencies for:

Announcements
Due dates
Grading

Discussion replies

☐ Use the Inbox filters to view messages by course

☐ Add multiple contact methods (email, SMS if enabled)

☐ Reply to feedback directly from the notification

Understand feedback & grading details

☐ Open rubrics to see how work is evaluated

☐ Use submission details to:

View annotated feedback in DocViewer
Read overall comments
Check submission timestamps

☐ Compare your score to assignment criteria

☐ Calculate “what-if” grades (if enabled)

Collaborate with others

☐ Join a Group and explore the group homepage

☐ Contribute to a Collaborative document

☐ Post files and start a discussion within your group

☐ Use group announcements (if available)

Work with course content more strategically

☐ Track module requirements and prerequisites

☐ Resume a module where you left off

☐ Download files for offline access

☐ Use course search to quickly find content

☐ View embedded media and external tools

Monitor your own progress

☐ Use Grades → Arrange by due date / group

☐ Identify missing assignments

☐ View course analytics (if your instructor enables student view)

☐ Check your running total vs. weighted groups

Use mobile & cross-platform features

☐ Submit an assignment using the Canvas Student app

☐ Take a photo submission from your phone

☐ Enable push notifications on mobile

☐ Switch between multiple institutions (if applicable)

Personalize your user experience

☐ Adjust language settings

☐ Enable high-contrast UI or other accessibility features

☐ Use pronouns in your profile (if enabled)

☐ Connect registered services (Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.)

Intermediate Canvas Skills for Teacher

Course structure & workflow

Very Important: Create a Canvas Sandbox Course to practice in: Create A Sandbox Site

☐ Reorganize Modules using:

Text headers
Indentation
Prerequisites
Requirements

☐ Set module completion rules (view, contribute, submit, score at least…)

☐ Control student pacing with availability dates

☐ Use “Student View” to test the full module flow

☐ Customize the Course Home Page with buttons, images, or a front page layout

Assignments & assessment strategy

☐ Create assignment groups with weighted grading

☐ Attach and use a rubric for grading

☐ Enable different submission types (text entry, file upload, media, external tool)

☐ Set moderate quiz settings (extra attempts, time adjustments for specific students)

☐ Use anonymous grading (if appropriate)

SpeedGrader efficiency & feedback

☐ Use comment libraries for frequently used feedback

☐ Leave audio/video feedback

☐ Use DocViewer annotations strategically

☐ Filter SpeedGrader by:

Section
Submission status

☐ Post grades manually and control grade visibility

Gradebook management

☐ Apply late and missing policies

☐ Use Gradebook filters (modules, sections, assignment groups)

☐ Set default grade

☐ Message students who:

Haven’t submitted
Scored below a certain threshold
Haven’t been graded yet

☐ Reorder and organize Gradebook columns

Communication & student engagement

☐ Schedule delayed announcements

☐ Target announcements to specific sections

☐ Use Inbox → message students based on submission status

☐ Create graded discussions

☐ Require initial posts before viewing replies

Sections, groups, and differentiation

☐ View your course by section

☐ Assign different due dates for different sections

☐ Create and manage student groups

☐ Assign group assignments

☐ Provide differentiated availability dates for specific students

Analytics & student success tools

☐ Use New Analytics to:

Identify students who are falling behind
Message students directly from the analytics view
Review weekly activity trends

☐ Track missing assignments across the course

☐ Compare course participation vs. grades

Integrations & content management

☐ Embed media using the Rich Content Editor

☐ Connect and use Google Drive / OneDrive / Studio (if enabled at Boise State)

☐ Use Commons to import shared content

☐ Copy content from a previous course and adjust dates

Time-saving workflow habits

☐ Batch edit due dates

☐ Duplicate assignments or modules

☐ Use calendar drag-and-drop to adjust dates

☐ Use keyboard shortcuts in Gradebook

☐ Create a consistent weekly module structure

cartoon of silhouette running. text says run.

Every semester, remember to:

Daily Support Available: Canvas Q&A Sessions

What:

This is the equivalent of a “Canvas/Learning Technology Consultation” for Teacher and Staff on Zoom.

When:

Daily (*check the LTS Training Calendar for a current schedule)
Not available on University Holidays and weekends

How to Join the Session

Go to the LTS Training Calendar for Dates and Times along with the Zoom Link.
- Current Session: Join immediately
- Future Session: Save the event to your Google Calendar using the “copy to my calendar” tool (see screenshot to the right)
- Special Events! Other events associated with LTS are posted on this same Events Calendar.
The LTS representative will open the session on Zoom. Visitors are assisted on a first-come-first-serve basis.
If zero users have joined the Zoom Session after 15 minutes, the session will close for that day.

screenshot of the copy to my calendars link, it is available when clicking on an event on the lts training calendar

Request an In-Person Consultation on Boise State Canvas

Next Steps:

Schedule an Instructional Design Consultation

Instructional Design Consultations can help answer pedagogical questions and recommend creative solutions with instructional expertise.

To get started, fill our the Request Form that best matches your Course Type below. Upon receiving the form an Instructional Designer from the CTL or eCampus will follow up.

Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) Consultation Request Form

eCampus Consultation Request Form

Types of Courses:

in-person, remote, hybrid

Types of Courses:

fully online

Refine Course Accessibility to Improve Student Learning

Canvas Article: Equitable by Design: Your UDL + Canvas LMS Checklist

Canvas Ally: Top 10 Accessibility Issues and Fixes