CENTER FOR TEACHING & ONLINE LEARNINGWe are here to support you as you start using Canvas. If you have questions, please reach out to our team and we can schedule a time to work together.
Listed below are the most frequently requested Canvas support topics. For information about a topic, select the topic and the content will display. For more in-depth tutorials and information, visit the Canvas Instructor Guides, attend a CTOL training, or ask us for support.
The State Board for Technical & Community colleges offers a fully-featured Canvas training, about 20 hours of facilitated asynchronous learning.
In a hurry? You can view an unfacilitated, public version of the Canvas 101 training course. In this course you will not be able to access certain items like discussions, quizzes, or assignments.
If you’d like to sign up for the full training, register here for facilitated Canvas 101 training.
SBCTC offers accessibility training for faculty and staff at Washington community and technical colleges.
We have an LTI in Canvas that allows you to check the accessibility of your course contents. To use the Accessibility Checker, follow the instructions from Blackboard.
Learn about alternative formats in this guide from Blackboard.
The first Canvas step for most faculty is to upload their SPSCC syllabus file to the Syllabus page in their Canvas course. Although the Canvas Syllabus page contains a machine-generated Course Summary, SPSCC faculty are required to post their Syllabus document within their Canvas course as well. You can do this easily by editing the syllabus page.
Be sure that your syllabus file is prepared for the course and quarter you're teaching. When your file is completed and stored in a location you can access from Canvas, upload it to the syllabus page via the Rich Content Editor.
It's a great idea to upload and display an inline preview of your syllabus on our course's Syllabus page!
You can change your Course Home Page to reflect one of five layout options: the Recent Activity Dashboard, Pages Front Page, the Course Modules, the Assignment List, or the Syllabus.
Note: You must set a Front Page before selecting the Pages Front Page option. Additionally, only Published pages can be set as the Front Page.
In Global Navigation, click the Courses link [1], then click the name of the course [2].
In the Home Page sidebar, click the Choose Home Page button.
Click the radio button next to the Home Page layout you prefer.
If you want to select a Pages Front Page but the link is grayed out, you must first set a Front Page.
Note: Only Published pages can be set as the Front Page.
Make sure the page you want to set as the Front Page is published.
Click the Save button.
Changing your navigation in Canvas is an easy way to shape your online course. For learning effectiveness, having fewer menu items streamlines the student user experience. By hiding items your students aren't going to use, you simplify the look and feel of your Canvas course.
You can also "hide" content types -- one example would be the Files menu item-- that you would prefer to reveal to students through in-page links or via your modules page.
This video gives you a quick guide to using your settings page navigation tab to order and hide or disable items that aren't essential to your instruction.
In your course menu go to Settings,
and click on the blue Integrations tab in the top row:
You'll see the slider button, and the > Microsoft Sync title:
When the Sync has been scheduled, you'll receive a success alert onscreen:
Once the integration is enabled, a sync to Microsoft Teams will be triggered automatically by any changes to course enrollments.
Note When enrollments changes are made in a course that has enabled Microsoft Sync, it may take up to 10 minutes for those changes to sync to Microsoft Teams.
When you've completed the sync process your Microsoft Teams Menu item will change to Microsoft Teams classes:
Click on the menu item, this will populate your Canvas class into a Team; when the page refreshes, you will see an icon with your class name on the page.
Click in the icon area to be taken to your Teams app or web client; this will transition you to a web window that offers you and your students the option to download an app or work on the web version of Teams:
Once you've chosen an option, you will be redirected to the Teams app. where you will be offered options to set up your team:
Once you activate the team, you may continue to create and add to it; students can see content you add and receive posts in the team channel
MS Teams offers you the option to add "apps" to your Team. Check the list below to find out more. You may see other apps available inside your Teams interface, but only the ones in this list will work inside Canvas.
Download the pdf: MS Teams Apps list for SPSCC
When students have an issue related to Canvas, please direct them to the following offices:
If students come to you with a Canvas question that you are not able to answer, you can email or call CTOL directly. We are able to provide direct support to faculty. Often a student's Canvas problem needs to be addressed by changing a setting on an assignment or clarifying something with their instructor.