Your Profile and Canvas Environment

This topic contains about 30 mins worth of reading and videos

What is this topic about?

This module will guide you through the following topics:

First thing you see when you log into Canvas - Dashboard
Profile and User Settings that let you control your contact details
How to adjust your Notification preferences for website as well as mobile devices.
The Canvas Inbox which displays all Canvas Conversations - the internal messaging system in Canvas
The Calendar is a great way to view everything you have to do for all your courses in one place

Let's get the ball rolling!

Below is the tabbed compilation of key information in the form of dot points and videos for each of the items listed above which will empower you to kick start your content creation journey on Canvas.

1. Dashboard

The Dashboard is the first thing you will see when you log into Canvas and it also helps you see what is happening in all your current courses.

The Dashboard is truly the place where you can start off your day in Canvas! You can return to your User Dashboard at any time by clicking the Dashboard link in the Global Navigation Menu on the far left side of the screen. Things you'll see on your Dashboard include:

Course Cards: All current courses are represented by tiles
Global Announcements: Can be used for institution-wide communication
To-Do List: Students see a list of up to 25 items they need to do in their courses. Each is a link into the course. Teachers' To Dos are items they need to grade. The number next to each is how many need to be graded. Teachers' To Dos are live links directly to the SpeedGrader
Coming Up: Look ahead into your Canvas Calendar, showing events and assessments due today and going forward 7 days

Some ideas about how you can extend your use of the Dashboard are to Give Course Nicknames, Change the colour of your Course card, Apply an image to your Course card or Remove the Colour Overlay

2. Profile and settings

Profile and User Settings let you control your personal information in Canvas.

Some other items you can customize are listed below:

User Profile Pictures: When you interact with other users (in Conversations, Discussions, and when you give Feedback) your picture will appear
Ways to Contact: Fully customizable, additional email addresses and/or your mobile phone to enable text notifications can be added
Web Services: Skype, LinkedIn and Twitter can be enabled here as additional ways to receive notifications

Here are some additional user profile settings you can check out:

High Contrast UI can be enabled as an Accessibility feature for colour contrast enhancement
Underline Links can be enabled as an Accessibility feature and will underline all hyperlinks throughout Canvas

3. Notifications

Notifications are the way for you to get alerted when a variety of actions occur in Canvas.

Important things to know about Notifications are:

User determines the frequency:Notifications are received: right away, daily summary, weekly summary, or not at all
User determines where the Notification is received: Email address, SMS message, and/or Push notifications

Here are some additional things to consider about Notifications:

Can be customized at any time. User is in control of his/her own Notification experience
Instructors can reinforce student useof Notifications by strongly suggesting critical Notifications for the course being delivered
Default Settings for Notifications Links to an external site.are listed in this document

4. Inbox

The Canvas Inbox displays all Canvas Conversations - the internal messaging system in Canvas.

Benefits of using the Canvas Inbox and Conversations are below!

Clean: Not a new email address
Easy to use: Connected to your main email address; can receive copies of your Canvas Conversations at the email or any Notification pathway and answer right from there. Will appear to students that the communication was all contained in Canvas
Purposeful: The only people who can contact you through a Canvas Conversation are those who are connected to you through a Course or a Group
Contacts loaded:Users attached to your Course are pre-populated in your address book

Here are some additional ideas about why and how using Conversations can make your life easier:

Conversations has a simple interface for composing and includes the ability to easily create an audio or video message
Archive instead of delete to always retain copies of Conversations with students

ks to an external site.)

5. Calendar

The Canvas Calendar has layers for each course associated with the user.

The Calendar has so many benefits and uses. Check them out below!

Choose what you see:Courses can be enabled/disabled in the Calendar view

Different views:User can choose month, week, or agenda view
Calendar, Assign Dates in course, and Syllabus work in conjunction: Change date in one place and it updates all the others!
Icons are clear:Assessments, when assigned, will appear on calendar with an icon representing which assessment type it is (Assignment, Discussion or Quiz)
Upon student submission: Items will cross off on the student calendar
Items cross off on the instructor's calendar: When the due date has passed and all items have been graded
Events can also be added: They appear with the calendar icon

Here are some additional ways users can make the Calendar work for them:

The Schedulertool is a way to allow students to sign up for appointment slots
Calendar can be synchedto another calendaring software using the iCal calendar feed link
Assignment shells can be built directly from the Calendar

You can try out all that you learnt here in your Canvas Account.

Okay, now I'm curious.

Need more information? Check out the below Canvas Guides!

Dashboard
1. Dashboard GuideLinks to an external site
Profile and settings
1. What are Profile and User Settings
2. How do I change the settings in my user account as an instructor
Notifications
1. Notification Guide
Inbox
1. How do I use ConversationsLinks to an external site.
Calendar
1. Canvas Calendar Guide