Canvas

Canvas supports various external tools, and different types of course shells are used to store online course materials, designed by expert instructors with assistance from a team of instructional designers. In addition to a set of guidelines associated with Canvas course shells, Canvas offers the option to merge course sections through Canvas Support. A merge deadline has been set for each semester to prevent potential loss of student data.

Learn more about Canvas Course Management.

• Getting Started with Canvas - This course will introduce you to the Canvas learning management system (LMS), and you will learn how to create, design, and facilitate your Canvas courses at Texas Woman's University.
• Canvas Instructor Guide - Provides online help for instructors and students that includes an overview of Canvas features, step-by-step documentation by topic, and search by keyword. This is your best option to look up "how to" information for a specific topic or keyword.
• Canvas Guides - There are a few products at TWU that you will want to be familiar with, these include Canvas Instructor Guides (Includes Mobile), Canvas Student Guides (Includes Mobile), and Commons Guide. Please note that not all of the products listed are available at TWU.
• Canvas Accessibility Standards - Details about accessibility standards and design guidelines.

This self-guided course will introduce instructors to the Canvas learning management system (LMS) and provide resources on creating, designing, and facilitating Canvas courses at Texas Woman's University. Instructors can move through the content at their own pace and return to content throughout the semester to review. There are five content modules with step-by-step guides and optional videos; helpful checklists for before, during, and after the semester; and links to Canvas and university resources.

Start the Getting Started with Canvas Self-Guided Course

Canvas Training offers webinars allowing you to go into greater depth on a variety of topics. There are On Demand Courses that you can attend at any time on your own and Sessions that are interactive, allow some hands-on experience, and are taught by Canvas trainers available to answer questions.

How to Get Started

Follow these steps to set up an account and register for a Canvas Training:

Open the Training Services Portal

1. Log Into Canvas using your TWU Username and Portal Password
2. Click Help > Training Services Portal from the Global Navigation Menu
3. On the "Training Portal is requesting access to your account" page, click Authorize
4. On the "Authorize canvaspd idp prod to use your account?" page, click Authorize
5. The Canvas Professional Development Training Portal LTI course will open. There is a "New Training Services Portal Walk Through" on demand course to help you get started.

If you plan to use a graduate assistant, let them know about this self-enrolled, online course to get started using Canvas.

Canvas for Graduate Assistants introduces several Canvas features to assistant teaching. Demonstrations and overviews present creating announcements; reviewing quiz, discussion, and assignment settings; and understanding the Gradebook and SpeedGrader; taking Attendance; and previewing with student view. Graduate Assistants will be ready to support their instructor after learning these important Canvas features.

Any GA can self-enroll using these access steps:

1. Enroll in Canvas for Graduate Assistants [TWU Username and password required for sign-in]
2. Select the blue button to the right that says "Enroll in Course."
3. On the next page, select the blue button to the right that says "Go to the Course."

Note: GAs will need a Canvas account to access the training. Any GA that doesn't have a Canvas account should contact the Service Desk.

Instructional Support

Contact an Instructional Designer to talk about effective ways to design your Canvas course to meet the needs of you and your students.

Technical Support

Canvas support is available 24/7 by phone, live chat, or email through the Help menu within Canvas after you have logged in. If you are unable to log in, please contact the Technology Service Desk at 940-898-3971 or servicedesk@twu.edu for assistance.

For more information see How to Contact Canvas Support.

• Canvas - Canvas is a web-based application which allows instructors to put class materials on the Internet. It provides a variety of tools to facilitate teaching and learning. All courses at TWU use Canvas.
• Zoom - Zoom is a web conferencing and recording solution that is available in Canvas. Use Zoom to meet with your class online, share an application on your desktop, demonstrate a new concept, hold office hours, watch student presentations, and more.
• Panopto (Lecture Capture) - Panopto is a lecture capture application that is used to create recordings of classroom-based activities and can be made available for review by students in a course.
• Turnitin - Turnitin is an electronic text matching system that checks student's submissions against a repository of submitted documents.
• Online Proctoring and Exam Management - Solutions include: (1) Honorlock is a virtual proctor that records and reviews exams. The Chrome extension prevents students from accessing unauthorized information during testing. (2) Respondus has two applications. One serves as a virtual proctor with Respondus LockDown Browser and/or Respondus Monitor. The other serves as a test creator and manager with Respondus 4.0 Test Generator.
• Cielo24 - Cielo24 is a captioning service that ensures audio and video content is accessible to students at the time of dissemination according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and state regulations for digital accessibility. At this time, only audio and video recordings in Panopto can be submitted for closed captioning by Cielo24.