Introduction
Canvas is a Learning Management System first launched by Instructure in 2011. It is now in use by over 1600 schools world-wide, including IU High School. You are using Canvas right now to view this tutorial.
Let's Get Started
Welcome to Canvas
All IU High School courses are taken in Canvas. Each time you register for a course, you will receive an e-mail confirmation. This e-mail will inform you of the name of the course, the instructor's name, and the course end-date. Be sure to schedule your time to allow you to finish the course by this date.
Your notification e-mail will also have a link to Canvas. When you click that link, you can then use your IU login information (your IU guest acct. username and password) to access the Canvas system.
If this is the first time you are logging in to Canvas, you will see a notification like that shown below:
You can click the Notification Preferences button to tell Canvas how you want to be notified of different events. You can always change these preferences, though, as you will learn later in the tutorial.
Once you are logged in, it would be a good idea to bookmark the Canvas site in your browser to make it easier to return to later.
Global Navigation
Look at the colored band at the left side of the browser window. When you are logged in it will look similar to the image below:
The red band at left is the Global Navigation menu. At some point you may want to explore all of its features in the Canvas Student Guide, but we will go over the key features below.
The image above shows the default 'Dashboard' view of Canvas. The other icons in the menu are, as you can see, "Account", "Courses", "Calendar", and "Inbox".
Let's briefly go over the Dashboard first. In this view, you will see a 'course card' for each course you are enrolled in. The icons at the bottom of each card provide information about activities going on in that course, such as new announcements, graded assignments etc. A circled number next to an icon indicates the number of newly graded assignments, or the number of new announcements.
Below the Dashboard icon is the "Courses" icon. Clicking Courses will show you a list of all the courses you are enrolled in, with each title acting as a link. Simply click on the name of a course to go to that course's Home page. You may find it convenient to simply use your browser's bookmark feature to save course pages you frequently use, such as the Home page or Syllabus for each course.
The next link is Canvas' Calendar feature, which you are free to explore but will not be discussed here.
The bottom icon link is called 'Inbox'. Inbox links to Canvas's messaging system. Some of your instructors may choose to use it, while others prefer to use general e-mail.
The top-most icon is the 'Account' link. When you click Account you will see a 'Logout' button, then 'Notifications', 'Profile', 'Files', 'Settings', and several additional options. You are encouraged to explore all of these options with the help of the Canvas Student Guide, but you can learn more about Profile, Settings, and Notifications here.
Side Menu Navigation
When you click on a course card (from your Dashboard) or select a course from 'Courses', then you should go to the Home page of your selected course. At the far left you should see the course navigation menu, with links for Home, Syllabus, Assignments, Quizzes, and Announcements. Depending on the course you are taking, this menu may include additional links. Each particular course will explain how to use the required links.
"Home" simply goes to the course Home page, where you will find your instructor's name, e-mail, and a message welcoming you to the course. Depending on the particular course, there may be additional information about the course, including information usually found on a course Syllabus.
"Syllabus" goes to the course Syllabus, which usually lists any required textbooks and textbook purchase instructions etc, and then a list of links that outline the course. (This information may also sometime be found in the course Home page.) At the bottom of the Syllabus you will find Assignment links that go directly to the specific assignment for that topic. Note that not every Cooperative course makes use of a Syllabus.
"Assignments" goes to the Assignments page, which is a list of every assignment for the course. Most assignments have a series of instructions for you to complete as well as instructions for how to submit your work. Unlike Independent course assignments, most Cooperative assignments ask you to submit a link to work you have posted elsewhere, such as in a google doc. You'll learn more about Assignments in the Assignments page.
"Quizzes" goes to the Quizzes page, which contains all course quizzes and any exams. (Unless otherwise specified, exams are always proctored.) You can take practice exams as often as you wish, while graded quizzes are normally only take once. Any multiple choice, matching, true/false questions are graded by Canvas immediately. Short answer or Essay questions will be graded by your instructor. Don't panic when you see your initial quiz score, since the instructor will soon be adding points for the essay and short answer questions.
Exams work like quizzes, except that they require an access code. This code is only sent to your proctor. Exams that are required to be done on paper (mainly Math course exams) are downloaded and printed by the proctor. Completed exams are scanned by the proctor and uploaded to Canvas to be graded.
When you have completed this tutorial, feel free to evaluate your understanding of Canvas by taking the Tutorial Quiz found in Quizzes.
"Grades" is where you will see your all of your grades for the course, and this is one place where you can receive feedback from your instructor. This topic is discussed further in the Grades page.
"Announcements" is where you will see any announcements from either your instructor or IU High School.
Please return to the Syllabus, click a link in the text above, or click 'Next' below, to continue exploring this tutorial.