You are here
Home / Canvas

Canvas

Canvas Has Arrived

We are excited that Canvas has been selected to be Temple University’s Learning Management System (LMS)! As you explore Canvas, we think you will find that it provides an intuitive, user-friendly experience for faculty and students. Canvas offers tools that meet the teaching and learning needs of Temple community, including collaboration, communication, and feedback tools that enhance student engagement with the instructor and peers, and that provide opportunities for robust learning outcomes for all students.

Change is Hard, but We’re Here to Help You

Our staff has been preparing for the introduction of Canvas and are ready to help you get started. We know change is hard, but we will be offering a host of resources, materials, workshops, trainings, and support services to get you up and running in Canvas. We are looking forward to sharing how the streamlined system will benefit you and your students.

Clean Out Your LMS Closet

Moving to a new system means new opportunities to think about how and what we’re teaching. Think of the migration to Canvas as a chance to clean out your LMS closet - throw out the clutter, reorganize, and explore better ways to use it. Consider hanging some new tools in your LMS closet that you have not tried before. Canvas offers so many options to discover! We encourage you to take this opportunity to improve your course (and your students’ learning).

Get Started

The information on this page will point you to resources and materials to set up your Canvas course and the support services that are available. We are developing new ways to help faculty learn Canvas every day, so visit this page often for new training opportunities, information and announcements.

About Canvas at Temple

Find Help and Support

Canvas 24/7 Support

Canvas Tier 1 support is available to the Temple Community.  You and your students will have access to this service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:

Help Desk

The Computer Services Help Desk is staffed by professional consultants who are trained to assist you and your students with technical issues.   You can contact the Computer Services Help Desk in a variety of ways: 

  • Website: Use the Request Help tab on the Computer Services home page.  
  • Phone: 215-204-8000.
  • Walk-in: The TECH Center, Room 106.
  • Live Chat: Weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday/Sunday: noon to 4:00 p.m.
  • E-mail: help@temple.edu.

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT)

The CAT team are looking forward to showing you how to design your Canvas course to meet your course goals and the needs of your students. A variety of services are offered:

Get Started with Canvas

First Steps

Start by cleaning your LMS closet. Before you set up your new Canvas course, take a critical look at the content in your current Blackboard course and also how students navigate the site. Is the content still relevant to your learning goals, or do you need to think about new additions to your course? Is it easy for students to find what they need in your course? Have you provided opportunities for communication and collaboration? Is your content accessible? If not, this is a great opportunity to think about making PDFs and PPTs accessible. Once you’ve reviewed your current Bb course, start with a blank Canvas shell and start building your new learning experience.

What’s Next?

Learn How To Use Canvas

Canvas How-to's

A complete Table of Contents of How-To Guides provided by Canvas.

 

Design and Customize your Canvas Course
  • Design an Accessible Canvas Course.
  • Set Up your Canvas Menu for Course Navigation.
  • Use Course Settings to view and edit course details and to setup the way students will navigate your course.
  • Add your preferred contact methods and set your Notification Preferences.
  • View and use Global Navigation to provide quick access to your course content and features, set up Notifications to your students, and more.
  • The benefits of the Course Calendar to add events and assignments.
  • Publish your Canvas course to make your course visible to your students.

 

Organize your Course Content in Canvas

Organize

  • Organize your course content using Modules to control the flow of your course, organize your content, and to create self paced instruction.
  • Learn the differences between Canvas Pages and Modules and find out which feature to use for your specific course needs.
    • Create Modules to organize your course content assignments, and activities in one single convenient location.

Create and Add Content

  • Find out how Pages store content and educational resources that include text, video, and links to files and other course or group content.
  • Use Canvas Files to house course assignments, syllabi, readings, or other documents.
  • Use the Rich Content Editor to add and format your course content.
Work with Students and Participants
  • Use Student View to see how everything will look for students before publishing.
  • Find and add students to your Canvas course.
  • Use the People page to view and manage students who are enrolled in your course
  • Publish your Canvas course to make your course visible to your students.
Facilitate Student Communication and Collaboration in Canvas
  • Create Discussions to encourage online asynchronous discussions among your students.
  • Enable multiple students to work together on the same document using Collaborations.
  • Set up Groups to enable your students to collaboratively work on assignments and projects.
  • Share important news will all of your students using Announcements.
    • Tip:  Use Delay posting Announcements if you’d like work on a draft version.
  • Interact with your students in real time using Chat.
  • Use Conversations as an instructor to send messages to students or groups from within Canvas.
  • Host online office hours or facilitate an online course using Conferences.
Assess, Grade, and Monitor your Student Work

Assessments

  • Monitor Student Activity Performance using Analytics.
  • Create Assignments to obtain student work online.
    • Tip:  Set due dates in your Assignments to .enable the Canvas Calendar and Notifications to commuicate timely information to your students.
    • Tip:  Mute Assignments to hold student grades until all assignments have been graded, and then release grades (Unmute) to all students at the same time.
  • Enable Peer Review in Assignments to let your students provide feedback to one another
  • Create a Rubric to set criteria and share your expectations with your students.
  • Create student Outcomes in your course.

Grading and Monitoring

Tests and Quizzes

Scroll to Top