Skip to Main Content

Canvas Basics

Learn the basics of navigating Canvas. Contains guidance on everything from accessing your course for the first time through checking your grades.

Common Questions & Key Terms

Open Assignments

Submitting

Peer Review

Rubrics

Instructor Feedback

Calendar A global feature that allows you to see all course assignments and events in one place.  You can use the Calendar to import the calendar into your preferred personal calendar.
Canvas apps Access courses and groups using a mobile device.
Grades Calculates a running total based on your graded assignments.
Announcements Here you find updates posted by your instuctors regarding your course.
Assignment/Assessment Includes quizzes, graded discussions, and online submissions.  
Course The class you are enrolled in. 
Course contacts Here you will find your instructor's contact details.
Course navigation A series of links on the left hand side of the screen when you are in your course.  
Dashboard The Canvas Dashboard is where you land when you log into Canvas.  This shows all courses and your to do items.
Discussions Discussions can be graded or ungraded.  They provide a platform for you to interact with your fellow students or instructors.
Inbox Here you can send adn recieve messages bewteen other Canvas users, including yoru instructors or fellow students.
Module A module is a container that organises content.  Modules group content into weeks or topics.
Notifications Notifications can be set to your Account in your global navigation menu to determine what notifications you recieve for your courses.
Page Pages store content. 
Rubrics Your instructor may include a rubric as part of your assignment. Rubrics are criteria that your insturctor will use to grade your assignment.  You can use the rubric to evaluate your own work.