Start of Quarter Procedure for Canvas Course Management

Get Ready For the New Term: Winter Quarter Begins January 3, 2018

The new quarter courses with their student enrollments have been added to Canvas.

UPDATED: New Features in Canvas

  • New Accessibility Checker in the Canvas Rich Content Editor
  • Assignments, graded discussions and pages can be duplicated within a module
  • Rubric criterion can now be duplicated
  • New gradebook? Are we going to install?

UPDATED:Training Workshops

A series of training workshops are offered every term as in-person or online sessions, with NEW 30-Minute Micro Webinars. To view the list of available workshop topics, go to the Training Workshops page.

UPDATED:Faculty Open LabVirtual Faculty Lab

The faculty drop-in lab will be held everyTuedsay from 2pm-4pm in Black Hall 141 or you can join online (uses Blackboard Ultra.)Facuty can stop by anytime during the 2-hour block to get help on Canvas, Panopto, Respondus, or in-class student engagement systems. No appointment necessary.

Import Content from a Design Course or Previous Course

If you have already created your content in a design course, you can easily import that content into your upcoming course section. You can also import content from an existing course that was taught previously: How do I copy content from another Canvas course?

Building a Course from Scratch

  • Upload your syllabus: How do I edit the syllabus description?
  • Create a welcome announcement: How do I make an announcement?
  • Add files: How do I upload a file?
  • Create assignments, discussions, quizzes: What assignment types are available in Canvas?
  • Set-up course navigation: How do I reorder and hide course navigation links?
  • Use modules: How do I add assignments, pages, and files to a module?

Import Student Modules from Canvas Commons

Pre-packaged student resource modules designed by CWU content specialists are available on the following topics: 1) Turnitin Plagiarism Detection, 2) Digital Citizenship/Plagiarism, 3) Canvas Student Guides, 4) Citation Formats (MLA, APA, Chicago), and others. Faculty can import these modules directly into their courses from Canvas Commons and then modify as needed. To use Canvas Commons and import shared resources follow this guide: How do I import and view a Commons resource in Canvas?

Combining Cross-Listed Course Sections in Canvas

Per CWU policy, class sections will no longer be auto-combined in Canvas because of issues with FERPA compliance. Faculty teaching a course that is cross-listed in the University Catalog (i.e., a single course that is cross-listed in two departments in which all students meet in one class section) may request that the course be combined in Canvas by submitting the following request form: Cross-list Exception Request Form

Note: Requests for course cross-listing must be submitted prior to the beginning of the quarter. No courses will be cross-listed after the start of the quarter.

Make Your Course Available

A best practice for making your course available is to publish the course on or before the first day of the quarter. Be sure to upload a syllabus and welcome announcement before publishing. To publish your course: How do I publish a course?

Restrict Student Access to Course Content

As an instructor, you can set restrictions for student access to course content before or after the start and end dates for the course, so students cannot view any content before the course begins or after the course ends. If you make no changes to your course settings, the course content will be available to students once it is published.

How do I restrict student access to a course before or after the course dates?

Concluding Courses in Canvas

In response to faculty requests, we have updated the course concluding procedure. The new procedure will keep Canvas courses active for one additional term (for faculty only). For example, the current Summer courses will be available until the end of Winter 2017. The Courses menu contains all active courses (e.g., Summer and Fall). To customize the Courses menu, follow this guide: How do I customize my courses list?

Faculty Canvas Support Resources

On-demand resources for faculty can be accessed from the Canvas Faculty Support Pageand the Instructor Resource Course in Canvas (all instructors are enrolled in this course).

TurnitinCheckbox Restored

The Turnitin checkbox will be restored to Assignments for plagiarism detection only. Use the new Turnitin external tool if you want plagiarism detection plusfeedback tools, including rubrics, comments library, peer review, and grammar check.

If you have any questions, contact Joy Bensiger ( or x2039) or Delayna Breckon ( or x1172). For Premium 24/7 Canvas Faculty Support call: 1-877-399-8897

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