What is Canvas?
Canvas is AU's learning management system. Each course taught at AU has a blank Canvas course created so that instructors can post materials and build ways for students to interact with courses. Canvas courses have assignment, communications, and grading tools for online and on-campus courses. Student enrollments are handled automatically based on the data within AccessAU. Instructors are not required to use Canvas.
ITS is available to help instructors with using Canvas. To request help with Canvas, please submit a Service Request in Raven Solutions.
Logging in to Canvas
- Open a web browser and go to http://canvas.anderson.edu. (Canvas works best in Chrome or Firefox.)
- Type in your AU username and password. Click the Log In button.
- You will start on your dashboard. All of your current courses will be listed on the Dashboard. Click on a course to open it.
Start By Building Your Course Using Modules
We recommend that instructors start by using Modules as a way of organizing their first Canvas course. Modules provide a simple structure to the course similar to folders on your computer or section tabs in a notebook. By starting this way, you will learn the basics of Canvas and be ready for more customized course home pages in the future.
Modules are the default home page for new courses. To build your first module, click the Create a new Module link or the + Module button.
Give your module a name. We recommend a Welcome or Course Overview module to start out the course. This module will be used to post your syllabus, course calendar, and other important materials. Click Add Modules to create the module.
To add the first item to your course, click the + button in the top right corner of the module.
Items that you can add to the module include Assignments, Quizzes, Files, Pages, Discussions, Text Headers, External URLs, and External Tools. Follow the prompts on the pop-up screen to add the content.
As you add Assignments, Quizzes, Pages, and Discussions, you are creating placeholders that you will need to go back and complete. Click on the item name and it will take you to a page where you will click the Edit button to fill out the information for that item. For more information on the individual item types, see the Canvas articles and videos below:
Publishing Your Course
By default, courses are created as Unpublished. This means that students will not be able to see your course until you are ready to open it for them. To publish your course, go to the course home by clicking the Home link on the course menu at the left and click the Publish button on the right. Note: You can unpublish your course if necessary until it contains a graded submission. Then you can no longer unpublish the course.
Canvas Help Articles
For additional information, please see the Canvas Guide for Instructors and the Canvas Videos for Instructors.