Manage your classes in Canvas

• Getting Started with Canvas
• Communicating with Students
• Content Delivery
• Class Interaction

Browse to canvas.rmc.edu; use your R-MC username and password to log in.

Getting Started with Canvas: video tutorials in 2 minutes

• Canvas Global Navigation including Notifications setting
• Canvas Course navigation 
• Adding the Syllabus 
• Canvas Modules 
• Canvas Pages 
• Canvas Assignments
• Canvas Quizzes
• Canvas Discussions

Communicating with Students

The instructor should communicate to students what adjustments will be made to the course taught online, including ways of teaching and communication, schedules and expectations of student participation. Also remind students to set their accounts to receive Notifications properly.

There are three important communication tools in Canvas; click the links below for how to use them:

• Announcements allows the Instructor to send announcements to the whole class. Students cannot post new announcements. Students can view the announcement when logging into the course site. The default Notifications setting allows the student to receive the announcement in his/her R-MC email. 
• Discussions: The Instructor and students can post and reply to other's discussion postings. Online courses usually rely on this tool for class discussions and student interaction (refer to these tips).  Additionally, the instructor may use Discussions for making announcements. Students can view and respond to postings in the course site. The default Notifications setting allows the student to receive the postings in his/her R-MC email.
• Conversations: Access the tool by clicking on "Inbox" in the user's global navigation. This allows the faculty and the student to send private messages to another individual, or to send to group of users within the course as well as across Canvas course sites.

Content Delivery 

The course navigation link Files houses course documents, which can be PDF, PowerPoint, and Word formats.  Voice-over-Slides and screencast help students understand complex concepts. Faculty are encouraged to use OneDrive or GoogleDrive to store large-sized files, including screencast, PowerPoint with high-resolution pictures or with narration, and media clips. Upload the screencast and videos onto YouTube for easy streaming and machine-generated closed captioning.

It is recommended that the instructor hide the link to Files from students, and use Modules or Pages to organize and display course content. In Modules or Pages, links can take students to files saved and shared in the instructor’s OneDrive or GoogleDrive. Links to Assignments and Quizzes should be provided in the designated Modules and/or Pages.

Class Interaction

The People link allows the student to see the class roster, which can be useful when a student tries to seek help from his/her peers.

Use Discussions to encourage students to participate in discussion outside of synchronous class sessions. Students can use Discussions to ask each other questions, and respond to other's comments and questions. Refer to these tips to plan for and manage online discussions.

Instructors are encouraged to use Zoom (or Microsoft Teams) for synchronous lecturing and online meetings. The instructor and students need a microphone, and optionally, a webcam. For occasional use and short sessions, the Conferences tool in Canvas works similarly. Please specify - in the Conference Name and Description - the start and end times of the online conference. A notification is automatically sent to students in the class when a conference is set up. 

Chat lets the instructor or student post messages, which are viewable by all members of the class. Chat does not allow private messages. The student cannot delete any messages posted on Chat. The course instructor can delete chat messages.

Refer to Canvas Guides for Instructors