Canvas Tutorial Videos: Getting Started and Setting Up Your Courses

Owned by Rob Caldwell
Last updated: Aug 08, 2023
2 min read

We encourage you to follow along with these videos when learning Canvas. If you do not have Canvas course shells yet, please fill out a ITS support ticket and request a sandbox course. A sandbox course can provide a safe space to familiarize yourself with Canvas and practice creating content in Canvas.

We recommend viewing these videos in order, pausing often to follow along in your own sandbox course.

Sandbox courses can also be used as spaces to build actual courses. You can request a sandbox course for each course you will be teaching, and then when ITS creates the courses, you can simply copy your sandbox course content into the actual course.

Videos

(Total Run-time: 56:53)

  1. The Canvas Dashboard (1:37)
    This video show the basics about the Canvas dashboard, including how to give courses nicknames to help distinguish them from your other courses.

  2. User Account Settings (1:36)
    This video explains how to edit your user account settings to update you profile picture, add a bio page, and edit your notification settings.

  3. Importing a Course Template (4:20)
    This video shows how to import and edit the main NCSSM course templates.

  4. Editing your Syllabus (3:32)
    This video explains how to edit a template syllabus in Canvas, as well as giving instructions on how to upload a syllabus document.

  5. Course Settings (3:29)
    This video show the basic course settings you should always double-check. It also shows how to simplify course navigation for students.

  6. Setting Up Assignment Weights and Settings (2:30)
    This video explains how to weight assignments in Canvas. It also explains how to set up rules to automatically drop lowest scores.

  7. Working with Modules (8:06)
    This video explains how to build modules in your course and gives some design tips to make teaching in Canvas easier.

  8. Editing Content in Canvas (6:46)
    This video goes over the basics of using the rich content editor to create and edit content pages in Canvas.

  9. Creating Assignments (12:24)
    This video explains the basics of creating assignments and adding rubrics to assignments.

  10. Grading in Canvas (12:33)
    This video explains how to grade in Canvas using SpeedGrader, as well as basic tips on using the Canvas gradebook.

Need more help with Canvas?

You can use the Help menu in Canvas to:

  1. Search the Canvas guides - this is the best option for most things. Canvas provides easy-to-follow guides for most topics.

  2. Access the ITS Wiki - this is best for NCSSM-specific technical questions

  3. Access the TLC website - This is best if you need pedagogical support or help using technology for teaching. On the TLC website, you will also find links to a Canvas Style Guide that can help you know how to design effectively in Canvas, as well as a searchable knowledge-base of help guides.