Introduction to Canvas Canvas, Princeton’s learning management system, is a robust online platform for teaching and learning. Faculty can use their Canvas course sites to communicate with students, share syllabi and course materials, create opportunities for collaboration and activities like peer review, social annotations, and asynchronous discussions, and to assess student understanding through assignments and quizzes. The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning supports the use of Canvas and can be contacted at [email protected]. Create and Organize Content Canvas makes it easy to make different types of content, tasks, and resources available to your students. Similar to a folder system, modules help you organize your Canvas course site. Instructors can determine whether the modules are defined thematically, by week, or by course component (e.g., lab, lectures, homework). Within each module, you can add course resources like readings, assignments, and discussions. To learn more, please see the Canvas Field Guide. Assignments and Grading You can use Canvas to create different types of assessments and exams. Canvas’s quiz tool makes it easy to set a time limit, randomize questions, and use automatic grading. Canvas’s assignments allow instructors to provide feedback directly on students’ submissions. Gradescope, an external tool integrated with Canvas, allows for a dynamic rubric and multiple instructors to grade student submissions simultaneously. To learn more, please see the Canvas' Field Guide. Communicate and Collaborate Canvas offers a variety of tools that enable instructors and students to communicate, share their ideas, pose and respond to questions, and interact outside of the physical classroom. Some of the options include Canvas' announcement tool, online discussion fora such as Canvas discussions and Ed Discussion, and social annotation tools like Hypothesis and Perusall. To learn more, please see the Canvas Field Guide Support and Training The McGraw Center supports teaching teams in multiple ways. Our instructional designers offer individualized assistance and consultations; we host training sessions for faculty, teaching assistants, and administrative staff; and we will also respond to questions at [email protected]. Additionally, you can access the Field Guide to Canvas (a Princeton-specific resource) or contact Canvas 24/7 support accessible by clicking the Help icon on the far left once logged in. Canvas Training Sessions
