Do’s and Don’ts in Canvas

The Do’s

  • Use only supported browsers to work in Canvas.
  • If you plan to share (Zoom) class recordings with students on Canvas, follow this article to set up the integration between Kaltura’s media gallery and Canvas. Penn State uses Kaltura Media Space for long-term storage of Zoom recordings. 
  • Disable navigation links students do not need (i.e. files, pages, assignments, quizzes etc.); organize course content by adding particular files, pages, quizzes, etc. to Modules instead. 
  • Students prefer Course Announcements to course emails. If you need to use email, use Canvas Inbox. Replies from a connected email address may not send attachments correctly.
  • Enter a Due Date for each assignment so that they will appear on the To do and Coming up lists on Dashboard. 
  • Back up a copy of the grades by Exporting grades.
  • At the end of the semester, monitor your SEEQ (Student Educational Experience Questionnaire) response rate at https://rateteaching.psu.edu. 
  • If you teach the same course again, you may end a past version of the course by making it invisible or read-only.

 

The Don’ts 

  • Do not teach from a Master Course or a Manually Created Course if the students need a grade. LionPath feeds course and roster information to only the for-credit courses Canvas. Master courses and manually created courses do not bear credits and exist only on Canvas, not LionPath.
  • Do not manually enroll a student in a for-credit class. The student could remain unregistered on LionPath and will not receive an official grade at the end of the semester. 
  • Do not ask the course scheduler at your school or the college registrar to make changes in LionPath (i.e. changes in faculty name or spelling, class dates, dividing a course into more sections etc.) after the class has started. Such changes might lead to massive data loss including student access to the class.
  • If you must do so, be aware that a workaround may take 2 to 3 days. Before requesting the change, the instructor should back up all the content material, export the course grade book, and download student submissions from the original course.