Canvas course settings

The course grading scheme allows instructors to pair points percentages to letter grades. For example, in most courses (except Health Professions) the grading scheme works like this:

• 100-90 = A
• 89-80 = B
• 79-70 = C
• 69-60 = D
• 59-0 = F

If you do not set a grading scheme students will not see a letter grade for any of their assignments or overall course grade; this can be confusing for students.

For more information, see the following guide:

  How do I use the grading schemes in a course? Links to an external site.

Enable a Grading Scheme

Online Learning has created two grading schemes for your use:

• Traditional: 100-90 = A, 89-80 = B, 79-70 = C, 69-60 = D, and 59-0 = F
• Health Professions: 100-92 = A, 91-84 = B, 83-76 = C, 75-68 = D, & 67-0 = F

To apply one of these grading schemes to your course refer to the grading scheme guide: 

  How do I enable a grading scheme for a course? Links to an external site.

It's also possible to disable grading schemes for your entire course, by deselecting a checkbox, "Enable course grading scheme," in Course Settings:

  How to disable a grading scheme for a course? Links to an external site.

Additional Resources

  How do I view a grading scheme from a course? Links to an external site.

  How do I add a grading scheme for a course? Links to an external site.

Course Navigation is a series of links on the left side of your course that help you get to where you want to go inside of a Canvas course. Instructors have access a number of links (the Home link is a constant) and can reorder them and decide which links to make visible/invisible to students; students are never able to see Attendance, Settings, or UDOIT. For more information on using navigation links see the following guide: 

  How do I use the Course Navigation Menu as an Instructor? Links to an external site.

Canvas navigation links

Additional information about editing and how to set up and use these features will be provided in this course.

How to Customize your Navigation Links

To learn how to customize your links see the following guide: 

  How do I reorder and hide Course Navigation links? Links to an external site.

Why Customize?

It's important to customize your links to make sure students are provided the best online environment possible. In general, Online Learning recommends only making links visible that you are using in your course. In addition, it might be confusing to students if you leave the Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes links available, since students might go there instead of Modules and miss important course content and other information. 

Recommended Customization

The best bet is to make as few of the links as possible visible to students because this cuts down on confusion and makes navigating your course easier. 

In general, Online Learning recommends Instructors make the following links VISIBLE to students: Home (default), Modules, Syllabus, & Grades. Additional links that could be added to this includes: People, Announcements, and Attendance (if you plan on using them). Other links should only be added based on the use of those links in your course and/or the set-up of your course.

Student View allows you to see the course as a student so you can see how your students view assignments, discussions, quizzes, and other areas of Canvas.

Using Student View

To enable student view click on the "Student View" button on the top right of a Canvas page. To leave student view and return to instructor view, find the "Leave Student View" button at the bottom right of the page. You can also choose to "Reset Student" which will clear all history for the test student and allow you to start student view again with a clean slate.

For more information see the following guide:

  How do I enable Student View? Links to an external site.

The following information explains how to import content from one Canvas course into a different Canvas course.

Entire Course Copy

This information explains how to copy all content from one course into another course in Canvas. In general most Instructors copy their entire course from semester to semester:

  How do I import content form another Canvas Course Links to an external site.

Copying Parts of a Course into Another Course

This information explains how to copy parts of one course into another course in Canvas. For example, if you have a discussion rubric that you'd like to use in all of your courses you could create it in one course and then copy it into your other courses in Canvas:

  How do I select specific content as part of a course import? Links to an external site.

There are also course settings that instructors should be careful with, check each semester, and/or not change because it could cause problems with their course. 

 These settings include:

• Course Start and End Date Links to an external site.: Instructors cannot adjust the start date and end date of their course on their own, this is set in banner and based on the master schedule. Be aware that your course must remain available through the traditional start and end times. This feature should only be used to open a course early!! You can not extend the course beyond the scheduled end-date for students, this request must be made with your DE Faculty Support (see Incomplete Contracts and Extensions). 
• You may give special permission to your students to access (view only) the course early or after it closes. Make sure to uncheck the box to restrict student access. 
  • Note the TERM is defined as the start of the semester in the banner system and end date of your semester in the banner system. COURSE is defined as the start and end date of your course in the banner system. Changing the dates in this area will not give students permission to participate outside the TERM or COURSE as defined in Banner, which is set as a section date by default. 
  • 

Common settings used in Canvas

Validate links in Content Links to an external site.

This will check the links in your course to make sure that the links are functioning and not broken. This is a valuable accessibility-check tool you can use anytime in your course to make sure every link works!

Make this course publicly visible Links to an external site.

If this box is checked ANYONE online can view your course content, but not student information or submissions. In general this box should not be checked.

Restrict students from viewing course before start date Links to an external site.

If this box is unchecked then students can view your course regardless of the course start date. In general this box should be checked and is checked by default. NOTE only if the course is published. 

Restrict students from viewing course after end date Links to an external site.

If this box is unchecked then students can view your course after the course end date. Students can't submit any assignments after the course end date or view any quiz results, but they will be able to access all course content and Assignment and Discussion submissions and information. By default this box is unchecked, but the Instructor can choose to check this box if they don't want students to have access to this information.

Reset Course Content Links to an external site. Links to an external site.

This will completely clear your course of all content. This is permanent. If this button is pushed Online Learning CANNOT recover your course content, so don't use this button unless you are planning to delete everything and add or create new course content.