Instructors

Most of the links below will direct you to the Canvas guides for instructors. Please note that some settings/features may not be available at our institution.

A quick guide to getting started is available for your convenience.

For your convenience, we also provided a Start of the Semester Instructor Checklist that will help you prepare your course for the semester.

If you do not see links for tools you would like to use in Canvas, please visit the Canvas Guides for Instructors or Canvas Video Tutorials for Instructors.

General Information

Accessibility Resources

Account Settings

Navigation

Where did the course navigation go when I opened Grades?

The course navigation automatically collapses when you open Grades. This is to provide more screen space. You can show the navigation menu again by clicking on the Menu button on the top right of the page.

Instructions for expanding the course navigation menu.

Where did the right-side navigation links go?

When you are viewing Canvas on a smaller-sized screen, a minimized window, or at a lower screen resolution, the navigation items on the right side of the page will automatically move to the bottom of the page.

You can access the buttons by either scrolling to the bottom of the page or by adjusting the resolution or window size if permissible by the device you are using.

Setup & Migration

Organization

I've added published content to my modules; why is it not visible to my students?

The module also needs to be published. Although published content is visible by students, if the content area (module) is not visible, they will not be able to see the content within the module.

Instructions for publishing a module.

People

How do I add users to my course?

Instructors, Teaching Assistants, and Students are added to courses automatically when assigned or enrolled via MyUNLV. It takes approximately 24 hours to reflect any changes made in MyUNLV. 

Instructors also have the ability to manually add users to their courses.

PDF instructions for adding users to a course

Definition of Roles in WebCampus

  1. Teacher (or co-instructor)   
    Teachers have complete access to all areas of the course. This role is given to a person developing, teaching, or facilitating the course.
  2. Teaching Assistant (TA)   
    Teaching Assistants will have modified instructor permissions. While they will have the ability to add items, they are unable to publish/unpublish courses or add users to the course
  3. Designers   
    Designers have the ability to add and edit course materials, but they do not have access to grading.
  4. Student   
    The student role is the default course user role and has no access to the settings of the course or hidden items. Students are automatically enrolled in WebCampus course upon registration. If you need a student manually added to your course, please contact the IT Help Desk at 702-895-0777 or submit an online help request.

Tipsheets:

Student Access

What are my options when assigning 'Incomplete' grades to students?

Instructors can either submit a request to add the student to their current semester's section or extend the existing course's availability for a particular student.   

Information needed:

  • Course name (example: ENG 101-1001) 
  • Term (example: Spring 2021)
  • Duration the course should remain open to the student

How soon can students access my course?

By default, students will have access to their courses one week prior to the start date if the course has been made published. Also by default, students will retain their access for two weeks after the semester ends.

Discussions

Quizzes

Respondus

Respondus LockDown Browser & Monitor (for securing tests)

Respondus LockDown Browser is a customized browser that increases the security of test delivery in WebCampus. When students are required to use Respondus LockDown Browser to access an exam, they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. An additional optional feature of LockDown Browser is Monitor, a fully automated proctoring solution.

Please review the Instructor Guide for instructions and important guidelines for enabling LockDown Browser and/or Monitor on your WebCampus exams.

Respondus 4.0 (for creating tests offline/retrieving questions)

Respondus is software that can be useful if you are interested in creating online assessments. Online assessments can be created right within course, but Respondus can serve as your question database, delivering questions to several online courses. You can also salvage test questions you’ve used for traditional paper testing by importing your properly formatted text document into Respondus. Once you have Installed Respondus on your computer, you may begin creating questions.

Thanks to the Online Education, Respondus is available to the entire UNLV Campus.

Installing, Setting Up, and Updating the License Key for Respondus  (If not already logged in, you will be prompted to log in to WebCampus-Canvas to access this page)

You can download a Respondus Quick Start Guide if you are new to the software.

Video Demonstrations:

Assignments

How do I reopen a quiz or assignment for a student

1. Open the assignment or quiz and select Edit.

2. Scroll to the end of the page in the “Assign to” area. If the assignment is already assigned to “Everyone”, do not remove that tag. (If the “Everyone” tag is removed, students grades for this assignment will not show up in the gradebook. To fix the issue, simply add “Everyone” back in the field).

3. Select the +Add to add another “Assign to” field, and add the student(s) name(s) and due dates and/or availability dates.

Turnitin Assignments (Plagiarism Prevention Tool)

Turnitin is a plagiarism prevention tool available in WebCampus. Starting August 16, 2019, instructors will have two options for using Turnitin in WebCampus. The current integration, the Turnitin LTI External Tool, is a method that utilizes Turnitin's Feedback Studio features for grading and reviewing papers.

The new integration, the Plagiarism Framework, is designed for instructors who want to utilize Turnitin for plagiarism detection but want to take advantage of Canvas’ assignment and grading features in lieu of Turnitin’s Feedback Studio.

Note: Instructors should choose only ONE option for Turnitin. To help you decide which integration method to choose, please visit the Turnitin Canvas integration matrix for a comparison of features for the LTI External Tool and the Plagiarism Framework. Below are links to tipsheets on how to use the two different Turnitin integration methods in Canvas:

Option 1: Turnitin LTI External Tool

Option 2: Plagiarism Framework

How do I submit a Turnitin assignment on behalf of my student or access Turnitin.com?

Instructors can only RESUBMIT Canvas Turnitin assignments on behalf of a student. This requires an original submission from the student.

However, instructors can manually run a submission through Turnitin.com by following these instructions:

1. Make sure that you have created a Turnitin assignment either in a current or previous course. This will generate a turnitin.com account.

2. Go to the Turnitin.com login page, and select “Forgot your password”.

3. Type in the UNLV e-mail address associated with your Canvas account and your Last Name. To check which UNLV e-mail address is associated with your Canvas account, go to Account > Settings and your e-mail address will be listed in the upper right-hand corner.

4. You will receive a temporary password for Turnitin.com in your inbox.

See Turnitin's guides on how to use Turnitin.com (outside of Canvas) for more information.

Grading

Gradebook

iClicker

What are iClickers?

In a classroom setting, Clickers, or “Response Systems”, allow instructors to ask questions and gather students' responses instantaneously during class sessions. Students can respond to structured questions, along with on-the-fly questions, using either a clicker or a mobile device. Responses and response summaries can be displayed in real time to the participants.

Visit UNLV's iClicker page for documentation and downloads at this.

Panopto (Lecture Capture)

What is Panopto?

Panopto is a Content Management System for recording and storing course-related video, audio, computer screen capture, and other content for student viewing. Integrated with Canvas, this service allows users to record lectures, presentations, demonstrations, and more. It also includes multiple tools and options which allow users to do basic video editing, add captions, and configure settings such as who can watch the videos and when they can be viewed.

Visit UNLV's Panopto page for documentation and downloads. 

Communication

Web Conferencing (Canvas Conferences & Webex)

Canvas Conferences is Canvas' internal web conferencing tool, but is currently disabled for the institution. However, Cisco Webex has ben adopted as UNLV's web conferencing and virtual meeting tool and is currently integrated with Canvas.

For more information, including a guide for using Webex in Canvas, please visit UNLV's video conferencing page.

To enable Webex in your course:

  1. Click on Settings from your course navigation menu.
  2. Click on the Navigation tab.
  3. Click and drag WebEx from the disabled navigation menu items to the top half.
  4. Click Save.

Note: Graduate assistants whose primary email address in Canvas is their Rebelmail address will not be able to use Webex through Canvas. Instead, they will need to log in to Webex directly at unlv.webex.com.

How do I migrate content from Blackboard to Canvas?

UNLV's Office of Information technology has migrated 2 years worth of courses from Blackboard to Canvas for all instructors. The courses will be listed in Canvas with the title zBbArchive plus the course prefix, section, and semester (example: BbArchive - COM 101 1001 - 2017 Sprg). Please note that these archived courses have not been cleaned up. No students will be added to these archived courses.

If you wish to do the transfer yourself, please see our exporting content from Blackboard and importing it into Canvas guide.

Alternatives for Blackboard Tools Not Available in Canvas

Blogs

Unfortunately, Canvas doesn't have an immediate Blog option, however Discussions in Canvas can facilitate and act as blogs.

Creating Your Blog in Canvas

1. Start by creating a discussion.

2. If you would like to assign the discussion to specific student, please follow the steps at this link: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9971-4152101243

INSTRUCTOR NOTE: In Discussions Settings for your course, click the setting button and check to ensure students cannot create their own discussions; also consider allowing students to add attachments to their posts.

Journals

Currently in Canvas, there is no option for Journals as there were in Blackboard.

While there is no Journal tool in Canvas, there are two alternatives that you can use for journaling in your class. Which tool you use will depend on whether or not you want your students’ journals private or public.

Assignments (Private Journals):

You can use assignments for the option to have students submit journals that only you and/or your TA will see for grading. Instructors and students have the ability to exchange comments on graded assignments in Canvas. This feature will allow you to interact with them similar to the Journal tool in Blackboard.

Discussion Boards (Public Journals):

If you want students to be able to view and comment on/reply to another students’ journal, you can create a discussion board for them to post on. This will enable students to read each others’ replies or give feedback based on criteria mentioned for the entire Discussion Board.

Wikis

I used wikis in Blackboard, what are my options in Canvas?

The primary features of a wiki are:

  • Collaborative Work: Everyone can make edits and changes
  • Revision History: See who has made updates, and what they changed.

Canvas offers two tools which can be used in this way, Pages and Collaborations (Google Docs).

Feature Comparison:

Blackboard vs. Canvas Collaboration Tools - Feature Comparison
Feature BlackBoard Wikis Canvas Pages Canvas Collaborations
Collaborative Editing Yes Yes Yes
Revision History Yes Yes Yes
Link a Wiki Page to Individual Grades* Yes Not Available Not Available
View updates per each user (i.e. for grading)* Yes Not Available Not Available
Assign To a Group Yes Yes Yes
Real-time Updates (see other users' updates immediately, before they click 'save') Not Available Not Available Yes
Spreadsheet or Slide Presentation Formats Available Not Available Not Available Yes
Rich Content (include web links, media, and text formatting) Yes Yes Yes

*Notes on Grading: As you can see in the Feature comparison above, Canvas does not offer the same ability to grade users directly based on their input on a collaborative assignment, however you can still manually create an assignment and assign grades based on what is present in the revision history. In a larger course with many students, this may become difficult, so you might consider splitting the course into collaboration groups, or use a different type of assignment.

General Information