Canvas

The Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) is a digital platform designed to deliver, manage, and track educational courses and training programs, providing tools for content creation, student assessment, collaboration, and progress monitoring to enhance the learning experience.

Stanford Canvas site

Canvas features

Canvas includes a variety of features such as:

• Modules: Organize course content, assignments, and resources into logical units for easy navigation.
• Assignments: Create, manage, and grade student assignments with detailed feedback options.
• Grades: Comprehensive gradebook for tracking student performance and calculating final grades.
• SpeedGrader: Efficiently grade assignments and provide feedback with a streamlined grading tool.
• Syllabus: Centralized location for course syllabus and schedule, ensuring students can easily access key course information.
• Mobile App: Access to courses, assignments, and grades on-the-go through the Canvas mobile app.
• Course Analytics: Powerful reporting and analytics to track student performance and engagement.
• Integrated Calendar: Automatic updates and reminders for assignments, events, and deadlines.
• Communication Tools: A comprehensive suite including announcements, discussions, messaging, and video conferencing.
• Third-Party Integrations: Seamless integration with external apps and services such as Zoom and Slack.

Artificial intelligence features

The Canvas Discussions tool has AI functionality called Discussion Summaries.  Discussion Summarization uses a Generative AI model to provide instructors with summaries of key points, questions, and ideas in a discussion thread. This feature is designed to save educators time and to allow discussions to be used effectively in large-format classes and other environments where they were previously infeasible. The tool is disabled by default, but instructors can enable it.  For assistance, please submit a ticket to canvashelp@stanford.edu. 

Canvas course creation 

Canvas courses are automatically created each quarter according to the Canvas Course Creation Schedule. After this date, instructors can edit their course at canvas.stanford.edu. Instructors need to click the “Publish” button in Canvas for students to be able to see their Canvas courses. A Canvas course will not be available to students until it is published. A course cannot be unpublished if it contains a graded submission. 

Getting started with Canvas

The Canvas first steps and tips resource describes these ten steps to building a new Canvas course:

1. Log in and view Dashboard
2. Update Profile and Notifications settings
3. Add Syllabus
4. Import course content
5. Add and manage files
6. Roster Photos
7. Choose a Home Page
8. Add and remove navigation links
9. Publish content
10. Preview and publish course

For additional help or to schedule one-on-one help with Canvas, contact canvashelp@stanford.edu.

Canvas resources 

Check out the resources below for links to helpful tutorials and easy-to-use documentation. The resources include tips for communicating within Canvas, managing your Canvas course, calendars, grades, groups, and more. 

For instructors and staff

• General resources
  • GoCanvas Instructor Resources
  • Go Canvas Video Tutorials
  • Teaching with Canvas Course
  • Canvas Instructor Guides
  • Academic Support Staff Resources
• Syllabus
  • Is your Syllabus reaching prospective students?
  • Use the syllabus tool in Canvas
  • CTL Syllabus Template
  • Optimizing the Syllabus
• Accessibility
  • Accessibility Resources for Canvas Content Creators
  • Accessible Canvas Pages
• Course design
  • Design Principles for Canvas
  • Organizing Content in Canvas
• Tools
  • Ed Discussion, Harmonize, and Gradescope
  • Tool Status

For students

• Canvas Student Center
• GoCanvas Student Resources
• Canvas Student Guides

Questions?

Click Help from the left-hand global navigation in Canvas to:

• Request help from the Stanford Canvas Support team
• Search the Canvas Guides for answers to common questions
• Search Stanford Canvas Help Articles

Email canvashelp@stanford.edu for technical support. The Canvas Help team will respond by the next business day. 

• Get one-on-one help
• Arrange an appointment to discuss ideas for using Canvas
• Request a Canvas orientation session for your department or group
• Provide feedback about your Canvas experience