Canvas FAQs

Course Creation & Access Copying Courses Communication & Online Meetings Course Design & Content Grading & Gradebook

Course Creation & Access FAQs

When Are Courses Created in Canvas?

Blank courses for the new semester are automatically created in Canvas 60 days before the start date of the course (not the semester's start date), and students and teachers are added to the class at that time. Note that the class is not visible to students in Canvas until the instructor publishes the class.

If you cannot locate your courses, refer to the Troubleshooting Guide: Locate Missing Courses document.

What if My Canvas Class Hasn't Been Created, But I'd Like to Start Developing My Class?

If your official Canvas course for the semester has not yet been created, you can ask for a blank sandbox course to be created for you to use to develop your course. The blank sandbox course is simply an empty course that does not contain students and is not connected to a semester. Once the official semester course is created in Canvas, you must copy your content from the sandbox course into your official semester course and then publish the course to make the content available to students. Click here to request a blank sandbox for course development purposes.

How Do Students Get Added to My Canvas Class?

Students who are enrolled in your course in PAWS are automatically added to your Canvas student roster. Note that once a student registers for a class in PAWS, it can take a number of hours for the student to be added to the class in Canvas.

Refer to the CETL documentation for more information on on when students are added to Canvas.

Can I Manually Add Students to My Class?

Instructors cannot manually add students to official Canvas courses. But because there is a lag time between when a student registers in PAWS and when the student is added to a Canvas class, it can present a problem for a student who has registered recently and needs immediate access to your Canvas course materials before PAWS has the opportunity to add the student to the class automatically. In urgent situations like this, you can add the student to your class in the Observer role. The Observer role will give students view access to your course and materials. After PAWS sends roster updates to Canvas for the day, the student will automatically be moved to the Student role in your class and will be able to fully participate.

After Students Register in PAWS, How Long Until They Are Added to My Canvas Class?

Once a student registers for a class in PAWS, it can take a number of hours for the student to be added to the class in Canvas. In general, if your student registers for your class in PAWS before 4:00 PM, the student is added to your Canvas class the following morning. But there are exceptions to this rule, so for more detail, refer to the CETL documentation on when students are added to Canvas.

How Do I add a TA to My Canvas Class?

If your TA is listed as the TA for your course in PAWS, the TA will be automatically added to your Canvas class. If the TA is not listed in PAWS as your course TA, you must manually add the TA to your Canvas class. Add the TA in the role of TA Grader if you want the TA to be able to grade student work. If you only want to grant the TA access to create, edit, and delete course components without access to student work, use the TA role instead of the TA Grader role.

My TA Can't Access Student Work or the Gradebook. How Do I Grant the TA Grading Privileges?

If your TA is listed as the TA for your course in PAWS, the TA will be automatically added to your Canvas class in the TA role. The TA role does not allow your TA to grade student work, so you must manually add the TA to your course as in the TA Grader role.

Why Do I See Students on the Canvas People Page Who Aren't in My Class?

These are students who have dropped the class. When a student is dropped from a course in Canvas, their status on the People page changes to Inactive. This means that while the student still appears on the People page, they no longer have access to the course materials or Discussions.

Inactive students cannot submit Assignments or participate in any course activities. However, their past submissions and grades will still be visible in the Gradebook.

How Do I Add a TA to My Canvas Class?

If your TA is listed as the TA for your course in PAWS, the TA will be automatically added to your Canvas class. If the TA is not listed in PAWS as your course TA, you must manually add the TA to your Canvas class. Add the TA in the role of TA Grader if you want the TA to be able to grade student work. If you only want to grant the TA access to create, edit, and delete course components without access to student work, use the TA role instead of the TA Grader role.

How Can I Control Student Access to My Course Before the Course Start Date?

You can change a course's start date to restrict access to your Canvas course at the beginning of the semester in one of the following ways:

Make the course view-only before a specific date - Go to the course's Settings page; set the Participation field to Course; and adjust the course's Start date to the desired date. Up until the Start date you specify, students can only view your course material and will not be able to participate in the course.
Restrict students from entering the course before a specific date - Go to the course's Settings page; set the Participation field to Course; and adjust the course's Start date to the desired date. Then check Restrict students from viewing course before course start date. Now students will see the course on their dashboard but will not be able to enter the course until the Start date you specified.

Note that while students cannot access an unpublished course, it is recommended that you publish the course a few weeks before the start of class because unpublished courses do not appear on student dashboards. Students tend to become concerned if they do not see their classes on the Canvas dashboard.

When the Semester Is Over, Do Instructors Lose Access to the Canvas Class?

By default, instructors have full view/edit access to their courses one year after classes end for the semester.

Once the term, course, and section end dates have all passed, teachers have view-only access to the course. This means instructors can view and copy course contents but cannot make edits to the course. In addition, the course will no longer appear on the teacher's dashboard and can only be found on the instructor's All Courses page.

When the Semester Is Over, Do Students Lose Access to the Canvas Class?

By default, students have full view and participation access to a Canvas course until the term, course, and section end dates have all passed. This is typically one year after classes end for the semester.

After that, the course will drop off a student's dashboard, but the student still has view-only access to the course indefinitely.

Instructors can do the following to control when students can view and participate in a course once the course is over:

Make the course view-only after a specific date - Go to the course's Settings page; set the Participation field to Course; and adjust the course's End date to the desired date.
Restrict students from viewing the course after a specific date - Go to the course's Settings page; set the Participation field to Course; and adjust the course's End date to the desired date. Then check Restrict students from viewing course after course end date.

I Have a Student with an Incomplete. How Do I Give Access to My Canvas Class After the Semester Is Over?

Instructors can use the Extend Access tool for students who are not able to complete a course before its normal end date. The tool automatically creates a new section of the Canvas class with the end date you select, and Canvas enrolls the selected students in the new section.

Important: Instructors must adjust due dates in the new course section.

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Copying Your Course FAQs

How Do I Copy My Course to the Next Semester?

Canvas has a feature that allows you to copy your content from one course to another.

Do I Have to Copy All of My Course?

Canvas has a feature that allows you to copy your content from one course to another. You can then choose to import the entire course or just portions of the course into your new class.

Can I Copy Another Instructor's Course?

You need to be listed in the Teacher role in Canvas course you want to copy. The current teacher of the class can add you to the class in the Teacher role in order for you to copy the class and can then remove you from the class.

If the teacher of the class you want to copy is no longer with UWM, have your department chair contact the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in order to request access to copy the course.

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Communication & Online Meetings FAQs

How Do I Email the Students in My Class Before the Semester Starts?

It is important to communicate with your class before the semester starts to welcome and orient students and to set expectations. Your options for sending email messages to students vary depending on whether your Canvas class is published:

If the class is Published:
- Instructors can post Announcements in their Canvas class. This will also send an email notification to students.
- Instructors can send messages to the class with the Canvas Inbox.
If the class is Unpublished:
- Instructors can email their students through PAWS.

Written Procedures

Sending Canvas Announcements

Sending Messages Through the Canvas Inbox

Emailing Students Through PAWS

How Do I Post Announcements?

It is important to communicate with your class before the semester starts to welcome and orient students and to set expectations. Note that you can only post Announcements if your class is Published.

The following are your options for sending messages to students:

If the class is Published:
- Instructors can post Announcements in their Canvas class. This will also send an email notification to students.
- Instructors can send messages to the class with the Canvas Inbox.
If the class is Unpublished:
- Instructors can email their students through PAWS.

Written Procedures

Sending Canvas Announcements

Sending Messages Through the Canvas Inbox

Emailing Students Through PAWS

How Do I Hold Online Meetings with Zoom?

Zoom is integrated with Canvas and can be used for holding online class meetings. For more information, please enroll in UWM's Zoom class.

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Course Design & Content FAQs

What Are Modules and Why Should I Use Them?

Modules are virtual containers you can create on the front page of your Canvas class to organize course content for your students. We recommend creating one module for each week, course meeting, or unit - whichever works best for your class. Once you have created a module, you can add Assignments, Pages, links, files, and more to the Module.

Publishing modules and their items make them visible to students. A green check appears next to published items. Unpublished items are not visible to students and are indicated by a circle with slash icon . Note that you must publish a Module in order for students to be able to view any of the items in the module.

Tutorial Videos

Written Procedures

How Do I Use Canvas to Distribute Course Materials Like Files, Links, Etc.?

Uploading & Sharing Files with Students

To share files with your Canvas class as an instructor:

1. Start by uploading a file to the Files area of your course. Note that students do not have direct access to the Files area of the course.

2. To give students access to a file in the Files area, you can add a link to a file in a Module. You can also add a link to a file anywhere the Rich Content Editor (RCE) appears, such as Announcements, Pages, Assignments, Syllabus, Discussions, Quizzes, and so on.

Embedding PDF files in Pages

While you can only provide links to most file types, if you upload a .pdf file, you can embed the pdf file in a Page anywhere the RCE appears (Announcements, Pages, Assignments, Syllabus, Discussions, Quizzes, etc.) as shown below.

open pdf file that is embedded in a Canvas page

Tutorial Videos

Embedding a pdf File in a Canvas Page

Files - What Takes Up Space in Your Canvas Course

Written Procedures

Uploading Files to Canvas

Adding File Links in Pages

Embedding a pdf File in a Page

Deleting Files

Updating and Replacing Files in Canvas

Adding Files to Canvas Modules

Course Size Limit & Maximum File Upload Size

More on Files in Canvas

Tip - Do not upload audio and video files to the Canvas Files area. You will reach your maximum course size quickly. Instead, upload your audio/video files to My Media and then embed the videos in Canvas Pages.

What Are the Total and Individual File Size Limits for the Course?

Refer to Course Size Limit & Maximum File Upload Size to learn more about your course and individual file size limits.

Tip - Do not upload audio and video files to the Canvas Files area. You will reach your maximum course size quickly. Instead, upload your audio/video files to My Media and then embed the videos in Canvas Pages.

How Do I Add Video or Audio Files to the Course?

Do not upload media files to the Files area in your Canvas course. You will reach your maximum course size quickly. Instead, use My Media to store your audio and video files. The following is a list of My Media supported file types.

Upload the audio or video file to My Media in Canvas.
Embed the video in a Canvas Page. or anywhere the Rich Content Editor (RCE) appears, such as Announcements, Assignments, and Discussions.

Do You Have a Sample Canvas Class or Template I Can View?

Click here to explore a sample Canvas Module and download a Canvas template.

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Grading & Gradebook FAQs

How Do I Add Columns in the Gradebook for Assignments?

Any graded Assignment, Quiz, Discussion, etc., that you create automatically creates a column in the Gradebook.

How Do I Add a Column to the Gradebook Without an Assignment that Requires a Submission?

When you add a graded item (Assignment, Quiz, or graded Discussion) to your course, it automatically adds a column to the Gradebook; however, if you need a column in the Gradebook where you can simply enter a score and students do not have to turn in anything, you can create a No Submission Assignment through the Assignments page.

Instructors can create No Submission Assignments for things like awarding class participation scores, assigning grades for speeches, and more.

Written Procedures

Do the following to add a column to the Gradebook where you can simply enter scores and students do not have to submit work to the Assignment:

In your Canvas class, click Assignments in the left-hand navigation to go to the Assignments page.
Click the + Assignment button, and give the Assignment a name and point value.
In the Submission Type field, select No Submission.
Add additional Assignment details as necessary, and click Save and Publish.

This adds a column in the Gradebook and does not require students to submit work to the Assignment. Note that there is no need to add this Assignment to a Module because the purpose of creating this Assignment is just to add a column to your Gradebook.

Tip - You can enter scores for an Assignment through SpeedGrader, or you can click a cell in the Gradebook and enter the score.

How Do I Handle Extra Credit?

Points-Based Gradebook - To award extra credit in a points-based (unweighted) Gradebook, create a new Assignment with a zero point value. When students earn extra credit points, simply enter the points directly in the Gradebook by clicking a cell and entering a value.

Weighted-Gradebook - Watch the video below for information on how to award extra credit in a weighted Gradebook.

Where Do I Enter Final Grades for Students?

Instructors are required to post official course grades in PAWS. Note that grades are not final until they are entered in PAWS.

Enter official student grades into PAWS by the semester’s grade deadline.

How Do I Grade Work & Give Feedback?

Instructors and TA Graders can grade work and give feedback through SpeedGrader in Canvas. An alternate way to enter grades is to type a grade directly in a cell of the Gradebook.

What Do the Colors and Icons in Gradebook Mean?

Refer to the Canvas documentation for information on Gradebook colors and icons.

My TA Can't Access Student Work or the Gradebook. How Do I Grant the TA Grading Privileges?

If your TA is listed as the TA for your course in PAWS, the TA will be automatically added to your Canvas class in the TA role. The TA role does not allow your TA to grade student work, so you must manually add the TA to your course as in the TA Grader role.

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