Canvas

Find answers to some frequently asked questions regarding Canvas. 

Canvas supports various third-party tools, and different types of course shells are used to store online course materials, designed by expert instructors with assistance from a team of instructional designers. In addition to a set of guidelines associated with Canvas course shells, Canvas offers the option to merge course sections through Technology Service Desk Tickets. A merge deadline has been set for each semester to prevent potential loss of student data.

Learn more about Canvas Course Management.

• Getting Started with Canvas - This course will introduce you to the Canvas learning management system (LMS), and you will learn how to create, design, and facilitate your Canvas courses at Texas Woman's University.
• Canvas Instructor Guide - Provides online help for instructors and students that includes an overview of Canvas features, step-by-step documentation by topic, and search by keyword. This is your best option to look up "how to" information for a specific topic or keyword.
• Canvas Guides - There are a few products at TWU that you will want to be familiar with, these include Canvas Instructor Guides (Includes Mobile), Canvas Student Guides (Includes Mobile), and Commons Guide. Please note that not all of the products listed are available at TWU.
• Canvas Accessibility Standards - Details about accessibility standards and design guidelines.

Pre-Semester, During Semester, and End-of-Semester Checklists

The Pre-Semester Checklist, During the Semester Checklist, and End-of-Semester Checklist are available to ensure your Canvas course is ready for students throughout the semester. The checklists are set to “force copy,” so you will need to be logged in to your TWU Google account and click Make a copy to access the checklists. For additional resources, review Getting Started with Canvas.

Instructional Support

Contact an Instructional Design Partner to create learning activities for students, training to use Canvas features, or talk about effective ways to design your Canvas courses.

Technical Support

To request technical support, submit a Technology Service Desk email to start a ticket.

• Canvas - Canvas is a web-based application which allows instructors to put class materials on the Internet. It provides a variety of tools to facilitate teaching and learning. All courses at TWU use Canvas.
• Zoom - Zoom is a web conferencing and recording solution that is available in Canvas. Use Zoom to meet with your class online, share an application on your desktop, demonstrate a new concept, hold office hours, watch student presentations, and more.
• Panopto (Lecture Capture) - Panopto is a lecture capture application that is used to create recordings of classroom-based activities and can be made available for review by students in a course.
• Turnitin - Turnitin is an electronic text matching system that checks student's submissions against a repository of submitted documents.
• Online Proctoring and Exam Management - Solutions include: (1) Honorlock is a virtual proctor that records and reviews exams. The Chrome extension prevents students from accessing unauthorized information during testing. (2) Respondus has two applications. One serves as a virtual proctor with Respondus LockDown Browser and/or Respondus Monitor. The other serves as a test creator and manager with Respondus 4.0 Test Generator.
• Badgr - Badgr creates digital badges as an indicator of accomplishment or skill that can be earned in Canvas.
• Cielo24 - Cielo24 is a captioning service that ensures audio and video content is accessible to students at the time of dissemination according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and state regulations for digital accessibility. At this time, only audio and video recordings in Panopto can be submitted for closed captioning by Cielo24.