Tag: LMS

Canvas: Download Course to PDF

There may be an instance where you need to share your course syllabus. In this day and age of digital learning management systems (LMS) some instructors use the online course page(s) as their syllabus. Some of these systems can make it more difficult to capture the appropriate content in a meaningful way. Thankfully, Canvas has a way that an instructor can export their course to an ePUB file, and then with free online tools, convert it to a PDF.

To do this:

  1. Open a course.
  2. Navigate to Settings>Feature Options and turn on ePub Exporting.  (You will need to repeat these first two steps for each course you wish to export.)
  3. Next, navigate to your Account (far left column, Global navigation).
  4. Select Settings>Download Course Content. 

A page will open that shows the course with the option to download as an ePUB file.  After downloading you can convert the ePub to a PDF using any online file converter. One option is Convert.io. (This site does other conversions. This link is specifically to the ePUB to PDF conversion.)

Thank you to Peter Peregrine for discovering and sharing this option.

Canvas CSM Webinar – Reusing and Sharing Content in Canvas

On Thursday October 27, our Canvas Success Managers (CSM) team presented a webinar on how to reuse and share course content. There were a number of points that I think are pertinent and helpful to faculty using Canvas.

Here is a list of specifically helpful points:

  • Course Copy (7:15) – you can use this to copy course content from one course into another. You might use this to copy course content from one term to the next.
  • Course Export/Import (10:52) – You can use this to share course content with other instructors. See our FAQ about this.
  • Adjust assignment due dates (8:55; 10:14*) – Canvas provides two ways to change assignment due dates. This is a handy feature when copying course content from one term to the next. *The method shown here may be the better option imho.
  • Direct share (Copy To/ Send To)
    • Copy to (15:50) – This allows you to copy a module or specific content within a module from one course to another without copying/the entire course. You can use this to copy an assignment you created in one course to another/future term.
    • Send to (22:00) – This allows you to send a single piece of course content to another Teacher without creating a course export. You can use this to share an assignment, page, quiz or something else from your course for another Teacher to use.

You can access the notes/resources and video of the webinar at:

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructure-Live/Reusing-and-Sharing-Content-in-Canvas/ev-p/544208

Workshop: Create a Canvas Course Home Page

Do you want to create a visually dynamic course home page?
Do you want more design flexibility?

If so, you are invited to participate Create a Canvas Course Home Page workshop. In this hands-on workshop, participants will be guided through a set of steps that can be used to develop their own home page. 

The session date/time/location is:

Thursday, October 20
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Humanities Lab, Main Hall 108.

Please RSVP here and contact Jedidiah with any questions.

Canvas: Create a Course Home Page

Do you want to create a visually dynamic course home page?
Do you want more design flexibility?

If so, you are invited to participate in one of two workshops to create a Canvas course homepage. This will be a hands-on workshop. Participants will be guided through a set of steps that can be used to develop their own home page. 

There will be two sessions. The same content will be presented in both. The session dates/time are:

  • Tuesday, September 27, 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, September 28, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Both sessions will be held in the Humanities Lab, Main Hall 108.

Please contact Jedidiah with any questions, or if you are interested in the topic, but unable to attend.

[UPDATE May 25, 2022] Canvas: New Quizzes

A couple months ago I shared a note about New Quizzes – a new quiz engine being developed in Canvas. In that post I share a couple known issues. One of those was that manually graded questions were not appearing on the Dashboard in the To Do list for instructors.

I am pleased to share that the Instructure development team has implemented this capability for New Quizzes. It is now possible to receive a to-do notification for manually graded items within quizzes. You can see an example notification below.

A notification link to grade a New Quizzes quiz question.
New Quizzes To Do List item

Another update Instructure shared relates to the Fill In the Blank question type. It is now possible for instructors to use the rich content editor as they create fill-in-the-blank questions. The provides more formatting options and the ability to integrate formulas into the questions. This video (2:22) demonstrates the expanded capability.

Canvas: Observer Role

It is now possible for an instructor to add a user as an Observer in a Canvas course.

From the Canvas documentation:

Observers can

  • View and read announcements
  • View assignments index page
  • View the calendar
  • Join conferences, if invited
  • Join collaborations, if invited
  • View personal inbox
  • Send conversation messages to instructor and student they are observing*
  • View the dashboard
  • View and read discussions
  • View files unless they are locked
  • View grades, view assignment due dates and comments, and print grades*
  • View modules and see due dates and point values
  • View pages and contribute if the instructor enables the Anyone can edit it setting
  • View profile pictures, if available
  • View syllabus
  • View outcomes
  • View quizzes index page

Observers cannot

  • Comment on announcements or discussions
  • Submit assignments or quizzes
  • View course rosters
  • Send conversation messages to students in the course they are not observing
  • View locked files or folders
  • Join groups
  • View unpublished courses
  • Access the Chat tool
  • Reserve appointment slots in the Scheduler
  • View grade audit trail

* These capabilities are only available if the Observer is linked with another student account. Linking an Observer must be manually completed. Because we are not doing this the Observer role cannot access grade information.

Canvas Updates

I routinely receive updates for changes to various aspects of the Canvas platform. To make it easier for faculty to know what has changed I will be listing those changes/updates here. I will also note which roles (FacStaff, and/or Students) are affected by the change.

June 25, 2021

Gradebook Gradebook CSV Column Order


Summary: The Gradebook CSV assignment columns display in the same order as shown in the Gradebook for an individual user.

Affected User Roles: Instructors

When an instructor or other grader customizes the Gradebook assignment columns and downloads the CSV file, the CSV file assignment columns display in the same order as shown in the user’s Gradebook. Previously CSV files were always ordered by Assignment Group ID and Assignment Order. 

Pages Mark as Done Button Placement


Summary: The Mark as Done button for students has been moved to the bottom of the page.

Affected User Roles: Students

When students are required to read a page and mark it as done, the Mark as Done button has been moved to the bottom of the page. The button can be marked more easily after students have reached the bottom of the page. Previously users must scroll back up to the top of the page to mark the page as done.