Canvas - How to Use Canvas at Virginia Tech (for Instructors)


Introduction

Canvas is Virginia Tech's learning management system (LMS). Instructors use Canvas to manage teaching materials like assignments, quizzes, feedback, and student grades. 

  • Official courses are automatically created in instructors' Canvas accounts.
  • Enrolled students are automatically added.
  • Instructors can reuse teaching materials by importing them to a new course site.
  • Canvas provides 24-7 support by phone (833-639-7621) and chat (click Help on any Canvas screen).

The Canvas Instructor Guide has full instructions on using Canvas. These instructions are specific to Virginia Tech.

Contents

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Instructions

Learning to Use Canvas

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Canvas Topics

Click on each topic to learn more about how to use Canvas. To see more topics, please see the Canvas Guides.

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Canvas Updates

  • Canvas is updated by Instructure every month.
  • Canvas is updated over the weekend.
  • Canvas is not taken offline when updates occur.
  • Instructure has published a schedule for Canvas Updates.

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Canvas Release Notes

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Feature Idea Conversations 

Idea conversations allow you to initiate or contribute to conversations about desired enhancements to Canvas functionality.

See About Idea Conversations

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Getting Help

Instructure, the creators of Canvas, provide 24-7 Canvas support, including live chat and a support hotline.

To get Canvas help, click Support on any Canvas screen and choose from help options:

At the start of the Spring 2023 semester, you will also be able to click on Help Docs, located near the Support button on the Canvas Global Navigation Menu. This new tool will allow you to access documentation located in the Impact Support Center, a new internal knowledge base within Canvas. 

Click on the floating question mark in the Canvas global navigation menu to access Help Docs.

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