Canvas for Instructors & TAs

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview
• Setting up your Profile in Canvas
• Starting Points
• Assignment Information
• Quizzes
• Grading
• Help

Overview

Canvas is the learning management system (LMS) used by most schools and courses at the University of Pennsylvania. You can find more information about using various features in Canvas below. Please contact us if you have a question concerning Canvas that is not mentioned below.

Setting up your Profile in Canvas

Setting your Profile, Notification Preferences, and other account settings can help you use Canvas more effectively.

• Canvas Avatars 
• Creating a Canvas Profile
• Setting Notification Preferences

Starting Points

These great "How-to" guides will help you get familiar with the most important tools in Canvas. 

All links from the Canvas Community Instructor Guide. or Canvas at Penn Library Guide

• Using the new Rich Content Editor
  
• Announcements Index Page
• Assignments Index Page
• Course Home Page
• Course Navigation Menu
• Changing the Course Navigation

Assignment Information

Learn the basics of assignment creation below.

• How do I publish or unpublish an assignment as an instructor?
• What assignment types can I create in a course?
• What is the difference between assignment due dates and availability dates?

Quizzes

There are two types of Quizzes in Canvas: Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes. We recommend looking into New Quizzes to see the new question types. We recommend staying with Classic Quizzes if the course relies on surveys.

Find out more about New Quizzes on the Canvas Info at Penn site.

Grading

For questions about Speedgrader or setting up your grade book, please reach out to your instructional designer or the helpdesk. We can help navigate some of the more complex settings.

Help

Have questions about using Canvas? Please email online-learning-help@sas.upenn.edu.