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Welcome to Module 3: Canvas Fundamentals. This module will help you to learn about all the essential functions to use Canvas properly.

Structure

This module is the heart of this online course and contains four sections:

Store & Share
Communicate
Collaborate
Evaluate

Each section starts with an introductory page including a video and a description of the learning goals. After the introductory page, you can go through the informative pages of the module to become familiar with the Canvas functionalities. Each section ends with an (optional) assignment and quiz.

TIP: Check this Canvas Toolguide for Teachers. This document contains a great overview of the most suitable Canvas functions depending on your learning objectives.

VU Amsterdam Canvas Community

Each section contains a discussion forum. We invite you to share your ideas with your fellow teachers. Let's learn from and with each other. Looking for inspiration or just curious about the ideas from your fellow teachers, then join the following discussions:

Feel free to participate and join the VU Amsterdam Canvas Community!

Time invested

If you read all the content, make the assignments and take all the quizzes, this module will take about 2,5 hours. Each of the four sections contains a section-specific time investment indication. Keep in mind that you do not have to read all the pages from the beginning to the end. Read the pages that are useful to you, and click ‘next’ if you think the information is not essential to you (at this moment). This course will remain available in the future, so if you would like to learn more about a specific subject or functionality in the coming months, that is possible.

However, some functions within Canvas are so important that we think it is necessary that you take a look at the pages regarding these functions. We have marked these pages as ‘Essential’. These pages in our opinion form the basis of Canvas and everyone that follows this course should at least visit these pages.

We have also created a very simple Canvas Example Course. This course features all – and only those (!) – elements that we have considered to be ‘Essential’. You can take a look at the Example Course by clicking here and subsequently clicking the Join this Course button in the upper right corner of your screen.

Learning goals

After completing this module, you know:

How to store files, quizzes, assignments and other content in Canvas
How to share files, quizzes, assignments and other content with students in your Canvas Course
How to share (parts of) a Course with colleagues using Commons
How to communicate with students using Annoucements, Discussions, Chat, Conversations or Conferences
How to stimulate collaboration using Collaborations, Discussions, Conferences or the Canvas Community
What is the difference between Groups and Sections in Canvas
How to create assignments (i.e. graded discussions, assignments or quizzes)
How to evaluate using Rubrics, the Gradebook or Outcomes.

Try things in your Practice Course!

If you want to try out the things you have learned in this course, you can do this in your own practice course. You can find your course (Practice Course [VUnetID]) in Courses in the Global Navigation Menu (the blue column at the left side of your screen). This course will remain available in the future, so if you want to try something new later this year (or in the following years!), that is possible.

There are no students in your practice course, so if you want to try out functions that require student participation, there are two things you can do:

View the course using Student View
Add a colleague (or multiple colleagues) to your course as a student