The Fall 2021 semester will begin in just a few days and students will be accessing Canvas, most of them for the first time. This week’s question from faculty members is, “When I go to Student View, why do I get a message saying the Home Page I created is not viewable by students and it is part of the Blueprint Module?”
The team has provided instructions to fixing your Home/Front Page and publishing your course in Module 2 in the Canvas Resources @ IC course. You can follow the steps outlined in Overview and Getting Started.
Your next step in Canvas - Publish your course
- Make sure your Modules and Pages are published or hidden, as desired. Look for the green circle with the checkmark.
- Check the course Navigation, adjust and hide any tools by going to course Settings
- Test your Canvas course site from Student View, including any links
- Publish your Canvas course and send a Welcome announcement to your students
For more steps to preparing your course in Canvas visit the Building a Course in Canvas module in the Canvas Resources @ IC course site.
Tip from Canvas Faculty Experts: “As you design your course, think of Modules as the folders in a file cabinet and the Pages, links, assignments, discussions, and quizzes as the documents you keep within the folders. If we tell our students to go to a folder with all the Files in random order, the students will get lost. But if we put those resources in a clear order within a Module, the students will have a compass with a clear path forward.”
Hurdles the LMS Implementation Team are working on
- Setting up recommendations and workflows for Guest access into Canvas. The LMS Governance and Executive Committees will be reviewing and providing further guidelines to the IC community soon.
- Confirming student rosters with the add/drop changes. As a reminder, Homer/Banner is the system of record and will maintain the correct roster. Canvas rosters will continue to be updated until the add/drop period ends.
- Establishing a workflow for users to request an external third-party tool to be added to Canvas.
Getting Help with Canvas
Ithaca College has arranged several support options available directly from Instructure. These resources, available to all IC faculty, students, and staff can be found in the Help menu of the navigation. Use the helpful resources to get advice on how to use any of the Canvas course tools. Please use these resources for anything on Canvas.
Canvas Support - available 24/7 for any Canvas related questions or issues through Chat, Hotline, or email. To access support, click on the Help menu in Canvas.
If your students have questions about using Canvas encourage them to explore the Canvas Student Resources @ IC course or utilize any of the helpful resources linked in the Canvas Help menu. They can also follow the IT@IC social media channels for tips for navigating Canvas.
We look forward to Canvas helping to support the creation of rich learning experiences for students, coupled with efficiencies and blended learning tools for our outstanding faculty here at Ithaca College.
Again, thank you for your hard work.
Sincerely,
The LMS Implementation Team