Need Quick Help for teaching in Canvas this Term?
- See our Canvas Start of Semester Checklist for the essential steps in getting your Canvas site up and running each term.
- If you have specific questions on using Canvas, you can schedule a live consult to help with any questions you have. Use our Booking page to schedule a Canvas consult.
- Feel free to also email us at sph-edtech@unc.edu with any questions.
FAQs:
What is Canvas?
Canvas by Instructure is used by more institutions of higher education than any other learning management system, including other UNC System schools and UNC-CH’s peer institutions. Canvas is easy to use and offers improved calendar services, robust email and text notifications, a smartphone app, and a more intuitive interface for designing courses. Additionally, Canvas’s cloud architecture requires little to no downtime for feature upgrades and system maintenance.
Where can I learn more about Canvas?
Here are some useful resources:
- The canvas.unc.edu Training Page and set of quick video guides
- The Canvas Community Instructor Guide for Canvas how-to articles on every Canvas tool and feature.
- The Set Up Your Canvas Course in 30 Minutes training is a great place to start.
- View our set of demo videos showing common tasks and procedures in Canvas, including start of semester tasks, managing users, and working with Zoom Pro and Panopto.
- See our Canvas Start of Semester Checklist for the essential steps in getting your Canvas site up and running each term.
For more help:
- If you are planning on using or need a refresher on using Canvas, you can schedule a live consult to help with any questions or get a general intro to Canvas. Use this Booking page to schedule a Canvas consult.
Are there any Canvas templates I can use to start building my course?
Yes! We have our own school template in Canvas Commons that you can import and build from, called the “UNC Gillings Starter Template”.
See our demo video on finding, importing, and using the template.
Also see more info on Canvas Commons and on importing from Commons.
Campus also has two versions of a campus template available, “UNC-CH Course Template” and “UNC-CH Course Template Simplified”. While it is not recommended to import either of the campus templates, previewing them in Commons may be useful as a way to see some Canvas organization examples.
How Do I Find and Use My Migrated Content From Sakai?
Canvas sites are in place for the Spring 2024 semester. As with previous semesters, campus has provided all instructors with automated copies of Sakai content from their 2023 Spring Sakai sites in special Canvas archive sites.
You can now log into Canvas to find your migrated content. You’ll see a separate Canvas site for each course you taught in Sakai last spring. They will be labeled, for example “DEPT101.001.SP23_SAKAI_Archive”. It will contain a copy of all the files, pages, assessments, etc., from your corresponding 2023 Sakai site.
Review the content and do any necessary clean-up. It will NOT be 100% ready to use as-is, especially for Sakai sites that used the Lessons tool, and the clean-up may be significant for some courses. Then you will be able to import it into your official 2023 Canvas site for use in teaching.
See our Automated Migration Overview page with videos demonstrating every step needed in finding, reviewing, and using your migrated content.
If you have any questions or issues with your migrated content, schedule a consult to talk to us about it! Use this Booking page to schedule a Canvas consult.
