Difference between revisions of "Communicating in Canvas"

Revision as of 17:07, 9 June 2014

Options for Communicating with Students in Canvas

Communication Overview (Video)

In this video, you will learn how to communicate with your students using Announcements, Discussions, and Conversations.

Announcements

Announcements allow you to communicate with your students about course activities and post interesting course-related topics. Remind students about upcoming deadlines. Point students to internal and external resources in the form of written content/attachments or even audio/video comments. Feed a custom RSS feed related to the topic of the offering to your students.

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How do I make an Announcement?

How do I add content to my Announcement?

You can add text, images, files, and link to course content in your announcements.

How do I attach a file to an Announcement?

You can attach files to your announcements for users to download.

How do I delay posting an Announcement until a specific date?

If you want to create announcements to post at a certain date and time, follow these steps.

Discussions

Discussions within Canvas provide an integrated system for you and your students to start and contribute to discussion topics. Discussions can also be created as an assignment for grading purposes and can be integrated with the Canvas Gradebook.

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Use Discussions to:

Follow-up on a conversation or questions that began in a face-to-face classroom.
Test student understanding about a discussion/conversation made in class.
Allow students to debate over ideas presented in class amongst themselves, while still in a supervised setting.
Use student input on the discussion boards to enhance and improve the effectiveness of class sessions.

Conversations

Conversations is a messaging system within Canvas.

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What is the Conversations Inbox?

The Conversations Inbox is split into two windows and displays messages chronologically.

How do I send a message to an entire class?

You can use Conversations to send a message to your entire class.

How do I privately respond to an individual in a larger Conversation?

Even when you are part of a group conversation, you can privately respond to another individual.

How do I add new people to an existing Conversation?

You can add people to an existing thread in Conversations.

How do I attach a file to a message?

You can upload supplemental files as part of your Conversations messages.

Comments/Feedback

Canvas provides a variety of options for leaving feedback for students. See also Assessment and Grading Tools.

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How do I leave comments for students in the Gradebook?

If you want to leave simple feedback for your students, you can leave a text comment directly in the Gradebook. Gradebook comments will be placed within the Discussion portion of Speedgrader™.

How do I add a comment to an assignment using the SpeedGrader™ app on my iPad?

You can leave text, audio, or video comments on student assignments in SpeedGrader™.

How do I use free-form comments instead of ratings in a Rubric?

When modifying a rubric, you can enable free-form comments for each criterion in the rubric.

How do I attach a media comment to my message?

You can record or upload video and audio files as part of your Conversations messages.

Conferences

Conferences can be used primarily for conducting virtual lectures and virtual office hours. You can use conferences to conduct presentations to a large online audience using webcams, audio, and desktop sharing abilities. Conferences also allow you to conduct a live chat session with the audience present in the conference room. Conference rooms can also be used by students to conduct group study sessions.

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Use Conferences to:

Conduct a live lecture or session to the students that can't be onsite.
Connect with your students for online office hours or special study sessions.
Use the meeting room for one-on-one sessions with students in a virtual environment.
Invite special guests to your classroom by adding them as a student or observer to your course.

Still Need Help?

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 <div class="gradientshadow"></div>
-(Click on the links to view Instructure's online Canvas documentation.)
+===Communication Overview (Video)===
+=====In this video, you will learn how to communicate with your students using Announcements, Discussions, and Conversations.=====
+{{#ev:vimeo|76000626}}
 ===[http://guides.instructure.com/s/2204/m/4210/l/40169 Announcements]===
-Announcements help you reach a large number of students at once and are useful when you want to:
+=====Announcements allow you to communicate with your students about course activities and post interesting course-related topics. Remind students about upcoming deadlines. Point students to internal and external resources in the form of written content/attachments or even audio/video comments. Feed a custom RSS feed related to the topic of the offering to your students.=====
+{{Collapsed|
-*Point students to internal and external resources in the form of written content/attachments or even audio/video comments.
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/50731-how-do-i-make-an-announcement How do I make an Announcement?]====
-*Remind students about upcoming deadlines.
-*Announce important events that may be of interest to your students.
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/66009-how-do-i-add-content-to-my-announcement How do I add content to my Announcement?]====
-*Feed a custom RSS feed related to the topic of the course to your students.
+*You can add text, images, files, and link to course content in your announcements.
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/50720-how-do-i-attach-a-file-to-an-announcement How do I attach a file to an Announcement?]====
+*You can attach files to your announcements for users to download.
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/50735-how-do-i-delay-posting-an-announcement-until-a-specific-date How do I delay posting an Announcement until a specific date?]====
+*If you want to create announcements to post at a certain date and time, follow these steps.
+=====See also Instructure's video: "Announcements Overview"=====
+{{#ev:vimeo|72222376}}
+}}
 ===[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/c/23845 Discussions]===
-Discussions within Canvas provide an integrated system for you and your students to start and contribute to discussion topics. Discussions can also be created as an assignment for grading purposes and can be integrated with the Canvas Gradebook.
+=====Discussions within Canvas provide an integrated system for you and your students to start and contribute to discussion topics. Discussions can also be created as an assignment for grading purposes and can be integrated with the Canvas Gradebook.=====
+{{Collapsed|
 Use Discussions to:
 *Follow-up on a conversation or questions that began in a face-to-face classroom.
 *Test student understanding about a discussion/conversation made in class.
 *Allow students to debate over ideas presented in class amongst themselves, while still in a supervised setting.
 *Use student input on the discussion boards to enhance and improve the effectiveness of class sessions.
+=====See also Instructure's video: "Discussion Creation"=====
+{{#ev:vimeo|72433449}}
+}}
+===[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/c/23836 Conversations]===
+=====Conversations is a messaging system within Canvas.=====
+{{Collapsed|
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/48299-what-is-the-conversations-inbox What is the Conversations Inbox?]====
+*The Conversations Inbox is split into two windows and displays messages chronologically.
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/92750-how-do-i-send-a-message-to-an-entire-class How do I send a message to an entire class?]====
+*You can use Conversations to send a message to your entire class.
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/48332-how-do-i-privately-respond-to-an-individual-in-a-larger-conversation How do I privately respond to an individual in a larger Conversation?]====
+*Even when you are part of a group conversation, you can privately respond to another individual.
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/42873-how-do-i-add-new-people-to-an-existing-conversation How do I add new people to an existing Conversation?]====
+*You can add people to an existing thread in Conversations.
+====[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/48313-how-do-i-attach-a-file-to-a-message How do I attach a file to a message?]====
+*You can upload supplemental files as part of your Conversations messages.
+}}
@@ Line 47: / Line 94: @@
 }}
 ===[http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/c/23835 Conferences]===
-Conferences can be used primarily for conducting virtual lectures and virtual office hours. You can use conferences to conduct presentations to a large online audience using webcams, audio, and desktop sharing abilities. Conferences also allow you to conduct a live chat session with the audience present in the conference room. Conference rooms can also be used by students to conduct group study sessions.
+=====Conferences can be used primarily for conducting virtual lectures and virtual office hours. You can use conferences to conduct presentations to a large online audience using webcams, audio, and desktop sharing abilities. Conferences also allow you to conduct a live chat session with the audience present in the conference room. Conference rooms can also be used by students to conduct group study sessions.=====
+{{Collapsed|
 Use Conferences to:
 *Conduct a live lecture or session to the students that can't be onsite.
 *Connect with your students for online office hours or special study sessions.
 *Use the meeting room for one-on-one sessions with students in a virtual environment.
 *Invite special guests to your classroom by adding them as a student or observer to your course.
+=====See also Instructure's video: "Conferences Overview"=====
+{{#ev:vimeo|79260577}}
+}}
 </div>