Canvas User Guide

You're in Canvas right now, but you may not know it inside and out. The online guide "Getting Started with Canvas as a Student" provides step-by-step tutorials on the basics of Canvas. Look here for answers to quick questions on things like how to submit an assignment, how to post to a discussion board, or how to take a test.

How to Be a Successful Online Student

Read and understand the course syllabus. This includes the course description, the course requirements, andour course objectives, as well as any meetings, assignment due dates, and test times.
Make sure to set aside enough time. Taking an online course requires as much or more time as a face-to-face course to complete successfully.
Get familiar with the technology you'll be using. Make sure to review the computer skills prerequisites and technology requirements below.
Get organized! This will help you stay motivated throughout the course. Make a schedule and stick to it: organize your study time, work hours, and free time. Create a private study area for yourself.
Check Canvas (and your student email account) every day.
Stay connected. Interact with your instructor and your classmates. Reach out to your fellow students and set up virtual study sessions.
Ask for help when you need it.

Computer Skills Prerequisites

The following are the basic skill-based prerequisites you'll need to meet in order to be successful in this online course.

Basic Computer Skills:

Be able to ...

Navigate between two or more applications without closing and reopening them (i.e. multitasking)
Connect to the internet
Change drives
Locate a file on a hard drive, USB drive, and/or cloud server (like Google Drive)
Minimize, maximize, and move program windows

Internet Skills:

Be able to ..

Locate a specific website by typing a URL into an internet browser address bar
Conduct research and locate websites by using search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.)
Print specific pages
Follow a hyperlink

Email Skills:

Be able to ...

Create an email message
Send file attachments
Open and save file attachments
Reply to messages
Send a message
Open an email message
Forward an email message
Create folders
Save a message into a specific folder
Delete messages
Add a name to an email address book
Retrieve a name from an address book
Paste text from a word processor into an email
Paste text from a an email into a word processor

Word Processing Skills:

Be able to ...

Create a new file
Open an existing file
Save file to hard drive, USB drive, cloud server, or specific folder
Rename a file
Spell check document
Cut, copy, and paste text and graphics
Format text (bold, underline, font size, font type, font print)
Format documents (set margins, set tabs, set headers, set automatic page numbering, insert page break, change line spacing)
Print documents

If you do not feel confident in your ability to perform these computer skills, the following videos available through Atomic Learning may help you to gain or sharpen your skills as you begin your online course.

Computer Literacy Basics Training (PC)

Computer Literacy Basics Training (Mac)

Technological Prerequisites

The following are basic technological prerequisites you'll need for this online course.

Hardware Requirements:

2 GHz processor
1 GB RAM
Minimum of 512kbps modem; DSL or other high speed connection recommended
Computer microphone
Computer speakers

Software Requirements:

Windows XP SP3 and newer operating system or Mac OSX 10.6 and newer
Microsoft Word 2007 or higher or Word 2008 or higher (MAC)
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 or higher (may be required in some courses) or PowerPoint 2008 or higher (MAC)
Web browser software: Chrome 40 or 41, Safari 7 or 8, Firefox 3.6 or 3.7, Internet Explorer 10 or 11

Click here to view the list of Canvas supported web browsers

Additional Web Browser Plug Ins:

You may need these plug ins to view some of the content in this course.