When you first log into Canvas you will land on the Dashboard menu item.

Below the Dashboard, you will see the Courses menu item. This is where all the courses that you are enrolled onto are listed, unlike the Dashboard menu item, where only the courses that you are most active in are listed.

The Groups section allows you to access all the groups that you have been assigned to, without needing to enter the actual course space.

Below the Groups menu item sits the Calendar. Within this area you can view important assessments and due dates related to the courses that you are enrolled on to.

Selecting the Inbox menu item will take you to your Canvas email inbox. This area allows you to view emails received from your lecturers, as well as reply to and send emails. Copies of these emails will also be received in your University Outlook email account.

The History tab displays areas of Canvas that you have most recently visited.

Studio is a video tool that allows you to view, upload, record and edit videos within your Canvas courses.

Smartsearch allows you to easily find calendar events, people and courses within Canvas.

The Help button is the main area within Canvas you would access if you needed technical support with anything Canvas related. Within here, you have the option to ‘Report a problem’, which will take you to the University’s helpdesk to raise a support ticket. You also have the option for live chat support with Canvas’s global experts (external to the University), as well as an option to access the Canvas Support Centre.

The Home page for each course unit will tell you about the teachers of your course along with buttons to key information like the Course Information, Assessment and Feedback and Modules.

The Modules section of Canvas is the key area and is where you will find all your course materials presented to you in a logical, structured format. The first module in each course unit space will provide you with information about what the unit is about; how it will be assessed; how you will receive feedback on your assessments, and information on how you are expected to engage with the unit.

The small drop-down arrow next to each module name allows you to expand and collapse each module. Alternatively, you can expand and collapse all modules by selecting the Expand All and Collapse All button located in the top right corner of the screen.

Using these buttons will provide you with a clear overview of your course. However, some unit leads may prefer to release materials as you progress through the course.

The Announcements area is where your course teaching team will communicate with you about your course activities and course-related topics.

The Assignments link will take you to the assignment area of the course. This section will contain links to your assessments, including the submission upload links. You might also find these links within the relevant Modules.

As with the assignments link, the Quizzes link will take you to all your existing quizzes.

The Grades page displays all current grades for your assignments across all your courses. From here, you can view information such as grade details, comments and rubrics. By default, Canvas will display the grades for the course in which you are currently active.

• The ‘Course’ drop-down menu: Select the course required from this drop-down menu to display grades from this particular course.
• The ‘Arrange by’ drop-down menu: Use this to sort and filter how your grades are displayed.
• The ‘Print Grades’ button: Select this to print a copy of your grades.

• Grade totals (highlighted above) are calculated based on individual grades that you have received for each assignment or quiz. Mark weighting information should be available in the Course Unit Information section of your Canvas course.

Grade totals are provisional and may be subject to change. As such, we suggest that you ignore the overall totals highlighted above, and instead refer to individual grades awarded per assignment submission.

The Reading List link will take you to the online reading list for your course.

Selecting Discussions will take you to any discussions within your course that you are a part of. Discussions allows for interactive communication between two or more people. Discussions may be created as part of an assignment for grading purposes, or they could simply be used as a forum to discuss topical and current events relating to your course.

The Digital and Study Skills area provides further information and links in relation to support and training available to help you in your skills development in the areas of academic, digital and research.

The Student Support area provides links and further information in relation to a wide range of student support available to you whilst studying at the University.