How-To Guides

This page provides step-by-step guides and video tutorials for EdTech platforms at CCS, including Canvas, Simple Syllabus, and more. If you don’t see a topic listed here that would be helpful for you or others at CCS, please contact the ET+I team at EdTech@ccsdetroit.edu.

Canvas

Getting Started

Logging in to Canvas via the CCS Access Manager

Browser and Computer Requirements*

Canvas 101

Canvas and Simple Syllabus Availability

Publishing Courses in Canvas

Configuring Course Navigation

Canvas Status (Overall)

Canvas Status (College for Creative Studies)

Get Help from the ET+I Team at CCS

* = Official Canvas documentation

Prep Your CCS Canvas Course

Step 1: Build Your Canvas Course

Step 2: Edit and Submit your Simple Syllabus

Step 3: Check and Update Course Accessibility Using UDOIT

Step 4: Check PDFs for Accessibility (separately from UDOIT)

Step 5: Run a Course Readiness Check and Make Needed Updates

Optional Step: Run the Link Validator

Step 6: Publish Your Course

Assignments

Setting Up a Weighted Gradebook in Canvas

Unused Assignment Groups in Canvas Courses

Creating an Assignment Using the Google Assignments LTI 1.3 External Tool

Bulk Update Assignment Due Dates and Availability Dates

Submitting an Assignment on Behalf of a Student

Use a Rubric for Assignment Grading

Creating a Canvas Assignment with Turnitin

Attendance

Taking Attendance through Canvas

Canvas Commons

Sharing and Importing Course Content in Canvas Commons

Using Canvas Commons to Update Content in Multiple Courses at One Time

Course Analytics

Obtaining a List of Student E-mail Addresses via Your Canvas Course

Canvas Tools for Early Student Engagement

Course Settings and Configurations

Showing Letter Grades in Canvas

Totals in Student Grades Summary

Marking a Canvas Course as a “Favorite”

Moving Courses on the Canvas Dashboard

Creating a Nickname for Your Canvas Course

Validating Links in a Canvas Course

Managing Broken Links

Show or Hide Course Navigation Links

Feature Options in Canvas

Discussions

Discussions Redesign on July 20, 2024

Grading and Rubrics

Gradebook Navigation

Gradebook Settings

Gradebook History

Hiding and Posting Grades

Individual Gradebook

Gradebook Best Practices

Ensuring the Accuracy of the “Total” Column in your Canvas Gradebook

Use a Rubric for Assignment Grading

Make Rubric Sortable

Groups

Setting Up Groups in a Canvas Course

Importing and Publishing Content

Importing Content in Canvas using the Course Import Tool

Inbox

Out of Office / Signature in the Canvas Inbox

Media / Studio

Caption Videos Using Canvas Studio

YouTube Migration Tool

Miscellaneous (Cool Canvas Stuff)

The “Undelete” Trick

Adding/Removing a Navigation Link in your Course via the Redirect Tool

Canvas Release Notes and Deploy Notes

Canvas “Test” and “Beta” Environments

Mobile Apps

Canvas Mobile Apps

Modules

Add and Remove Modules

Duplicate Modules and Activities on the Modules Page

Remove or Delete Activities on the Modules Page

Publishing Modules in Canvas

Profile & User Settings

Editing Your Canvas Profile

Changing Your Name on Canvas

Managing Your Canvas Notification Settings

User Settings in Canvas

Quizzes

Migrating a Classic Quiz Question Bank to a New Quiz Item Bank

Official Canvas Documentation (from Instructure)

Written Guides for Canvas

Video Tutorials for Canvas

Written Guides for Canvas Studio

Written Guides for Canvas Commons

Canvas Community Website

Advanced Design Tools for Canvas (Cidi Labs)

DesignPLUS Sidebar

The DesignPLUS Sidebar

Using the Course Upgrade Tool in DesignPLUS

Basics of Themes and Content Blocks in DesignPLUS

Designing a Basic Content Page Using the DesignPLUS Sidebar

Using the DesignPLUS Sidebar to Check for Accessibility in Your Canvas Course

Reusable Content Blocks in DesignPLUS

Removing “Editor Only Instructions” in Content Blocks

Enable Beta Tools in DesignPLUS

MultiTool

Using the MultiTool’s Template Builder

Using the MultiTool’s Module Builder

Troubleshooting Error Messages in the MultiTool

Faculty Recording Studio

Technology + Innovation: Recording Studio

Simple Syllabus

Editing Your Simple Syllabus Document

Simple Syllabus Doesn’t Look Right / Didn’t Copy Correctly

Review and Approve Course Content and Syllabi (for Chairs & Program Managers)

Simple Syllabus – Instructor Experience Guides

Student Engagement Reports in Simple Syllabus

Search For and View Syllabi for All CCS Courses

Course Evaluations & Surveys

Accessing Course Evaluations

Course Readiness Check (Simple Prep)

Course Readiness Check: Your Guide For A Student-Ready Canvas Course (for Instructors)

Clean Up Old Files and Pages From A Canvas Course

Course Readiness Check (for Department Chairs And Program Managers)

Send Grades to AARO

Send Grades to AARO (Academic Advising & Registration Office)

Enabling “Send Grades to AARO” in the Canvas Course Navigation Menu

Can’t Submit Grades, Session Expired

Zoom

Holding Your CCS Course or Meeting With Zoom

Setting Up Appointments for Zoom Meetings via Canvas

Viewing Participants from a Zoom Meeting

Adding a Timer to a Zoom Meeting

Using Zoom Transcription

Create a Zoom Poll

Integrate Zoom Into a Canvas Course

Accessibility

Best Practices

Caption Videos Using Canvas Studio

Choosing Accessible Colors

Accessibility Best Practices for PDF Documents

Canvas Accessibility Checker (UDOIT)

The UDOIT Accessibility Checker

View All Canvas Course Accessibility Scores for a Subaccount (for Chairs & Program Managers)

Converting a File into a Canvas Page Using UDOIT

Troubleshooting Error Messages in UDOIT

UDOIT Release Notes

Google Accessibility Checker (Grackle)

Use Grackle to Check Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides for Accessibility

Microsoft Accessibility Checker

Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker – Microsoft Support

Making PDFs Accessible

Accessibility Best Practices for PDF Documents

PDF Tagging and Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

How to approach Using Artificial Intelligence

AI Systems Available at CCS