Canvas Support and Resources
What is Canvas?
Canvas is Stanford University's primary learning management system. Instructors use Canvas to assist with course administration, such as posting materials, sending announcements, conducting online exams and quizzes, posting schedules, and more. Students access Canvas to download their courses' readings, lecture videos, lecture slides, syllabuses, and more.
Canvas Features
- More powerful features with better performance (compared to the previous system, CourseWork)
- Mobile friendly
- Automatic site enrollment based on Axess rosters
- Authentication and user identification managed with Stanford's SUNet ID system
- Integration and support with the university's main campus Canvas team
- Integration with lecture capture
- Many tools are available to help instructors manage their course, including:
- Announcements
- Assignments w/ SpeedGrader
- Quizzes
- File storage space
- Grades
- Calendar
- Section management
- Photo Roster
- Chat room
- Discussions
- Integration with Google Docs for student collaboration
- Virtual conferences and invite guest speakers using Big Blue Button
- Analytics
- And more, including new tools under development.
Online Quizzes and Exams
Canvas features a Quiz tool that lets instructors quickly and easily create an online assessment for students to take. Quiz settings can be adjusted to allow for single or multiple submissions, anonymous or identified grading, release dates and due dates, password protection, and much more. Instructors at Stanford School of Medicine have used Canvas's Quiz tool to create online problem sets, quizzes, self-tests, lecturer evaluations, surveys, and many courses and clerkships regularly use Canvas to conduct online final exams.
Here are recommendations for creating your online exam in Canvas.
Contact us for more information to see how you can use Canvas's online Quiz tool.
Canvas Mobile
There are two apps for Canvas:
Project Sites
Canvas also supports project sites, which have many of the same tools as a course site, but are not linked with any Axess enrollment lists. Project sites can assist with managing groups, hosting and organizing files, sending out announcements, setting a schedule, and much more. Contact us for more information.
Policies