Get Started Teaching in Canvas

Overview of Using Canvas for College of Education Instructors

Canvas is the default Learning Management System (LMS) for UMass Amherst. If you are new to Canvas, or need a refresher on how to request or reuse Canvas courses, see below!

Learning about Canvas  

If you are new to Canvas, the best place to start is the Canvas at UMass Amherst page. 

  • If you'd like to explore on your own: Select “Log In to Canvas” and explore the self-paced training materials in the “Canvas Training and Resources” class, or try out the features of Canvas in your personal "Sandbox" class.
  • If you are looking for workshops and documentation: expand the Instructor Resources & Support section for links to support contacts, workshops, and useful documentation such as Building a New Course in Canvas.
  • If you want to work with a person: Instructor Resources & Support also includes contact information for on-campus Canvas support, such as IDEAS & IML (instruct [at] umass [dot] edu), and a 24/7 Canvas Support chat line. 

If you would like a one-on-one introduction through the College of Education, contact Fred Zinn.  

How to request a Canvas site for your class 

You can request a Canvas course site as soon as the course is listed in SPIRE for registration. 

Summary of the steps (for more details see: Request a Canvas Course Through SPIRE.) 

  1. Log in to SPIRE, and go to the Faculty Center.
  2. Select "Learning Management Systems" in the left column.
  3. Select "Canvas Course Requests".
  4. Choose the Term.
  5. On the "Canvas Course Request" page select the class section(s) that you want to be included in this Canvas site. NOTE: including more than one section in a single request will enroll all the students from the selected classes or sections in the same Canvas site. Make sure this is what you want!
  6. Select "Request" to submit your Canvas request.  

Important things to know about requesting a Canvas site

You need to request a new Canvas course every semester.

Requesting a new Canvas site each semester is how the new set of students get enrolled in the class and how grades can be sent to SPIRE at the end of the semester. You will be able to import the content from the previous course into the new course (see below for instructions.)

If you want to begin working on a course for a future semester that is not yet available in SPIRE, use your sandbox course, or contact instruct [at] umass [dot] edu (instruct[at]umass[dot]edu) to request an empty development course. Courses developed this way can be copied into a SPIRE-requested course when it becomes available.  

If you do not request a Canvas site for your class, one will be automatically created one week before classes begin.  

If you are using Canvas, make sure you request your site well before the start of classes (especially if you have multiple sections to combine). If you do not plan to use Canvas, make sure that students don't stumble into an empty site by requesting a site anyway and putting a note on the home page telling them where to find the syllabus and other course information.

New Canvas course sites are blank. Use the import function to reuse content from other courses.  

Canvas course sites start out empty. If you have taught a course in a previous semester, prepared a course using a sandbox, or are reusing another instructor's course, you can copy that course content (whole or in parts) into the new course. Note that students are only enrolled in Canvas courses that have been requested through SPIRE. 

A summary of the steps for importing course content into Canvas:

  1. Open your SPIRE-requested course (the semester will appear on its card on the dashboard.)
  2. On the Home page, upper right, select "Import Existing Content" to go to the Import Content page.
  3. From "Content Type" drop down menu, select "Copy a Canvas Course".
  4. From "Search for a course" drop down menu, select the course you want to copy.
  5. To copy everything from one course to another, under "Content" select "All content". 
    (NOTE this will replace everything in the SPIRE course. If you want to copy parts of another course, select "Select Specific Content".)   
  6. If you know you want to convert quizzes or dates, select these options under "Options".
  7. Select "Import" -- the process may take a few minutes. 

This IDEAS video demonstrates the process: Import Migrated Content into Your SPIRE Course (3 min)

Reusing course content from another instructor requires their permission. 

If you are taking over a class from another instructor, they need to give you permission to copy their course content. If you see the class on your dashboard, you should be able to import its content. If you don't see a course on your dashboard, the instructor may still need to fill out this form: Grant Permission to Another Instructor to Copy Your Canvas Course (this link may require a login.) 

Selecting multiple class sections in a request will create a single Canvas site.

If your course has multiple sections, and you want all the students to access the same Canvas site, select all of these sections when making your request. If your course has multiple sections, and you want the students in each section to be in separate Canvas sites, submit a separate request for each section.

If you are planning to combine (or split) sections, make sure you put in your request before a Canvas course is automatically created, and especially before any students submit work. Combining or splitting Canvas once classes are underway can cause problems (such as loss of student work.) 

TAs and other course assistants get access to Canvas through SPIRE. 

TAs and other course assistants are given access to Canvas by being associated with the course in SPIRE. If a TA does not have Canvas access, contact your DA or other scheduling rep to check SPIRE and make sure they are listed with the correct role. There are two roles for TAs:

  • TA-Building - allows creation of content in Canvas, no interaction or grading of students.
  • TA-Grading and Building - allows interaction with students, grading, and building.

See the Registrar page Instructor Roles in CAPS for more details. 

If you do not see the class you are planning to teach on the SPIRE request form. 

First, make sure you are viewing the right semester (this is an easy mistake). Then, contact your DA to make sure you are properly listed in SPIRE as the Primary Instructor (PI) for the class. 

Preparing a copied course for teaching

When you copy a Canvas site from a previous semester or another instructor, the process will still require some clean up before your site is ready for students. A few steps you should expect to take (See the Canvas Course Checklist for a detailed list):

  1. Customize the standard Home page (if using*) with contact and course information.
  2. Customize the standard Syllabus page (if using*) to add syllabus text and/or a link to the syllabus in PDF or other format.
  3. Review dates on pages and in assignments to match the new semester. (Watch out for holidays!)
  4. Review the Modules page (if using*) and reorder and re-label content as needed. NOTE: If you used modules in Moodle to display instructions, content, and links in the same weekly block, they will have been split into separate items within each module in Canvas. The best way to recreate these blocks in Canvas is to create Pages that collect all this content in one place, then add these pages to the appropriate Modules in Canvas.
  5. Review tools you are using, such as quizzes, to make sure they are set up the way you need them to be. The IDEAS group can help if you run into something you are not sure how to recreate.
  6. Hide any tools in the navigation that you are not using by going to Settings (at the bottom of the left navigation bar), selecting the Navigation tab, and Disable unused tools by clicking the three dots next to their names. 

(if using* - note that any page in Canvas can be used as a home page, and most pages can be hidden from students. Use this power responsibly.)