Canvas for Instructors

From Canvas: what are Announcements?

"Announcements allow instructors to communicate with students about course activities and post interesting course-related topics. Announcements are designed to allow instructors to broadcast information out to all members of a course or to all members of sections within a course. Students may be able to reply to announcements, but replies are not considered to be a conversation and do not appear in the Conversations Inbox."

Walkthroughs from the Canvas Guides:

• How do I use the Announcements Index Page?
• How do I add an announcement in a course?
• How do I attach a file to an announcement in a course?
• How do I edit or delete an announcement in a course?
• How do I delay posting an announcement until a specific date in a course?

Please note that if you would like to send out an announcement before the official start of the semester, you will need to make sure that your course is published and that you have adjusted the start date for your course, to ensure that students can see it.

Canvas: what is the Inbox?

"The Inbox is a messaging tool used to communicate with a course, a group, an individual student, or a group of students. You can use the Inbox to communicate with other people in your course at any time."

Walkthroughs from the Canvas Guides:

• How do I use the Inbox as an instructor?
• How do I send a message to a user in a course in the Inbox as an instructor?
• How do I send a message to all course users in the Inbox as an instructor?
• How do I attach a file to a message as an instructor?
• How do I privately respond to one individual in a group message as an instructor?

You can also communicate with your students through feedback and comments on their assignments:

• How do I leave comments for students in the Gradebook?
• How do I leave feedback comments for student submissions in SpeedGrader?
• How do I add annotated comments in student submissions using DocViewer in SpeedGrader?

Students may need some support from you on how to find your detailed, annotated feedback on their assignments. You can share this resource from the Canvas Student guide with them: "How do I view assignment comments from my instructor?"