Your Canvas course sites may be simple or complex depending on how your instructors have set them up, and may connect to one or more other OSU-supported online technologies. Every student can benefit from knowing the following tips, guides, and technical support resources.
Where do I find my course?
You can log in to OSU Canvas using your ONID username and password. Your course site will be available to you once your instructor publishes the course site in Canvas. You’ll need a computer and an Internet connection to use Canvas. You can also download the free Canvas mobile app for iOS or Android to access Canvas via a smartphone or tablet. Students who do not have a computer should contact the OSU Service Desk. If you still aren't seeing a course on your Canvas Dashboard, review documentation and step you can take to find a missing Canvas course.
How can I set up my profile and notification preferences?
Once you are logged in to Canvas you can review and manage your Canvas account settings. Consider adding or setting your Canvas profile picture, personal pronouns, and notification preferences. You can also modify Canvas notification preferences by course. We recommend ensuring that Announcement, Submission Comment, and Conversation Message are always set to "Notify Immediately" so you don't miss important communications from your instructor.
Where do I submit my assignments or view my grades?
In your course site, check Modules for course content, such as assignments, course files, readings, etc. You can also check the Calendar link in the left-most Canvas menu to see assignments that have due dates in all of your classes. If your instructor has created assignments in Canvas, you may be able to submit the assignments online. Open the assignment, and look for the Submit Assignment link. You may also be asked to post comments in a discussion, complete a peer review, or submit a video to Canvas.
You can view grades in any Canvas course. There are many places for you to view feedback and comments on your work including submission comments, annotation comments, rubric results, and peer review feedback.
You can enter What-if grades for ungraded assignments to see what the impact may be on your total course grade. Just click in the empty grade field and enter a score. Be sure to clear the score when you are.
How do I take a Canvas quiz or test?
Your instructor may set up quizzes or tests in your Canvas course site. To reduce the possibility of technical problems, here are some good practices to follow:
- Clear your browser cache and cookies (Mac or PC) before starting the quiz. This reduces the chance that older web pages or data may interfere with your quiz responses.
- Turn off browser extensions or use an incognito browser to take the quiz. This reduces issues with image and video display.
- Take the quiz from a wired (not wireless) Internet connection. This lowers your chance of losing data if the wireless connection is interrupted.
- Plan to complete the quiz or test in one session.
How can I get help if I have more questions?
We encourage all students to use General Canvas Support to report issues with Canvas. General Canvas Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Students can get help and, generally, get resolution of the issue immediately. If the issue was not able to be resolved in the moment, a tracked and documented ticket now exists that the student can use to report the issue to the instructor especially if the issue interfered with timely completion of the student's work. You can also review the online Canvas Student Guide or contact the OSU Service Desk for general computer support and also provides an intake and routing service for all OSU technology support teams.
What if General Canvas Support says they can't help?
Instructors often use tools integrated with Canvas. These tools should provide their own student support services. Check for a Help button within the tool first and, if you are still not finding a way to contact support for the tool, reach out to the instructor for the course. Some basic support information is provided below for tools that are used by a significant number of courses across disciplines.
Turnitin: Draft Coach and Turnitin in Canvas
Draft Coach is part of the Turnitin suite of tools and allows OSU students to check for and address accidental plagiarism, citation, and grammar issues in OSU Word Online. There is no cost for students to use Draft Coach. Learn more about using Draft Coach.
Instructors can also enable Turnitin for Canvas assignments to automatically check for similarity between your submission and various Turnitin databases. If the instructor makes the Turnitin report available, students can review their similarity score through the Canvas gradebook.
Poll Everywhere
Poll Everywhere is OSU’s centrally supported Student Response System (SRS). If an instructor is using Poll Everywhere in their course, you can create an OSU Poll Everywhere participant account using your OSU ONID login. Learn how to respond to Poll Everywhere polls.
Media in Canvas
Contact the OSU Service Desk if you need help using any of the university-supported media tools, including Kaltura and Zoom. You may be asked to create and submit media e.g., videos or audio recordings, by your instructors. If the assignment in Canvas is set up properly, you can use the OSU Student Guide for creating and submitting media to Canvas. If you do not have access to the "Embed My Media" button in the Rich Content Editor when trying to submit a media file, it is possible the instructor missed a step when creating the assignment in Canvas. Please consider reaching out to the OSU Canvas team so they can provide support to the instructor for the assignment.