canvas for students in 10 steps

step 1 access your courses

Go to the Fresno City College home page (www.fresnocitycollege.edu) and log into My Portal with your SCCCD username and password. Once logged in, under My Favorite Apps, select Canvas. You will automatically be logged into Canvas and on the Dashboard page.

Within Canvas you have specific notifications that you can change to determine how often you receive email notifications from your Canvas. There may be notifications, such as new Announcements from your teacher, Submission Comments from your teacher, Conversation Messages from classmates or your teacher, and others, that you want to make sure you receive.

You may adjust notification settings for individuals courses either through the global notifications or within an individual course. Keep in mind that individual course settings will override any global notification settings set.

For more information visit the Setting Notification Preferences page.

step 3 dashboard views

The Dashboard is the first page you see when logging into Canvas. To change the Dashboard view, select the three dots and select either Card View, List View or Recent Activity. You can also remove the colors on a course card by selecting Color Overlay.

For more information visit the About Dashboard views page.

The Calendar displays events and due dates for all your courses. Important registration dates and deadlines and campus holidays have been added to the Virtual Hub for Students calendar. Click on the left menu to view these events.

For more information visit the Calendars page.

Use the Inbox to send and read messages from your instructor and classmates. Any new messages will be display a notification by the Inbox icon on the left menu.

For more information visit the Messaging Your Instructor and Viewing and Reading Messages pages.

step 6 view course announcements

Your instructor may use Announcements to send out important information about the course. Recent Announcements can be viewed on a course Home Page or a link in the Course Navigation menu will be displayed where you can view all course announcements.

For more information visit the Announcements page.

step 7 navigate a course

Each instructor can design their course in a way that fits with their teaching. Many instructors will have a Home Page which includes all the necessary information and links for the course. Other instructors may use Modules to organize the course materials. Make sure to click the Home page of each course to get an idea of how your instructor will be using Canvas. If you have a question, send your instructor a message through the Inbox.

step 8 complete and submit assignments

Canvas allows you to participate in discussions, take quizzes, and submit papers and assignments. Your instructor may have Assignments added in Modules. They may also link Assignments on a page. If available, you may also access Assignments on the course menu on the left. Be sure to become familiar with where to access assignments, discussions, or quizzes, for your courses.

Depending on the assignment settings, you may have to upload a document or file, type your response in a textbox, upload a video file, submit a website URL, or complete the assignment in another way. Make sure to read the instructions carefully and ask your instructor any questions you may have.

For more information view the Assignments guide.

Access Grades in the course menu on the left. All your current grades for all graded assignments will be listed. You can also view any comments that the instructor may have added. If a grading rubric was used, you can view the scoring details here as well.

For more information view the Grades page.

step 10 get help with canvas

There is 24/7 Canvas support by calling 844-303-0348 or using the chat support. You can access chat support from any of your courses by clicking on the Help icon in the global navigation menu on the left-hand side.

For in-person support, you can stop by LI-141, Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.

For a more in-depth walk-through of how to use Canvas, visit the Canvas Student User Guide.