Get Ready for the Spring Semester!

January 23, 2025

Dear Mona,

Over winter break we surveyed faculty and instructional staff on how well Canvas and its integrated tools like Gradescope meet your teaching needs. While many of you find Canvas really useful, we also heard about some of its limitations, including the user interface and the gradebook. We've tried to directly address some of your questions below. We will also share your feedback with Canvas.

As always, we invite you to consult with us on navigating Canvas, setting up your gradebook, and on anything else you might need help with. You can find us at canvas@princeton.edu.

How can I give extra credit?

Looking to add extra credit to the Canvas gradebook? There are several ways to give your students extra credit in Canvas, depending on whether final grades are calculated through point-based grading or weighted grading. You will find detailed instructions in our Canvas Field Guide.

How do I assign multiple due dates?

Many of you need to set different due dates for specific students, groups, or sections. The “Assign to” feature in Canvas makes it easy to create customized deadlines and availability times.

How can I simplify the course menu for students?

A clutter-free course menu helps your students focus on what’s important. Show only the tools you use to make navigation straightforward and reduce confusion.

Here’s how:

Go to Course Settings and click the Navigation tab.
Use the three dots next to a tool to disable it or drag-and-drop unused tools to the hidden section.
Don’t forget to save your changes!
Use Student View to preview the simplified menu and ensure everything looks good.

What’s the best way to use Reserves?

First, remember that you have to redo Reserves every semester. Second, we suggest that students access Reserves directly through the Reserves menu rather than through links in modules. Students can easily filter and search for the items they need by name.

How do I keep an integrated tool in sync with Canvas?

If you're using applications like Ed Discussion, Gradescope, or iClicker, make sure your Canvas course roster stays up-to-date. This is especially important if you need to sync grades back to Canvas. During the add/drop period, we recommend syncing your roster a few times to keep it accurate.

Remind your students not to change their email addresses during the semester. If they do, they will create a duplicate account which can lead to issues with submitting assignments or syncing grades. If students want to change their email to a preferred address, encourage them to do it at the beginning of the semester before any assignments are submitted.

What is the best way to link Gradescope and Canvas assignments?

You may have noticed that the process of linking Gradescope and Canvas assignments has changed. You now have several options. You can either start in Gradescope or Canvas when creating assignments.

To help you out, we’ve put together a step-by-step page with recommended workflows and detailed instructions.

Should I use iClicker Cloud or iClicker Event?

iClicker Cloud is used for courses. It lets you create an iClicker course site where students sign up for an iClicker account to participate. Plus, you can sync attendance and participation directly to the Canvas Gradebook.

If you’re running a one-time session, like a workshop, iClicker Event is the way to go. It’s designed for flexibility, allowing participants to join using a shared QR code or by entering a join code—no account needed!

Share your syllabus

You can either upload your syllabus to the Syllabus Library or use the built-in Canvas syllabus tool. By using the Syllabus Library, you are sharing your document with current and future Princeton students, faculty, and staff, who can access the Syllabus Library with their Princeton credentials.

Send an announcement

Communicate with your students by sending an announcement. Use the Post to feature to send the message to specific sections. If you’d like a copy of the announcement sent to your email, click on your account icon in the global navigation menu, select Notifications, locate Announcements Created By You, and select Notify immediately.

Access for non-enrolled students

All Canvas courses are by default set as Public to the Institution during the first two weeks of classes. This ensures that non-enrolled students have access to your course site during the shopping period. The access is read-only, and will, for instance, not allow non-enrolled students to submit assignments. You can remove guest access by following the instructions in the Canvas Field Guide.

Combine course sites

If you wish to merge two courses, please email canvas@princeton.edu.

Import a past Canvas course

To import a previous version of your course into your spring ’25 site, select Import Course Content and then Copy a Canvas Course under Settings.

To avoid overriding the basic settings of your course, choose Select specific content and then select everything but Course Settings and Announcements.

Validate links in a course

You can check all links in your course by using the course link validator, which searches through your course content and returns broken links and images found in both published and unpublished content.

Review and publish your course

Review your course in Student View to make sure your students see what you intend for them to see. When you are ready for your students to access your course, click Publish on the course home page.

Locate a past course

If you want to find a course site from a previous semester, go to Courses in the global navigation menu and then scroll down to All Courses. Previous courses can be found under the Past Enrollment section.

McGraw’s instructional design team

Our instructional designers are happy to help instructors and course teams prepare their Canvas sites for teaching. We can, for instance, explain how to copy content from a previous semester. We can also help set up assignments and the gradebook, advise on useful collaboration tools, etc.

Faculty, TAs, and course assistants are welcome to schedule a consultation by emailing canvas@princeton.edu. Use the same email address for all questions as well!

Canvas Field Guide

Our Princeton-specific guide to Canvas has lots of useful information for faculty, preceptors, and staff.

Training sessions

We offer a range of training sessions for faculty, instructional staff, teaching assistants, and departmental staff.

Canvas 24/7 support

Faculty, staff, and students also have access to Canvas’ 24/7 support, which can be reached by phone, email, or chat. You can find their contact info by clicking on the Help icon in the global navigation menu in Canvas.

Canvas Companion Guide for Students

A newly developed student companion guide can help your students navigate and utilize Canvas effectively.

Join our training sessions