In response to changes made by Canvas and faculty feedback, here are six must-knows about Canvas right now.
CELT Teaching Tip • October 20, 2020
Six must-knows about Canvas right now
In response to changes made by Canvas and faculty feedback, here are six must-knows about Canvas right now. This information will assist you whether you are new to teaching with Canvas or have many years of experience.

  1. Represent grades accurately in Canvas. To align the student and instructor views, make sure you assign students a '0' (zero) score rather than '-' (dash) as appropriate. Learn more by reading the CELT guide to grade posting policies, reviewing the Canvas student grade visibility flowchart (PDF), and following the steps to hide assignment grades and hide grades from SpeedGrader.
  2. Extend assignment deadlines. To provide an extension for individual students, follow the Canvas extend deadlines guide. If a student needs extra time on a quiz, see the setting up accommodations in Canvas page.
  3. Monitor the status of the New Quizzes tool in Canvas. ISU will not enable the New Quizzes tool until New Quizzes includes support for proctoring tools, has garnered substantial support from our fellow R1 peer institutions, and obtains feature parity with the existing Quiz tool.
  4. Review the Concluded Course status in Canvas. Courses created before fall 2020 are now automatically changed to the concluded status. Read about the process via this course conclusion announcement.
  5. Find answers. Discover the most frequently asked questions for October 2020 received via [email protected], which creates a ServiceNow ticket for easy tracking. This month’s top items included grading schemes, the grade posting policy, Studio in Canvas, Webex, and more!
  6. Address academic integrity. Academic integrity and responsible behavior are a part of learning and teaching, no matter the course modality (online, hybrid, or face-to-face). Focus on prevention through these academic integrity strategies. 

With a joy for teaching,
Sara Marcketti, Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
CELT has completed Year 1 of the Inclusive Classroom Training
Senior leadership tasked CELT to “conduct annual training for faculty in each academic department on the importance of and approaches to, creating an inclusive classroom environment” outlined in these ten action steps (PDF). CELT has accomplished Year one of this training, and facilitated 56 academic departmental trainings during 2021. If you (or one of your faculty members) were unable to attend a departmental training, CELT is facilitating university-wide offerings, registration information below.
If you or your faculty have any questions, review the Training FAQ page or email CELT at [email protected].

Dr. Sayali Kukday, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, has spent 7 years at Iowa State. Kukday’s advice for teaching:

“I would like to share some streams of thought that might help people new to teaching get started on their adventurous journey:
  1. What excites me about teaching and learning? Reflecting on this question as you begin your journey is crucial to identifying the strengths that you bring to the world of teaching and learning. Your thoughts serve as your Teaching Philosophy that helps guide your planning. CELT Resource: Document Your Teaching
  2. What should my students be able to do by the end of my course? Reflecting on this question will help you determine which teaching methodologies you can use to help your students achieve these learning goals. CELT Resource: Teaching Strategies section
  3. What can I do to make my course inclusive and accessible for all students? Reflecting on this question will help you provide a welcoming environment for all students and is a vital component of effective teaching. CELT Resource: Creating an Inclusive Classroom
  4. What can I learn from my students about my teaching? Reflecting on this question will help you center your teaching on student learning. Collecting feedback from students through various forms of assessments before, during, and at the end of the semester helps evaluate how students are doing, what changes can enhance learning, and is a great way to document your teaching. CELT Resource: Assessment and Evaluation
  5. What supports do I have to help me be successful in teaching at ISU? All you have to do is walk into (virtually for now) CELT’s office to be welcomed by a talented and friendly team that is ever-ready to support you in your teaching. I would also like to highlight some CELT Programs including the Teaching and Learning Academy and Teaching Partners Program. I co-facilitate the CELT DBER Journal Club, which is a cross-disciplinary community of faculty, postdocs, and graduate students that come together once a month to read and discussed published literature on teaching and learning. We would love for you to join us!
I hope our paths cross on our journey through the exciting world of teaching and learning.”

Upcoming CELT Programs
Diversifying your syllabus with Noreen Rodriguez, Nov. 2 (1:10-2:10 p.m.)
Diversifying your syllabus involves more than merely including diverse and Indigenous scholars or topics in your course materials. Instead, it recognizes various perspectives of what constitutes reality and what constitutes knowledge within a discipline or in course content. Additionally, diversification recognizes that multiple realities exist and that knowledge should be owned and created by everyone. Join Dr. Noreen Rodriguez (Assistant Professor, School of Education) as she shares how educators can grapple with these power relations in course content development and delivery. To register, use this Zoom registration form.
Award-Winning Seminar Series: It takes a village with Charles Jahren, Nov. 4 (12:05-1:05 p.m.)
In this interactive workshop, Morrill Professor Charles Jahren (Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering) will guide you through how he integrates instructional designers, graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants, and industry partners with little teaching experience into his Construction Engineering courses. Dr. Jahren will share his top workarounds as his team adapted to the shift to online teaching. Participants will leave this session with action plans for better integrating a variety of partners to create innovative, practically-relevant course content for semesters to come. To register, use the Zoom registration link.
Technology tools on a desk
Discover practical ways to incorporate tools in a Canvas course. 30-minute teaching topics held on the following days from 11-11:30 a.m.:
CELT Programming (Oct. 19-Nov. 5)
Find our program listing with descriptions along with the registration information on each corresponding page on CELT’s programming schedule via ISU’s Events Calendar website.


To view events by topic area, download the CELT 2020 Fall Programming (PDF).

CELT Call for Teaching Briefs: Teaching through the Pandemic (Due on Oct. 30)
Authors at any stage of their academic and teaching careers are welcome to submit to the CELT Call for Teaching Briefs: Teaching through the Pandemic, effective practices from Iowa State University’s instructors, and online and hybrid course modalities. The collection focuses on practical advice, solutions, and implementations, exploring the topic from a broad array of academic disciplines and perspectives.
Find out more about the process, how to register and submit on CELT Teaching Briefs webpage.
CELT’s ISU Digital Press site (Submissions are due on Oct. 30).
Where to go for support
Stay up-to-date on the instructional tools
Review CELT's News & Updates for upcoming changes to the ISU-approved learning technologies. Questions? email [email protected].
A red button with a question mark and Help in white writing
For help with the Canvas, contact Canvas Support via the ?Help menu in Canvas:
  • Chat with Canvas Support use the live chat tool
  • Ticket support. Open the ?Help menu in Canvas and click Report a Problem
  • 24/7 phone support. Call 515-294-4000 (listen to prompts to connect to Canvas support).
  • Find answers to common questions in the Canvas Instructor Guides.
  • Use the resources in the Canvas @ ISU site.

For technical support, contact the ISU Solution Center:
  • Email [email protected]
  • Call 515-294-4000 and follow the prompts to receive support from Solution Center staff

To receive one-to-one assistance for teaching with technology, contact the CELT Instructional Designers
  • Connect with our CELT instructional designers for support or pedagogical consultations by emailing [email protected]; this will also create a ServiceNow ticket for easy tracking.
  • Additionally, you may wish to contact one of the support units directly. Please note which program, department, or college each unit serves and contact the unit for your area.
Prefer a Print version?
To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with the web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for October 20, 2020 (PDF) (https://bit.ly/3j43m1v)