Class registration is quickly approaching! Are you still deciding what iSchool classes to take next semester? It can be difficult to choose, especially when there are so many classes that sound interesting. To aid in your registration decision-making, the iSchool has compiled a Box folder of syllabi from previous semesters which can be accessed by all iSchool students.
Students of the iSchool are privy to lots of tools. So many tools in fact, that it can be difficult to remember what’s where and what it’s good for. If your bookmarks tab is full of iSchool pages, you might condense a few of them by saving the iSchool Student Tools page on the iSchool Wiki. The linked page takes you through a lot of the basics, like Canvas, Zoom, and 2FA, as well as a few useful links you may not have looked into before. This week, we encourage you to check out this repository of student-facing resources.
As always, if you have questions, the iSchool Help Desk can be contacted by phone at (217) 244-4903 or (800) 377-1892, via email at ischool-support@illinois.edu, or chat at https://go.ischool.illinois.edu/TechChat. Our contact info is also on course Canvas pages.
Whether you are an instructor or a student, there may be times that you need to check Canvas away from your computer. You could use a browser on your phone but you know that many functions are not mobile compatible and those that are can still be difficult to navigate. Fortunately, you can download the Canvas Student App or Canvas Teacher App instead. From participating in discussions to seeing or posting grades, the Canvas mobile apps allow users to access their courses easily while on the go.
You may have noticed that your profile picture on Canvas is blank, or is the same image as your iCard photo. If you would like to change your Canvas profile photo, follow along this week’s Tech Tip below.
First, have a picture you’d like to use on the device you are using, or be ready to take a picture with a camera.
Log in to your Canvas account, either on a computer, or on a smart device via the Canvas App. Select the profile icon in the left hand bar of Canvas.
It should be at the top of the pillar of icons.
Select “Profile” in the menu that appears.
You should now see a page with your name, a place for your profile picture, and places for other personal information which you may manage separately. You can edit your profile picture by clicking on it. If you have not already placed an image there, Canvas will default to your iCard portrait photo, if you took one.
Once you have clicked on the circle icon to edit it, you will have the option to “Upload a Picture” from your computers files, or “Take a Picture” using any attached web camera. Select “choose a picture” at the bottom.
Note: You may use any image file type, such as .png or .jpg, or even .gif animated images (although the animation will not carry through to your icon).
Upon choosing an image to use, you may then crop the picture using the circular overlay to focus on the picture as you please. Click and drag the cropping circle to focus your profile picture to your taste.
Hit “Save” at the bottom and you’re good to go.
Note: Immediately after saving the new image as your profile pic, the icon in the profile settings page you’ve been working from may turn white. Try refreshing the page or clicking back to it, allowing the new image to load properly. You may want to double check your new profile picture before moving on, to ensure the cropping and resolution are to your taste.
Additional Resources: For more in-depth directions, see the official Instructure Guide for changing your profile picture on Canvas. The above link from the UIUC Systems Knowledge Base in turn links to the official Canvas Instructure Guide.
The iSchool Help Desk is planning to host several workshops throughout the semester to provide iSchool students with opportunities to build their tech skills. But before we schedule them, we would like to hear from you about what you would like to see!
To access previous workshops hosted by the Help Desk, visit the iSchool Technology Training page on Canvas. You can watch recordings and review course materials, as well as get ideas about what else you’d like to learn.
Here are some notes taken directly from Instructure’s Canvas guides. The source is listed below if you would like to view the content directly and more in-depth.
Source: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-submit-an-online-assignment/ta-p/503
Celebration Animation:
One of the easiest ways to tell if your submission has gone through properly, is to enable the Canvas celebration animation in your profile settings. You can find these settings by logging into Canvas, selecting your profile photo, then the settings item. Scrolling down on the subsequent settings page will reveal the “User settings” under the heading, “Feature Options.” Within the “User settings” there is the option to enable and disable celebration animation. Enabling the celebration animation will allow a burst of digital confetti to display upon submission of an assignment.
View Submission:
After you have submitted your work, you will see information in the Sidebar about your submission. For file uploads, the sidebar provides a link to your submission to download if necessary. This should populate immediately, or upon refreshing the page and remain there indefinitely.
Re-Submission:
If you choose, you may resubmit another version of your assignment using the New Attempt button. You will only be able to view the details of your most recent submission in the Sidebar, but your instructor will be able to see all of your submissions.
*When you resubmit an assignment, you can only access and view your most recent submission. However, instructors can view all of your submissions.
Graded Submissions:
Once the instructor has graded your submission, the Grades link in Course Navigation displays a grading indicator.
You can also see details about your assignment and links to additional feedback in your Grades page.
In Canvas, there are opportunities to customize features to your own taste. Today’s Tech Tip will focus on notifications in Canvas. There are two options; the first being your general account Canvas Settings which you can find beneath your profile photo, and the second being Course-specific Notification Settings which you can access on individual course pages.
In the general settings, as shown in the first two images, you can disable/enable notification timeouts, such that when notifications do appear in Canvas, they will remain until they are dismissed. Enabling Notification Timeouts will allow notifications to dismiss themselves a short moment.
In these next two images, on an individual course page, you can customize notifications frequency and device destination (phone, email, canvas homepage, etc.)
And that’s all for Canvas notification Settings. There are of course other Canvas settings which we hope to explore further in future Tech Tips.
As always, if you have technical questions about Canvas, contact us at the Help Desk at (217) 244-4903 or (800) 377-1892, ischool-support@illinois.edu, or via chat at https://go.ischool.illinois.edu/TechChat. You can also find us on the 4th Floor of 614 E Daniel just to your left as you exit the elevators. Our desk hours are typically 9-5 on Weekdays.
