Canvas FAQs for Faculty

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Log into PirateNet using your Seton Hall credentials. Then, search for and click on the Canvas chiclet.  

The global navigation menu is located on the far left-side of the screen and is visible from all pages. It contains links to your profile, dashboard, courses, calendar, inbox, history, and help.

For more information about navigating Canvas, watch the Canvas walkthrough video on Global Navigation or read more about the Global Menu.

The Dashboard is the first area you will see when you log into Canvas. The Dashboard provides a clear view of the activity happening in your current courses. View the Dashboard guide.

Your Canvas Dashboard will display course cards for quick access to all of your favorite courses. To view all courses, click Courses on the left menu, then click All Courses.

To favorite a course and add it to your dashboard view, click the Star icon next to a course.

The Course Navigation Menu is a series of links directly on the left side of your course that help you and your students access different course areas. The Course Navigation Menu is visible on all course pages. View the Course Navigation Menu guide.

Images should be square in size to prevent your picture from being resized or distorted. Files can be any size or type (.jpg, .png, .gif) as long as you have room in your personal files to store the file. It is recommended that the photo be as small as possible. View the profile photo guide.

Canvas includes a set of default notification settings you can receive for your courses. However, you can set your own notification settings. These custom settings only apply to you; they are not used to control how course updates are sent to other users. View the Canvas Notification guide.

All Canvas notifications are sent from notifications@instructure.com.

The Canvas Teacher mobile app allows faculty to facilitate their courses on the go. Through Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes, this app provides quick access to grading, communicating, and updating—three of the most frequent course facilitation tasks for faculty. Canvas Teacher is available for both Android and iOS devices.  

• Follow the mobile guide for faculty to install the Canvas Teacher App.  

• Do not use the mobile browser for viewing courses.   

• Explore the Canvas Community’s in-depth mobile guides for Android and iOS. 

Every course listed with the University Registrar has a Canvas course site automatically created. Any student who registers for a class automatically appears in the course’s roster.  

Note: If your course is not listed in Canvas, you might not be listed as the Instructor of Record in Banner. Please contact your department for assistance. 

There are a few different ways you can organize your course content in Canvas. The article, Organize Your Course Content, provides a brief overview of the tools available and additional resources on how to use the tool.

If you would like further assistance or would like to discuss options, please contact your Instructional Designer Liaison.

All system files in Blackboard have been archived and is available upon request by submitting a support ticket. While these files will be migrated to Canvas, they will not be organized in the same manner they were in Blackboard.  

Note, user information, student work and grades do not transfer to Canvas.

Review a list of the most popular integrated tools. If you are interested in a tool that is not on this list, please contact your Instructional Design Liaison to initiate the evaluation process. 

Yes, this content resides within the third-party tool, and the tools have been integrated in Canvas.

Note: SafeAssign content is not available in Canvas.

For academic courses, student enrollments for your course are populated from SIS to Canvas. It can take up to 24 hours for new enrollments added in SIS to populate or drop from your Canvas site. You cannot manually add students to your academic course. 

When viewing the People page in an course in Canvas, instructors often come across students listed as "inactive.” This designation refers to students who were initially enrolled in the course but have since dropped it. Similarly, individuals with other roles, such as instructors, might appear inactive when they've been added to the course and later removed.

Inactive enrollments do not retain access to the course. They cannot access course materials, receive announcements, or engage in communication within the course. This inactive status ensures that their presence does not impact ongoing interactions or course dynamics.

By default, inactive students do not appear in the Gradebook. However, instructors have the option to view inactive enrollments. This can be particularly useful when you need to assess historical performance or review the impact of dropped students on grading trends. To view inactive students in the gradebook:

1. Hover over the Student Name column header.

2. Click the Options icon ( ⁝ ).

3. From the menu, select the Inactive enrollments option.

In order for students to view and access your course, you must publish it. You may also unpublish a course if you want to hide it from students. However, once your course contains a graded submission, you cannot unpublish it.  

Note: Each semester, a term date is set. This date should not be changed. Even if you publish your course early, students will not be able to view it before the term date. 

Your course many not be published. Follow the steps outlined above to publish it or review Canvas' how-to article on publishing a course.

You can view a course the same way that your students view your course through Student View. Enabling Student View creates a Test Student in your course. You can also activate Student View in your Course Settings. Student View will show you if the content is published, locked, or otherwise made unavailable to students. Follow the steps outlined in Canvas' how-to article to see your course from a student’s perspective: View the course in Student View.

If any of your academic courses need to be merged in advance of term start, please open a support ticket. Be sure to include the names and course numbers that need to be merged.

Note: Only cross listed courses will be merged. Request merges before courses open to students whenever possible. 

In the case of an outstanding Incomplete (IN) after the Canvas transition, review detailed instructions on managing incompletes. It’s important to note: 

• Course content from Fall 2022 through Summer 2023 is available in Canvas. However, in order to allow for incomplete coursework from Fall 2023 to be completed in Canvas, you will need to submit a request to migrate your content from this term. 

• Students have been enrolled in the equivalent course on Canvas. 

Student data and coursework will not automatically transfer to Canvas. Therefore, it's recommended to keep track of the incomplete agreement and the necessary tasks that the student needs to complete in future terms. 

In the event of a grade dispute, you can submit a support ticket to request student activity from a Blackboard course. 

For any questions and concerns related to Canvas, please contact your Instructional Design Liaison.