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All courses at Richland (online, online live, hybrid, & traditional) are required to use Canvas. This does not mean that all course content needs to be in Canvas. Required elements for traditional courses are (1) course syllabus and (2) gradebook.

There are still many good reasons to use Canvas to enhance your traditional courses, such as:

Email (Inbox)

Course roster is automatically created and updated throughout the semester; no need to look up students email addresses.
Email individual students or the whole class quickly and easily.
Ability to forward Canvas email to your Richland (or other) email account. Replies from emails sent from Canvas will go back into Canvas.

Calendar

Easily add assignment due dates and other important reminders (Ex: reading assignments, materials to bring to class, final exam day/time, and Holidays).
Calendar entries may be dragged and dropped to different dates if there is a date change.

Course Content

Quickly upload and organize course handouts, assignments, readings, study guides, links to Websites, online videos, and much, much more.
Set day and time for when group or individual course content items are available to students.
Easy to edit, delete, and move content around once it is in Canvas.
Copy course content (and assignments) from semester to semester without re-uploading anything.

Course Assignments

Create an Assignment (dropbox) for students to upload their papers or other typed assignments; this keeps your email from getting cluttered and makes it easy for you to provide feedback and grades. You can also create your own grading rubric in Canvas that makes grading even easier.
Carry on the discussion outside of class! Create a discussion forum for students to talk about something you’ve discussed in class or something extra you’d like them to think about.
Peer reviews made easy, allow students to post their paper and give feedback to their peers in Canvas. This cuts down on email and quickly allows you to see how everything is going.
Group work out in the open, create a place for students on a specific group to share resources and work on projects! This gives you the ability to see how each group and group member is doing.
Assessments: Quickly create quizzes and exams on your own or send your assessment questions to Online Learning and they will import them for you! Many types of questions are supported (multiple choice, multiple select, T/F, fill in the blank, fill in multiple blanks, matching, short answer/essay) and you can always go in and edit questions, and adjust when and how students view the assessment.

Attendance

Course roster is automatically created and updated throughout the semester.
Quickly take attendance
Ability to print off your attendance reports at the end of the semester

Gradebook

Completely customizable and allows for: Points vs. weighted grades, dropping lowest grade (or grades), and extra credit.
Initial gradebook setup can normally be done in less than 10 minutes.
Gradebook settings and assignments can then be easily copied to a new semester without redoing anything.
Quickly enter grades and add comments visible to individual students.
Gradebook automatically calculates student’s overall grade and updates it each time you add grades.
Students can easily check their grades and view your comments online 24/7.
Easily save and print your grades or import to an Excel spreadsheet.

What to learn more?? Contact the Director of Teaching & Learning Kona Jones, Instructional Technology Specialist Jarry Brown, or Online Support Specialist Liz Jackson, or check out a Canvas Instructor Guide for additional information.