In this video, you will learn about the
Canvas Dashboard and Global Navigation
links, and about basic course navigation
to view assignment details and grades.
Card View displays a course card for
each of your favorite courses. New
courses automatically display on the
dashboard. You can manage your favorite
courses from the Courses link in Global
Navigation. Click Courses and click the
All Courses link. Click the Star icon
next to any course to mark it as one of
your favorite courses. Return to the
Dashboard by clicking the Dashboard link.
Each card can include four clickable
icons for Assignments, Announcements,
Discussions, and Files. To help organize
your dashboard, you can manage course
card settings by clicking the Options
icon. In Course Card Options, you can
create a nickname for your course and
change the color of the course card. You
can also manage the color overlay for all
course cards with images. To remove or
display color overlays, click the
Dashboard Options icon and select the
Color Overlay option. The course card
color displays behind the card’s Options
icon. Recent Activity displays a stream
of recent notifications from all your
student’s courses, including
conversations and assignments. You can
view the details of each activity by
clicking the Show More link. To collapse
recent activity, click the Show Less
link. You can access an activity by
clicking the activity name. To remove a
notification, click the Remove icon. The
sidebar includes a Coming Up feed and a
View Grades button. The Coming Up feed
lists upcoming assignments and events
within your student’s courses. To quickly
access the grades for any of your
student’s courses, click the View Grades
button. Note that when viewing Canvas
with a small screen resolution, any
sidebar content aligns with the bottom of
the page. Canvas displays a Global
Navigation menu that gives you direct
access to various areas of Canvas. From
the Account link, you can modify your
user settings, specify your notification
preferences, upload personal files,
manage ePortfolios, and log out of
Canvas. Click the Dashboard link to
return to the Canvas Dashboard at any
time. Click the Courses link to quickly
access your favorite courses and to view
a list of all your courses. Click the
Calendar link to view your personal
calendar and course calendars. Click the
Inbox link to view and send conversations
within Canvas to instructors. And
finally, click the Help link to access
help resources for your institution. Now
let’s take a look at the Course
interface. Click the Courses link, and
then click the name of the course you
want to visit. Canvas automatically opens
courses to the course home page set by
the course instructor. The course
interface consists of four main
components. Course content displays in
the Content Area. You can use the Course
Navigation links, breadcrumb navigation,
or the Sidebar to navigate to different
areas of the course. The course home
page sidebar includes a Coming Up feed
displaying upcoming activity in the
course. You can click any assignment name
to view the assignment details. Return to
the course home page by clicking the Home
link or the course name in the breadcrumb
navigation. You may be able to view your
student’s course grade by clicking the
Grades link in Course navigation. The
Grades page displays their current course
grade and a clickable list of all of the
course’s graded assignments and
assignment details. You've now completed
this tutorial video on the Canvas
Overview for Observers. For additional
information on this or any other topic
about Canvas, please visit
guides.canvaslms.com. You can also ask
questions and engage with other Canvas
users by visiting community.canvaslms.com.
