Canvas - FAQs

The Canvas product is constantly growing and adding new features.  To request a new feature search on their feature request site here http://help.instructure.com/categories/20057816-feature-request-categories. 

To keep up with the newest features, check out the list of Canvas features being added each month here http://help.instructure.com/forums/337224-product-release-notes.

Your use of personal notification preferences in Canvas must be consistent with the University's email policy for faculty, staff, and students (http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/cio/itpolicies/index.html).  Your account in Canvas is created with your official BGSU email address.  Directing Canvas communications to email addresses outside of BGSU's domain may compromise the security of your information and your ability to comply with these policies.

A listing of Canvas supported browsers is available at:  http://guides.instructure.com/s/2204/m/4214/l/41056-which-browsers-does-canvas-support.

At time Canvas and the Turnitin services are unavailable due to scheduled maintenance and users are asked to plan their work accordingly.

• Canvas - Product upgrades occur periodically.   The schedule and information about what will be upgraded is available for review at:  http://help.instructure.com/forums/337224-Product-Release-Notes.  Upgrades are typically applied on Saturday morning from 9 - 11 a.m. EST.
• Turnitin - Scheduled maintenance typically occurs on the first and third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. EST.  Generally, an announcement will appear inside Turnitin in advance of when the system will be unavailable for scheduled maintenance.

Yes, in the event of the complete loss of the primary facility where Canvas houses data, data recovery should begin within about 4 hours and finish within 24 hours.

There are two main ways to move a past course out of your general view.  

• First, you can remove the course from the drop down that appears when you roll over "Courses" at the top of any page by customizing that view.  This can be done by both students and instructors.  Click here for a guide on that process.
• The second option is to conclude the course.  This process can only be completed by the courses' primary instructor.  Concluding a course will move it out of the current course list and mark it as read only.  While no updates can be made to a course in this state, content can still be exported out of the course.  Click here for a guide on that process.

Blackboard Auto-Enroll Communities Transferred to Listserv

Blackboard communities utilizing the auto-enrollment process for populating the community were transferred to listservs with auto-enrollment following the expiration of Blackboard communities on April 30, 2014.  Owners of these lists should be aware of the following:

• the enrollees of the list are generated from the same query that was used to populate the old Blackboard community.
• the auto-enroll process to populate each list will run each day at 1:30 a.m.
• list owners will now use listserv to send email messages to their enrollees.  Information on how to use listserv is available here. 
• listservs using auto-enroll are only updated via the auto-enrollment process.  List owners should not manually enroll or remove users via the listserv.  Any modifications to the list will need to be modified by changing the data in PeopleSoft and then using the auto-enroll process to populate the changes to the listserv.  To request a modification, please contact the Technology Support Center (TSC).
• requests for additional individuals to be added as list owners need to be processed through the Technology Support Center (TSC).