Joplin Schools Canvas

Observer Guide

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Table of Contents
How to create an account?.................................................................................. 3
Setting Up your Canvas Notifications?............................................................... 5
What is the Observer role?................................................................................. 17
What can Observers do in a Canvas course?.................................................... 17
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How to Sign Up for a Free Account

Go to joplinschools.instructure.com

Click on Parents sign up here

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Fill out the form and click the box for terms of use

The welcome screen will come up next. It will instruct you to go to your
email account that you used to sign up and click on the link provided to
create a password.

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Complete Registration Process

Open the email from Instructure Canvas. Click the link provided to visit the
provided URL and complete the registration process.

How do Notification Preferences work?

Notification Preferences allow users to select how and when they want to
be notified when various events occur within a course.
With the explosion of social media and mobile electronic devices, we live in
an increasingly connected world. Canvas understands that, and gives you
a wide variety of communication options to keep you connected.
Notification Preferences allow users to select how and when they want to
be notified when various events occur within a course. Users will be
notified whenever there is a change in a due date, an updated assignment,
or a message sent from within Canvas. Canvas supports notification
through email, SMS text message, Twitter, and Facebook. Canvas users
can choose to receive notification alerts immediately, daily, weekly, or
never.

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How do I set my Notification Preferences?

You can set each notification to your preference and it will apply to all of
your courses.

Open Personal Settings

Click the Settings link.

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View Settings

After clicking the Settings link, you will be able to edit your personal
settings.
Add Ways to Contact

Before you can set your Notification Preferences, you will need to set the
ways you want to be notified. Click the Add Email Address link to add
additional emails to be contacted by [1]. Click the Add Contact Method
link to add an SMS contact.

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Link to Other Services

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If you want to be contacted through Facebook or Twitter, you will need to

link to those services. Register the external service by clicking the
[ServiceName] button [1].
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You will need to go through and set how you want to be notified for each
type of alert. The notifications are divided up into six categories:
1. Course Activities
2. Discussions
3. Communications
4. Scheduling
5. Groups
6. Alerts
View Weekly Notification Time

Here is an example of what the weekly notifications note will look like at the
bottom of the page. It will give you a day and time when they will be sent.
This varies between users.
Set Notification Preferences

To change a notification for a contact method, hover over the notification

type you want to change. Select one of four options.
1. Select the Checkmark icon to be notified immediately of any change
for the activity.
2. Select the Clock icon to be notified daily of any change for the
activity.

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3. Select the Calendar icon to be notified weekly of any change for the
activity.
4. Select the X icon to remove the notification preference so you won't
be notified of any change for the activity.
Note: Each set notification preference will apply to all of your courses.
They cannot be set individually.
View Set Notification Preferences

View Set Notification Preferences

View the newly set notification preferences.
The default notification settings are:
Course Activities
Due Date: Emailed weekly
Grading Policy changes: Emailed weekly
Course Content: Emailed never
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 Files: Emailed never

Announcements: Emailed right away
Grading notifications: Emailed right away
New Invitations: Emailed right away
All Submissions: Emailed never
Late Grading: Emailed daily
Submission Comments: Emailed daily
Discussion: Emailed daily
Discussion Post: Emailed never Conversations
Added to Conversation: Emailed right away
Conversation Messages: Emailed right away Scheduling
Student Appointment Signups: Emailed never
Appointment Signups: Emailed right away
Appointment Cancelations: Emailed right away
Appointment Availability: Emailed right away
Calendar changes: Emailed never Groups
Membership Update: Emailed daily Alerts
Administrative Notifications: Emailed daily
Note:
There are newer notification options. The Files notification will notify users
of new files in a course, but will wait until all the files are done updating
before sending a notification [1]. Users can also click the Mark new
submission comments as read checkbox to mark all submission comment
as read in their Inbox [2]

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View Notification Descriptions

When you hover over the name of the notification, you can view the details
of the notification and adjust your preferences. Note: Some notifications
are for instructors and admins only as noted in the hover descriptions:
Course Activities

Due Date: Assignment due date change

Grading Policies: Course grading policy change
Course Content: Change to course content including WikiPage,
Assignment, and Quiz content
Files: New file added to your course. Canvas will only notify you of
new files in a course once they have been updated.
Announcement: New announcement in your course
Announcement Created By You: You can see what announcements
you have sent. Also, if you allow replies, a notification will be sent for
announcement replies.
Grading: Includes assignments/submission grade entered/changed,
unmuted assignment grade, grade weight changed. Check Include
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scores when alerting about grade changes checkbox if you want

to see your grades in your notifications. If you aren't using your
institutional email address, be aware that sensitive information will
be sent outside the institution.
Invitation: Includes invitations to web conferences, collaborations,
groups, course, peer review and peer review reminders
All Submissions (Instructor & Admin only): Assignment
submission/resubmission
Late Grading (Instructor & Admin only): Late assignment submission
Submission Comment: Assignment submission comment.

Discussions

Discussion: New discussion topic in your course

Discussion Post: New discussion post in a topic you're subscribed to

Conversations

Added to Conversation: You are added to a conversation

Conversation Message: New Inbox message

Scheduling

Student Appointment Signups (Instructor & Admin only): Student

appointment signup using Scheduler
Appointment Signups: New appointment on your calendar
Student Appointment Cancelations: Appointment cancelation
Appointment Availability (Instructor & Admin only): Change to
appointment time slots
Calendar: New and changed items on your course calendar

Groups

Group Membership Updates: Group enrollment, accepted/rejected

membership; (Admin only) pending enrollment activated

Alerts

Administrative Notifications (Instructor & Admin only): includes

course enrollment, report generated, context export, migration
export, new account user, new student group

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For email whitelist purposes, notifications will be sent from an email

address ending in instructure.com.
By default, your notifications will be set as follows:
Course Activities

Due Date: Emailed weekly

Grading Policy changes: Emailed weekly
Course Content: Emailed never
Files: Emailed never
Announcements Emailed right away
Announcement Created By You: Emailed daily
Grading notifications: Emailed right away
New Invitations: Emailed right away
All Submissions: Emailed never
Late Grading: Emailed daily
Submission Comments: Emailed daily

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Discussions

Discussion: Emailed daily

Discussion Post: Emailed never

Conversations

Added to Conversation: Emailed right away

Conversation Messages: Emailed right away

Scheduling

Student Appointment Signups: Emailed never

Appointment Signups: Emailed right away
Appointment Cancelations: Emailed right away
Appointment Availability: Emailed right away
Calendar changes: Emailed never

Groups

Membership Update: Emailed daily

Alerts

Administrative Notifications: Emailed daily

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*PARENTS ARE SIGNED UP AS OBSERVERS*

What is the Observer role?
In Canvas, the observers have limited permissions that allow them to
see what is going on in a course without interrupting the flow of daily
course communication.

Observers can see the grade summary pages for their student.
Observers cannot submit work on behalf of their student, but they can
see their grades, upcoming Assignments, and interaction in the
course.

What can Observers do in a Canvas course?

In Canvas, the Observer role can be used to enroll Parents, Mentors,
Auditors, and Guests who would like to participate in a Canvas
course but do not need to earn course credit.
This guide will take Observers through the Course Navigation links
and summarize what kinds of activities they can and cannot
participate in.

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Observers Can See the Dashboard

When they first log in, Observers will see the Global Stream in their
Dashboard.

Observers Can See the Assignments Page

Observers can see a list of Assignments due and click on their titles, but...

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Observers Cannot Submit Assignments

...Observers cannot submit Assignments. There is no submission button

on this Assignment detail page.

Observers Can See the Syllabus Page

Observers can see the Syllabus page. They can also see how the final
grade is calculated.

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Observers Can See the Modules Page

Observers can see how an Instructor has organized course content in
Modules. They can also see the point values for individual assignments.
Again, Observers can click on any of these links, but they won't be able to
participate in Discussions, submit Assignments, or take Quizzes.

Observers Can See the Assignments Page

From the Global Navigation Menu, Observers can click on Assignments to
see a summary page of all assignments due across all of the courses they
are enrolled in.

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Observers Can See Grades

Click on Grades at the top of the page to view your child!s grades.

Observers Can See the Calendar

Observers can see all Assignments due on the Calendar, filter the calendar
view by the different courses they are enrolled in, view undated events and
assignments, and even grab an iCal feed from the global Calendar.

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Observers Can Observe More Than One Child

Click on settings in the upper right hand corner

Then click on Observing on the left hand menu

Then click on Add Student to add a child to observe.

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