Glossary of Canvas Terms

Glossary of Canvas Terms

Simplified Glossary for Terms Used in Canvas

CanvasDefinition
Account The Account is where you can view your user account information, which includes  your profile information, user settings, notification settings and personal files.
Announcements Announcements allow instructors to communicate with all users within a course. They are designed for instructors to send out information out to all members of a course or section within a course. Instructors can allow students to reply to announcements.
Assignments An Assignment is any graded item created by an instructor in a Canvas course. These can include Graded Discussions, Quizzes and Assignments.
Assignments can be used for both online submissions (e.g. files, media, text, URLs) and offline submission (e.g. in-class presentations).
Assignments can be formative (submitted for no marks) or summative (submitted for marks).
Calendar The Canvas Calendar tool allows users to see all assignment, quiz, and discussion due dates, events, and appointments from all of their courses. Instructors can schedule drop in consultations with students via the Appointment Group function.
Canvas Community The Canvas Community is an external resource provided by Canvas for all Canvas customers. The Canvas Community has a range of Canvas Guides for both instructors and students, which provide helpful information and instructional resources. Users can ask questions, find answers, share ideas, join user groups, or access the many help guides published by Canvas. 
Course Code The course code refers to the subject ID or code for your course. When you are within your course, it is displayed at the top of the Course Navigation Menu and is also displayed on the course card on your Dashboard.
Course Status Course Status refers to the state of a Canvas course: Unpublished (all new Canvas course sites will be unpublished i.e. unavailable for students), Published (the Canvas course site is available to students) and Concluded (the course has ended and is only available as read-only).
CSV File A comma separated value (CSV) file is a type of file designed for importing and exporting data. You can create a CSV file in Excel or Google Sheets
Dashboard The Dashboard is the default landing page after you log in to Canvas. The Dashboard can be toggled to a course view, list view, or recent activity view and shows notifications for all current Canvas courses.  The Dashboard will display all of the courses you are enrolled in, your recent activity. to-do items, and for students, any upcoming assignments, and recent feedback.
Discussions Canvas Discussions are a native tool in all Canvas courses designed to facilitate communication between instructors and students, or to promote student interaction and exchange of ideas. Canvas Discussions can be ungraded, graded, assigned to groups, and even peer reviewed. Discussions can be setup to be specific to student groups created within a course.
DocViewer Canvas DocViewer is a document preview tool available for supported file types. Canvas DocViewer is a tool within the SpeedGrader that allows annotations on online assignment submissions in Canvas. Students can use DocViewer to view annotated feedback in the assignment details section of the sidebar from instructors or from other students in peer review assignments.
Files Files can house course documents, images and media and can include course material, assignments, course outlines, readings, or other documents. Canvas users will find access to files in three different places; Personal Files, Course Files and Group Files. Files can be public or private. Instructors can add files to a course and share them with students to access during the course.
Global Navigation The Global Navigation Menu is located on the left of every page in Canvas. The links provide quick access to frequently used features such as the  Account, Dashboard, Courses, Groups, Calendar, Inbox, Commons, and Help.
Grades The Gradebook helps instructors easily view and enter grades for students. Grades for each assignment can be viewed as points, percentage, complete or incomplete, GPA scale, or letter grade, depending on the grade display type. The Gradebook can be accessed via the Grades link in the course navigation menu.
Groups Groups are a collaboration tool where students can work together on group project and assignments and are displayed as a small version of a course. They enable you to separate students into smaller groups and can be used for marking. Groups can be created by an instructor or by students to enable efficient collaboration in Canvas.
Help You can get help with Canvas at any time by using the Help menu. It is available from the Global navigation menu on the left hand side of your Canvas page. Click on Help to learn more.
Home The Course Home Page is the first page that users see when accessing a Canvas Course. It can be customised by editing key pages within the course overview module (e.g., introduction, course contacts, schedule).
Inbox (Conversations) The Inbox is a messaging tool that can be used to communicate with all users within a course, a student group, an individual student, a section, or a specific instructor role in a course.
Math Editor (Latex) The Math Editor is a Latex-compatible toolbar in the Rich Content Editor that makes it easy for users to write mathematical expressions and equations.
Modules Modules allow you to organize your content to help control the flow of your course. Modules are used to organize course content by weeks, units, or a different organizational structure that works for your course. With modules, you are essentially creating a one-directional linear flow of what you would like your students to do. Each module can contain files, discussions, assignments, quizzes, and other learning materials that you would like to use. You can easily add items to your module that you have already created in the course or create new content from the modules.
Notifications Notification Settings can be used to specify where and when you are notified about activity in Canvas. Notifications can be set at an account-level to apply to all Canvas Courses you are enrolled in. You can also set notifications for an individual Canvas Course from each course home page, or from the Notification Settings within your Account.
Options (Three Dots) The Options Icon is the three vertical dots located within Modules, Pages and Assignments in Canvas. Selecting the Options Icon will bring up a drop-down menu with further options or settings relating to the specific area within Canvas.
Outcomes Outcomes are statements that describe skills, understandings, and attitudes that learners will develop during a course or program. Instructors can specify learning outcomes for their courses and track student progress based on measured standards rather than letter grades.
Pages Pages are used to deliver course content and information to students. Pages can include text, videos, images, and links to files. You can even make links to other pages, quizzes, assignments and discussions located within the course. Canvas keeps the entire history of the page so you can see how it changes over time.
People The People tab in the course navigation menu will display all users enrolled in the course and displays all information about the users. Instructors can click on students names to view a summary of their activity in the course. If the People tab has been enabled for students, they can use the people area to self-sign up to student groups.
Portfolium Portfolium allow students to showcase their best work to colleagues and prospective employers. They also make it possible for students to create light-weight websites or presentations.
Profile You can edit your profile information via your Account. You can also edit your profile picture, preferred contact methods, and any personal links for your account.
Quizzes Quizzes are an assessment tool for creating online tests in your Canvas Course. We recommend using a Classic Quiz when creating a quiz in Canvas.
Rich Content Editor The Rich Content Editor (RCE) is a content editor that supports the creation and formatting of content in Canvas
Role A role describes the permissions granted to a user within a course on Canvas. These include; Student, Teacher, Course Coordinator, Manager, Teaching Assistant, Marker and Reviewer.
Rubrics A Rubric is an assessment tool for communicating expectations of quality. Rubrics can be attached to an assignment to use for grading in the SpeedGrader.
Sections Students are enrolled into Canvas courses in sections where students enrolled at different locations and combined into one course site. For example, in a course with Callaghan and Ourimbah cohorts combined, the students will be separated into two sections based on the location they are enrolled at. Assignments, discussions and announcements can be assigned to students within sections.
Settings The Settings navigation link is where you can easily import content, view users and sections, and modify the navigation menu within your course.
SIS ID A SIS ID is a unique identifier for an object in Canvas. In most cases, a SIS ID in Canvas refers to staff or student ID.
SpeedGrader SpeedGrader is the Canvas grading environment which makes it easy for instructors to evaluate individual student assignments and group assignments quickly. SpeedGrader allows you to view and grade student assignment submissions in one place using a simple point scale or complex rubric. Using the SpeedGrader, instructors can leave text, video, and audio comments for students. SpeedGrader is also available as a Canvas mobile app on iOS and Android devices.
Student View Activating the student view mode generates a test student which you can use to preview your Canvas Course and test your assignments, quizzes, and discussion forums.
Teaching Period A teaching period refers to a term. This includes all Semesters, Trimesters, as well as Summer and Winter Terms.

Print this page