Canvas is more than just a place to check grades and submit assignments. Here are some key features and tips to help maximize academic success at Northeastern.
Essential tips for success
Personalize your dashboard: Drag and drop course cards to order them in a way that suits your needs. Highlight courses with the “Favorite” feature to add (or remove) certain classes from your dashboard. Use the “Recent Feedback” section to quickly see instructor comments on submitted work. You can also change your display name, record how your name is pronounced using Namecoach, list your preferred pronouns, and set your accessibility tools and localization in settings. Learn more in this knowledge article.
Master your notifications: Your Canvas notifications are only as powerful as you make them. Head to your Canvas profile settings and customize which alerts you get and how you receive them, because the default settings probably aren’t optimized for your academic success. Don’t let important deadlines and updates get lost in the noise–make your notifications work for you, not against you.
Leverage calendar features: Create personal events, set custom reminders, and use agenda view for chronological deadline lists. Adjust Canvas to your respective time zone. Connect the Canvas calendar to Outlook.
Power user features
Discussion management: Sort discussion posts by date, author, or replies. Subscribe to specific threads for notifications and use “Mark All as Read” for discussion-heavy courses.
Assignments and grades: Understand a course’s gradebook and review rubrics before submitting assignments. The “What-If” grades feature lets students experiment with hypothetical scores to see how upcoming assignments might impact final grades.
Canvas Groups: Beyond project coordination, groups offer shared calendars, file repositories, and discussion boards for study schedules and resource sharing. Group capabilities are granted on a class-by-class basis, according to the instructor.
Accessibility tools: UDOIT serves as a course-level accessibility checker, scanning online course content to detect potential accessibility concerns. It guides students, course designers, and instructors in resolving these issues using inclusive design principles, all accessible through the UDOIT interface.
What’s new in Canvas
Recent Canvas updates include offline access in the mobile app for downloading readings and lecture notes, improved calendar integration that syncs with personal calendars, and a unified inbox that consolidates messages from all courses. Enhanced accessibility features now provide better screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation as well.
Getting help
You can use the built-in help menu on Canvas for tutorials and FAQs. For complex issues, you can contact the Northeastern IT Service Desk for Canvas support.
Canvas continues to evolve with new features regularly added. Students who explore these capabilities can improve organization and focus more energy on learning and academic achievement.