Communicating With Others
Canvas has different ways to communicate with others in the course. Although discussion boards and announcements are both ways to communicate, these topics have been addressed elsewhere. This page is about (click on the link to go to that section):
Canvas Inbox
To open the Inbox, click on the Inbox link in the Global Navigation menu. If the Inbox link has a number, that shows the number of unread messages that you have in the Inbox. When you open the Inbox, the toolbar will appear at the top.
The Inbox is organized from newest to oldest. The blue dot means that you have not read the message. To mark a conversation as read or unread, hover over the left of the conversation and click on the circle. To star a conversation, hover over the right of the message.
When you select a conversation, all messages in the conversation will appear in the right Inbox panel. Within each conversation you can reply to the single sender by clicking the return arrow in the top right corner of the message, or you can reply to all in the conversation, forward the message, or delete the entire conversation by clicking the gear in the top right corner of the message.
In a message, you can attach files, images, and other media. Some instructors will not accept assignments through Inbox; it is your responsibility to know the policies for individual instructors and how they want work submitted.
Inbox Toolbar
The Inbox Toolbar will help you to organize and navigate your Inbox. It contains ability to filter and search your inbox. The toolbar has the following features:
- Filter your messages by course or group
- Filter by message type, which includes Inbox, Unread, Starred, Sent, Archived, and Submission comments
- Compose a new message
- Reply to a message
- Reply-all to a message
- Archive a selected message
- Delete a selected message
- Additional Options, including forwarding a message, marking a message as read or unread, and starring a conversation.
- Search the director for courses and groups that you are enrolled.
If you have additional questions about the Canvas Inbox, visit the Inbox Student Guides from Canvas.
Chat
If your instructor has enabled the Chat feature in Canvas, you can communicate in real-time with anyone in the course. This is often used for online office hours. Any user in the course can participate in the chat. All content in a course chat can be viewed by anyone in the course, so if you have something personal to discuss with your instructor (such as a grade on an assignment or a recent illness) you might choose to have that discussion through the Inbox.
To open chat, click on the Chat link in the Course Navigation menu. This will open the Course chat. If you click "New message alerts" button to on, you will be alerted if you have minimized the window with the chat. You can view the online participants by hovering over the displayed number of users. To send a message, enter your message in the chat window and push send.
If you have additional questions about Chat in Canvas, visit the Chat Student Guides from Canvas.
Conferences
Some of your instructors may hold virtual office hours or meetings through the Conferences link in the Course Navigation menu. When you launch Conferences, you can see new conferences and concluded conferences with any recordings from past recordings. All conferences will have a name and a description.
When a conference is in progress, a green button stating "In Progress" will appear next to the conference. To the right you will notice a blue button "Join". To join a meeting, click on the "Join" button. Some conferences will only allow you to join during a certain time.
If a conference has been recorded, you can watch the video by looking in the "Concluded Conferences" section and finding the "video" below the conference title. Videos are not stored until the end of the semester, so watch them as soon as you are able.
If you have additional questions about Conferences in Canvas, visit the Conferences Student Guides from Canvas.
WebEx
Cisco WebEx is a video conferencing tool that your instructors might use to broadcast lectures or hold virtual office hours. To access WebEx, click on the "Cisco WebEx" link in the course navigation menu. In the "Virtual Meetings" tab, you will notice any upcoming meetings, past meetings, and recordings. To join an upcoming meeting, click on the join link. To view any recordings, you will access this in the Recordings menu.
For help with WebEx, contact your instructor or the Teaching and Learning Center (ttc@snow.edu or 435-283-7341).
Groups
Your instructor might create or allow students to create groups. Groups are smaller subsets of the students in the course that can interact with each other by creating discussion boards and messages for that group. Assignments might also be created using groups that would be completed in that group.
If you have additional questions about using groups, visit the People and Groups Guides Links to an external site. from Canvas.