4 Canvas Features You Should Check Out

Are you taking advantage of all that Canvas has to offer? Canvas is Herzing University’s new learning system, designed to make students’ lives easier. It’s ranked as one of the top learning platforms for higher education institutions, due to its user-friendly interface and its ability to integrate seamlessly with other tools and platforms.

Are you on the go and need to submit an assignment from your phone? Running late to class and need to send your professor a quick note? With Canvas, it’s easier than ever to stay on top of all of your assignments, communicate with professors and classmates and manage all your to-dos.

Check out these four features that will make your life easier:

1. Canvas Calendar

Your Canvas Calendar allows you to see all of your assignments, exams, events and courses in one place, making it easier for you to stay on task and keep track of your weekly activities. You can choose to view one course at a time, or all courses at once. You can add events and to-do items to your personal calendar at any time by clicking the “Add” button in the navigation bar.

Your professors can also schedule appointments and class events on this calendar, so it’s a great place for you to get instant class updates. Conveniently, the Canvas Calendar can also sync with another calendar on your device, such as Google Calendar or Outlook.

2. Canvas Conversations

Canvas makes communication with your instructors easier with a simple, user-friendly messages feature. Rather than visiting each course page to find your messages with specific instructors, you simply have to click on the inbox on the left side menu to see all of your messages with instructors, tutors and career coaches in one place.

Canvas Conversations works much like an email account, with the ability to reply all, forward messages, include attachments and more. With Canvas, you have access to one central hub for all your course-related communications, so that nothing gets lost in your personal email.

3. Canvas Student App

Canvas designed to be mobile-first, so you can access the website from a mobile browser and still perform many of the functions you would be able to do from your computer, such as submitting assignments, participating in discussions, viewing course materials and accessing your grades.

Canvas also offers a free mobile app called Canvas Student, available for Android and iOS devices. The app also provides access to course calendars, to-do items, notifications, and Conversations messages.

4. Canvas Notifications

Canvas can send you notifications via email, text, or push notifications if you have the mobile app installed on your phone. You can ask Canvas to send you alerts for just about anything, such as when an instructor posts an announcement, when a due date changes, when you get feedback from an instructor, when somebody posts to your discussion post, and a lot more.

You can also choose from four different notification types: notify me right away, daily summary, weekly summary, or don't send. This is another highly customizable feature that will help you stay on task and up-to-date with everything happening in your courses.

Whether you’re an online student or on-campus, Canvas is a hub for all of your learning activities. By taking advantage of these four features, you can stay connected and on top of your schedule no matter where you are.

Note: While Herzing University is extending mobile friendliness by moving to Canvas, not all of our curriculum is 100 percent mobile friendly, so students may come across an assignment or quiz that cannot be completed on a mobile device. Enrolling in a Herzing University course still requires access to a computer, per our technology requirements.