Canvas Help
Key Links
Forms
Request a non-CRN course
This request form is for a manually created Canvas course where you intend to manage enrollment yourself. Your request should be created within two working days.
Request a Canvas guest account
This request form is for a person without a WWU account to be added to a Canvas course. Your request should be created within two working days.
Cross-List Your Courses
This request form is helpful for instructors who are teaching multiple instances of a course during an academic quarter.
Canvas is the Learning Management System (LMS) for Western Washington University.
Canvas not responding? Check the Canvas status page.
Login to Canvas
Are you a WWU faculty, staff, or student?
Are you a guest?
Need assistance with Canvas?
Please contact Canvas Help at:
Tip for Faster Service
Include CRN or course title, content name, and a link in your request.
Accessibility
Canvas includes rich, interactive features that rely on state-of-the-art accessibility coding best practices. To fully benefit from these accessibility practices, users should strive to stay current on best practices and usability guidelines.
Working with the Disability Access Center
Students can apply for accommodations at the Disability Access Center (DAC). See Overview of DAC Process for details.
The DAC also provides the ability for the Western community to use SensusAccess, a free online document conversion tool. Students may use SensusAccess at any time in order to convert documents and audio files into accessible formats.
Immersive Reader
The Microsoft Immersive Reader enhances the student reading experience by improving accessibility and aiding in reading comprehension. Immersive Reader can be activated by clicking the icon located in the top right-hand corner of any content page (pages, assignments, course home, syllabus) in a Canvas course.
Note: External tools and rich content embedded within a page and on quizzes may not work within the Immersive Reader.
Features:
- Full screen reading
- Read text aloud with speed control
- Text size, font, and contrast controls
- Reading focus to support line focus for better on-screen eye tracking while reading
Working with the Disability Access Center
To work with the Disability Access Center (DAC), review the Background and Overview for Faculty page and become familiar with the Accommodations Guide.
The DAC also provides the ability for the Western community to use SensusAccess, a free online document conversion tool. Faculty and staff can create an accessible version of a PDF document by using SensusAccess to convert the file.
Pope Tech Accessibility Checking Tool in Canvas
Pope Tech is an integrated accessibility checking tool available within any Canvas course and can be used on any editable content (pages, assignments, course home, syllabus, quizzes, and initial discussion posts). Designed to help teachers fix accessibility problems within their course's content and learn accessibility best practices, the tool will flag issues on a page, allowing teachers to link to and fix the issue.
To activate a Pope Tech scan while editing a Canvas page, select the "P" icon (Pope Tech Accessibility Guide) next to the Cancel button.
Learn More About Accessibility
Learn the basics via this self-paced, self-enroll Canvas course:
Accessibility Primer for Instructors
- Accessible Online Course Design (DAC, WWU) - tips for developing an accessible and inclusive course
- Accessible PDF Best Practices (UCSF)
- CAST UDL Guidelines - CAST is a nonprofit education research and development organization that created the Universal Design for Learning framework and UDL Guidelines, now used all over the world to make learning more inclusive.
- Creating Accessible Documents (University Relations and Marketing, WWU) - check documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF) for accessibility and learn how to fix them; see also:
- Making Classes Accessible to All Students (TLCo-op, WWU)
Please note that accessing Canvas for accessibility via smartphone or mobile device is not recommended. For full functionality, we recommend using a laptop or desktop computer.
Report an assistive technology Accessibility Barrier in Canvas
WWU Canvas for Students
- WWU Canvas Orientation for Students - This is a self-enroll Canvas course with all the information to help students be successful users of Canvas.
- Canvas Help Documentation:
- Plagiarism Detection at Western
- Recommended Web Browsers to Use With Canvas
- Using the Dashboard
- Setting Notification Preferences on Canvas
- Customizing Profile Settings
-
Canvas displays a motivational "confetti" celebration animation to students when they submit assignments on time. This animation will appear by default on any assignment with a due date. On-time submissions include both an initial submission and resubmissions that take place before the assignment due date. Students can choose to hide celebration animations in their User Settings page: How do I manage celebration animations in Canvas as a student?
The following links include tutorial videos with captions and transcripts:
WWU Canvas for Faculty
- WWU Canvas Orientation for Faculty - This is a self-enroll Canvas course with all the information to help faculty be successful users of Canvas.
- Canvas Documentation:
- Plagiarism Detection at Western
WWU Canvas Online Forms
Request a non-CRN course
- This request form is for a manually-created Canvas course where you intend to manage enrollment yourself. Your request should be created within two working days.
- If you wish to make use of Western's automated enrollment for courses, which have a Course Record Number (CRN), do NOT use this form. CRN-based courses are normally created automatically at least 6 weeks prior to the start of the academic quarter.
Request a Canvas guest account
This request form is for a person without a WWU account to be added to a Canvas course. Your request should be created within two working days.
Cross-List Your Courses
This request form is helpful for instructors who are teaching multiple instances of a course during an academic quarter. All CRNs of a course can be combined, or cross-listed, into one primary course, where content can be developed in one source instead of multiple sources.Your request should be created within two working days.