Pepperdine Canvas Faculty Guides

Overview

Pepperdine Canvas is a powerful learning management system (LMS) that offers our schools a feature-rich, online environment to support teaching and learning. This guide outlines common tools and features that help professors create activities, assess learning, and engage students.

Recorded Training

Pepperdine login required.

Introduction to Pepperdine Canvas (3 min, 34 sec)
3 Essentials of Canvas (1 hour, 30 min)
Canvas Assignments Basics for Faculty (1 hr, 31 min)
Canvas New Quizzes Basics for Faculty (1 hr, 32 min)
Other Canvas Course Topics for Faculty (1 hr, 23 min)

Faculty Guides

Don't see a site?

After class site creation has happened and you don't see a site, please check your WaveNet Faculty Center. If you don't see your class in WaveNet, then you will not see it in the LMS. If that happens, please contact your school for guidance. See other faculty site access tips.

Getting Started

Checklist for a New Academic Term

Faculty To-Do List: Before the Term Starts

I want to...

Visit My Class Site. Go to Pepperdine Canvas and check your Dashboard for the new, unpublished classes. You can organize your courses if there are too many. Please also refer to the course creation schedule to see when classes will be created.
Add My Teaching Assistant or Co-Instructor(s). Use the People tool to add authorized Pepperdine people to your class site. Official student enrollment is automated, so you don't need to add your students.
Add My Syllabus. Whether you are using the new Pepperdine Syllabus or a standard syllabus upload, post your syllabus to your class site.
Import Past Class Content. If you taught the class before, import content into your new class. Once imported, you can bulk edit activity dates.
Check for Accessibility. As you create material and activities in the LMS, use the Accessibility Checker to review and resolve any issues. Refer to the Faculty Resources for Digital Accessibility to identify and fix issues with your MS Word, PDF, Google Docs, PowerPoint, or other documents.
Set My Class Home Page. Choose what to display as your course Home.
Update My Class Site Menu. Manage your course menu to choose which tools to use or hide.
Configure Critical Grading Settings. Verify or choose the Grade Scheme and set your grading policy (manual recommended).
Set Gradebook Weighting in Assignment Groups. Use Assignment Groups to organize assignments and weight your gradebook.
Add My Graded Activities. Add assignments, discussions, and quizzes to assign work and populate the Grades tool.
Upload My Documents. Use Files to upload class documents and organize content within folders.
Sequence My Learning Materials. Use Modules to organize your class activities and Pages to share lesson content.
Publish My Modules and Pages. Be sure you publish your modules and publish your pages so students can see your hard work!
Publish My Class Site. Students won't see your site or receive site announcements until you publish your class site.
Update My Notification Preferences. If you want to receive class announcement emails or manage your notices, update your notification preferences.

Faculty To-Do List: After the Term Begins

Don't forget to...

Double-Check That Your Site and Content Are Published. Students will not see your class or modules if you didn't publish them. Learn how to publish your site, publish your modules, and publish your pages.
Continue to Check for Accessibility. Use the Accessibility Checker to be sure that the content you create in the Canvas rich content editor remains available to all learners.
Send a Class Announcement. Use Announcements to communicate with your students. (Important: Students will receive announcements, but you won't receive a copy of your own class announcements by email until you update your notification preferences!)
Explore Analytics. Use Course Analytics to assess student engagement with your class.
Use SpeedGrader! Grade class work with ease with SpeedGrader.
Review Extra Credit Strategies. Explore options to apply extra credit to assignments or student grades.

Site Setup

Learn to configure your class site.

Coursework

Develop coursework to assess student learning.

Content

Explore features to share content and information.

Communication

Discover options for communicating with students.