CANVAS Totally Confuses Me

[naumannj]

I have 56 years of teaching - 22 at UMSL (adjunct Geography instructor). I've taught online classes for 15 years using BlackBoard and my web site. Now, BlackBoard, which was logical and a joy with which ti work, is gone. It has been replaced by CANVAS in which I see little that is logical to me. I'm not against technology: I was a top user of BlackBoard, I used clickers in my classroom classes (worked better and easier with BlackBoard), Since the lock-down. I've had Open Office on Zoom twice a week. This certification class is using CANVAS and I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm writing this because I think I'm supposed to post something am respond to someone's post. I'll probably only teach one or two more years (I'll turn 80 in December if COVID doesn't get me).

[Antonini]

I too taught with Blackboard and then moved districts and they used Canvas.  I was able to import pool questions from Blackboard to Canvas and I discovered when I decided to embrace my situation (I no longer have Blackboard Im with Canvas now) that I was able to learn Canvas and I enjoy their platform more than Blackboard.  It is easy to pick one or two things that I wish I could have back from Blackboard but overall Canvas’ platform has so much more to offer.  I promise if you give it a try you’ll see Canvas will make this the best two years of your career.

[Chris_Hofer]

Greetings, @naumannj ...

Sorry to read that you are having some difficulties navigating around the Canvas environment.  It's great that you found the Community site, and you've probably discovered that this site is not the same as the course you are taking via the Canvas LMS.  There are lots of people here in the Canvas Community website (which is separate from your Canvas course) that are willing and able to help should you have any questions.  While the vast majority of people here in the Community site probably won't be able to assist with specific questions about the course you are taking, we can certainly provide some more general help with how Canvas works.  I'm not sure if this is the case for you, but your instructor may have your Canvas course set up mainly using the "Modules" screen.  Instructors can organize all kinds of different content via modules and design an overall "flow" of how they want their students to move through the course.  Think of modules as "units" or "chapters"...each covering a different topic.  Now, with respect to your discussion topic postings, here is a short video tutorial for you on the basics of posting to a discussion topic in your Canvas course: Discussions Overview (Students) - Canvas Community.  If you want to take a deeper dive into discussion topics, there are several written Guides that you can look through.  Finally, you might want to reach out to your instructor if you have any specific questions about the course you are taking...such as question about activities, assignments, discussion topics, etc.  You can contact your instructor by following the information within this Guide: How do I contact Canvas Support? - Canvas Community.

I hope these resources will be of help to you!  As always, please let Community members know if we can help in any way.  Take care...be well.