Summary
This article offers brief descriptions of the Microsoft applications that have been integrated into Canvas and are available for use in courses. It also answers many common questions about these apps in Canvas, and supplies links to additional resources and documentation.
Content
General Information
What Microsoft Applications are now integrated with Canvas?
Why are the Microsoft Apps integrated with Canvas?
Key trends in business and education world-wide include access to flexible and personalized technology that is simple and consolidated, that promotes collaborative exploration and innovation through communication and community engagement, and relies on data to drive decision making.
By integrating Microsoft applications into Canvas, students and instructors can access their data and apps, communicate in multiple ways, and collaborate much more easily with access to their resources in one convenient location.
Follow the links below to the directions for setting up these apps in your courses:
Do I have to set up the apps in each of my courses in Canvas?
At this time, you must set up the apps you wish to use in each course individually.
What does the Teams Classroom app do?
The Teams Classroom is an app for Canvas that enables educators to easily create a Class Team in Microsoft Teams for individual courses in Canvas. Once created, the Class Team can be accessed through Canvas, through the MS Teams app on any device, or through a web browser.
With the new Class Teams app, a MS Class Team will be generated based on the enrollment roster of a course in Canvas. Any changes in enrollment will be reflected in the Class Team automatically, and instructors and students will be able to navigate seamlessly between Teams and their course in Canvas.
Additionally:
- The Class Team will be created with the proper user roles and permissions
- Teams admin & Canvas privacy policies are respected during Class Team creation
- After creating the Class Team, instructors and students can access the Team from within the Canvas course, a web browser, or any Teams app
- Support across desktop, mobile and web platforms
How is a MS Class Team created in the Canvas app different from a Class Team created in MS 365?
Other than being synced with the enrollment roster of the Canvas course, there is no functional difference between a Class Team created in Canvas and a Class Team created in MS365. You can even access your Canvas course Class Team from your normal Teams app on any device without logging into Canvas first, as long as you are logged into your Teams app with your USNH credentials.
I'm logged into my Teams app on one of my devices; how do I find my Canvas course class team?
First, make sure you are logged into your Teams app with your USNH credentials (the same username and password you use to log into Canvas).
Note: You must have already enabled and created the class team in Canvas. If you have not already done, so, please follow the directions above before proceeding.
If you still don't see your class team, try the following:
- Log into your Canvas course and select the Teams Classroom option from the left navigation menu.
- Click on the team tile to open the class team. You may get a pop-up asking if you would like to open the team in the app or a browser. Choose the app.
- Your course team should now be connected to your Teams app.
What is a channel and how do I create one?
Channels organize all the files, conversations, and apps for a topic in one place. Channels can be created for group work, topics, units, and more.
Every channel has tabs, and every class team comes with a General channel.
The General channel has these tabs:
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The Posts tab for all the messages (conversations) in this channel.
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The Files tab to store all the files shared in this channel.
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The Class OneNote Notebook tab.
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The Assignments tab for creating assignments.
NOTE: USNH is not supporting assignments created in MS Teams at this time. Please use Canvas for official assignment tracking and grade-keeping.
NOTE: USNH is not supporting Grades created in MS Teams at this time. Please use Canvas for official assignment tracking and grade-keeping.
To add a channel to your class team:
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Select the ellipses (...) next to your class team’s name, then Add a channel.
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Enter a Name and an optional Description for your channel.
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Choose whether you’d like your channel to be Standard or Private. Standard channels can be seen and accessed by everyone on the team. Private channels will only be available to students you add to the channel.
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Check the box to automatically show this channel in everyone’s channel list if you wish to make the channel visible to the whole class.
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Click Add.
What can I do in the Posts tab?
Create classroom announcements and posts. Edit your post to get your students' attention, control who replies, and post across multiple channels. You can share files, start meetings, and share fun things such as stickers, emojis, gifs, and polls.
Click on the A under the text box to open a rich text editor that will give you options to format your text, add a subject line, create an eye-catching announcement, or change the importance level of your post if you want to draw more attention to it, among other things.
How do I start a private chat with someone?
Click on the Chat icon in the left "ME SPACE" menu, then click on the pen in box icon that appears near the of the search bar at the top of your team. Start typing the name of the person or group you wish to chat with in the To: field. Select their name from the list. The person or group must be affiliated with USNH or a member of your team.
Why is there a Files icon on the left and a Files tab on the top of the Team?
The icons along the LEFT SIDE of your team are your PERSONAL LINKS - your "ME SPACE" in the team. When you click on Files icon on the left, you will have options to see ALL the files you personally have access to, including files shared with you on other Teams, and files from your USNH OneDrive, where you save files you create.
The tabs along the TOP of your team are the SHARED LINKS - your "WE SPACE" in the team you currently have open. When you click on the Files tab at the top of the Team, you are accessing the shared team files in Sharepoint. Everyone who has access to the channel in the team will be able to see the files here.
How do I share a file with my class in Teams?
Click Attach under the box where you type messages, select the file location and then the file you want. Depending on the location of the file, you’ll get options for uploading a copy, sharing a link, or other ways to share.
What is the Class Notebook tab?
The Class Notebook Tab opens your Class Team OneNote Notebook. Notebook is a digital binder you can use in your class to take notes, share files, organize information, and collaborate.
What is the difference between Teams Classroom and Teams Meetings?
The Teams Classroom is an app for Canvas that enables educators to easily create a class team in Microsoft Teams for individual courses in Canvas. Once created, the class team can be accessed through Canvas, through the MS Teams app on any device, or through a web browser.
The Teams Meetings integration in Canvas enables educators to easily create and find online meetings for their classes in Canvas without having to navigate the class team. Educators can choose to create individual meetings or recurring meetings and can access an agenda view of all their scheduled meetings inside of Canvas. Students can also access the agenda view of all the meetings, and easily find any meeting recordings as well.
Note: Zoom is the preferred online meeting application used by all USNH colleges for web conferencing, and is fully integrated into Canvas.
What is the difference between Teams Meetings and Zoom?
Both applications are cloud-based web conferencing tools used for holding live meetings, and both are accessible in Canvas. The biggest differences will be where the app controls are located and how recordings are stored and accessed. You may find Teams meetings to be useful, and your students may like having the option to use Teams meeting on collaborative projects. Please be aware that Zoom is being phased out and USNH colleges are starting to useTeams meetings as an online meeting tool.
What if I'd like to learn more or try Teams Meetings?
If you would like to see what the Teams Meetings interface looks like in Canvas or give it try, here are links to more documentation:
What is the MS OneDrive App?
The Microsoft OneDrive App allows you to access your OneDrive from within Canvas and do the following:
- Attach Office 365 files including Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel anywhere in your course from the Rich Content Editor
- Distribute Office 365 cloud assignments in Canvas assignments and grade them in Canvas.
- View and organize your personal and course Microsoft Office files.
- Create collaborations in which students can work together on shared documents in real time.
- View student activity and provide real-time feedback with comments
- Access multiple Microsoft OneDrive accounts, including personal and school accounts.
- Easily add Office 365 files to your course modules.
- Use your Microsoft account for single sign-on with your LMS.
What is the difference between the MS OneDrive app and the Office 365 app?
The OneDrive app replaces the Office 365 app and allows instructors and students to access MS applications and create & edit documents without needing to leave Canvas.
For example, an instructor can use a Word file from OneDrive to generate an assignment document in Canvas. When that file is selected for an assignment, a copy is made for each student who receives the assignment.
Documents in OneDrive can be embedded or linked for reference in Canvas’s Rich Content Editor. Students can edit their documents directly in Canvas, or easily open them in a new tab to work in O365 online with real-time syncing.
NOTE: Use the Office 365 integration if you need to share the same document to multiple courses and wish to be able to make edits in your OneDrive appear in all the linked documents at the same time.
Can I use SpeedGrader to grade Canvas Assignments created with MS Office documents?
Yes! SpeedGrader capabilities with Office 365 files include:
- “Document view” for easy viewing of learner submissions
- Applying grades to a submission
- Providing comments with text, audio, or video
- Inking directly on learner files
- Inline and FreeText annotations on submitted files
- Quick navigation between learner submissions
- Highlight-enabled comments
- Text strikethroughs
- Downloading all files and submission comments for offline use
What if I'd like more information about how I can use the OneDrive app in my Canvas courses?
For more information about using the OneDrive app in Canvas to add M365 documents to your courses for reference, collaboration, and assignments, here are links to more documentation:
What is the OneNote app?
OneNote Class Notebook is a digital collaborative space for everyone in the course to store text, images, attachments, links, videos, even handwritten notes/pictures and voice memos.
In the same way that OneNote Class Notebooks can be added to a Team, they can also be added to a course in Canvas. When added to a course, the instructor does not have to create a Class Team in order to use the functions in OneNote, including:
- Read-Only (for students) Content Library for sharing content and resources with learners
- Collaboration Space where everyone in the course can work together
- Student Notebooks where students complete their individual work and instructors can share feedback, offer online office hours, and support students’ research projects.
How do I set up a OneNote Class Notebook?
Once enabled in a course, the OneNote Class Notebook will be generated based on the enrollment roster – just like a Class Team. Any changes in enrollment will be reflected in the Notebook automatically, and instructors and students will be able to navigate seamlessly between OneNote in Canvas, the available OneNote apps, and their course in Canvas.
Once created, the instructor can follow the setup directions in the OneNote Notebook to finish setting up the class, including options to add a co-teacher and set up the notebook by copying content from an existing notebook.
What if I'd like more information about how I can use the OneNote app in my Canvas courses or in Teams?
For more information about using OneNote in Canvas or in your class team, here are links to more documentation:
What is Immersive Reader?
Immersive Reader brings accessibility to all by providing a personalized reading experience – now in Canvas Pages!
- A full screen reading experience to increase readability of content
- Improves reading comprehension and accessibility for all students including foreign language learners and those with learning differences such as dyslexia
- Provides users with the ability to personalize their experience by:
- Adjust and focus text
- Break words into syllables
- Access real-time translation in over 60 languages
- Change font size/color and background color
Where can I use the Immersive Reader in Canvas?
For now, the Immersive Reader is only available in Canvas Pages. It is also available in all the M365 apps available through Canvas.
What does the Immersive Reader in Canas look like, and how do I access it?
To see how to access the immersive reader and what it looks like, check out this brief walkthrough:
Need additional help?
Please fill out this Canvas webform with as much detail as possible, or contact the ET&S Help Desk team on your local campus.