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Canvas

Canvas Emergency Procedures

The University has created processes to assist faculty in the event of a prolonged Canvas outage. These include:

  • A secure site where faculty can obtain copies of grades and files uploaded to each of their Canvas courses, and copies of videos they have hosted on Studio.
  • A Teams site for each course offered by faculty.
    • FDIS provides live training and tututorials for many products, including Teams.

The procedures below provide step by step instructions on how to access course content outside of canvas, how activate Teams sites for use as an alternate teaching environment, how to use Teams to communicate, and how to use My Materials outside of Canvas. It is recommended that faculty familiarize themselves with these procedures prior to the need for them.

Please contact the Office of Faculty and Departmental Instructional Support fdis@uh.edu with questions and concerns.

Procedures

Canvas content and grades, and Studio videos are backed up daily for the current term.  Follow the instructions below to view the content:

  • Click the following link: 
    Canvas Outage File/Grades Recovery
    • Login using Cougarnet Credentials
  • Homepage: Click Next
  • User Welcome Page: Click Proceed
  • File/Video/Grades Icon Page
    On this page are icons for each of your courses and course grades
    Follow the instructions on the page
    • Video Files
      • Clicking Download Now will launch and play the video in the browser
      • The video can be downloaded from the player
      • The URL can be shared
    • Course Files
      • Clicking Download Now will open a prompt to save the file
  • Course Grade Icons
    • Click Here prompts to save the CSV file
  • Canvas Studio Icon
    • Click Here opens a page with a list of videos
    • Click the video link to play the video in the browser 

Microsoft Teams will be the alternate teaching environment. All courses are available in Canvas and Teams regardless of the teaching mode. 

How to Access and Activate your Teams Class

  1. Login to your UH Office 365.
  2. Select the Teams icon on the left navigation bar.
  3. On the Teams menu, click Teams
  4. Locate and select your Class Teams.
    Note: If you can’t see your Class Teams, contact office365@uh.edu or Andy Moon, ajmoon2@central.uh.edu
  5. In “General’ Channel, click “Activate” for students to join the Class Teams.
  6. Click Activate button when an Activate team message shows.
  7. Click OK button when a message “Your team is now active” shows.
  8. Click 3 dots next to the course name and select Manage team.
  9. In “Members” tab, you can see the students’ information under the “Members and guests” section.
    Note: Since students’ roster synchronizes automatically, do not add students manually.

Canvas Studio can be accessed outside of Canvas. (If both Canvas and Studio are down, then follow the procedures in the section above.)

To view videos outside of Canvas go to:

If Canvas is available:

  • Click Login with Canvas in the box
  • Enter your Cougarnet credentials

If Canvas is offline

  • If you have a username and password, enter them in the appropriate fields.
    • Use your UH email
    • @central.uh.edu
  • If you have forgotten your password or were never given one, then clcik Forgot Password? Follow the prompts.

Teams is available to all UH users. Simply login using Cougarnet credentials. Teams chat can be used individually or group.

View team membership

Viewing team membership is a way to make sure all of your students have joined the team.  Being a member of the team is important if you are sharing recorded meetings. Only team members have access to the recordings.

  1. Next to the team name click the ellipses icon.
  2. Click Manage team.
  3. Click Members and guests
  4. All students in the team will be shown.

Message students individually

The Members page is also good place to locate a student if you want to send a message individually. The general area in teams is good way to message everyone in a team, but sometimes you only need to message a single person.

  1. From the Members and guests view hover the mouse over the student photo or initials icon.
  2. Click the chat.
  3. You will be taken to a conversation between only you and the student.
  4. You also have the option to start a video, audio, or screenshare call.

Use Channels to organize discussion boards or group work

Adding channels can help organize discussion boards or groups and keep the general area less cluttered.

  1. Next to the team name click the ellipses icon.
  2. Click Add channel.
  3. Enter a channel name.
  4. Click Add.
  5. The new channel will be accessible in the left menu below the General channel.

Most third party applications used in Canvas can be directly accessed outside of Canvas.

In the event of an emergency,  notify your students that you will be transitioning to direct access and provide them with the vendor URLs.

Be prepared with a alternate plan if the application(s) us you use cannot be accessed externally.

Instructors will need to contact the vendor representative or support teams for questions. 

Students: Directions for accessing my materials outside of canvas:
To access your course materials, please follow the steps below:

  1. Go to My Materials: https://student.follett.com
  2. Select your school from the dropdown menu.
  3. Enter your school-issued email address and click Verify Email.
  4. Check your inbox and click the verification link.
  5. You’ll be redirected back to My Materials.
  6. Select your campus to continue.

To access your course materials outside of Canvas, please follow the steps below:

  1. Go to My Materials: https://student.follett.com
  2. Select your school from the dropdown menu.
  3. Enter your school-issued email address and click Verify Email.
  4. Check your inbox and click the verification link.
  5. You’ll be redirected back to My Materials.
  6. Select your campus to continue.

When an all clear is announced and the emergency is over, grades and new content will need to be uploaded to Canvas. Also remind students to use publisher and thirt-party tool links in Canvas.