Canvas Corner Volume 1: The Training Services Portal & Your Canvas Journey
Welcome to the first ever Canvas Corner w/ Me, Ben Post!
In the coming weeks and months, Canvas Corners will address the very basics of using Canvas to build, share, and assess course content. Whether you’re ready to start building in Canvas now, plan to wait until the snow starts to fall, or until East Bay becomes swimmable again, keep these posts handy for whenever you’re ready to dig in. The goal for this initial series is to transform NMC instructors step-by-step, week-by-week, into Canvas experts.
Today’s Canvas Corner addresses the Instructure (Canvas’s parent company) Training Services Portal. This portal can be accessed through NMC’s Canvas “Help” drawer and contains more than 20 Canvas training courses. These course are between 7-90 minutes long and take users step-by-step through many of Canvas’s most important and valuable course building features and best practices. Attending these self-paced courses is optional, but they are great for self-starters ready to jump in on their own. Members of the Educational Technology team have gone through most of the Training Services tutorials and found them incredibly useful. Signing up is easy, too! Just click “Help” from the Canvas left sidebar, select “Training Services Portal” from the drawer, and then click the acknowledgement on the next page and accept to enroll. The portal will then appear in a new browser tab and from there you can search for the training(s) you want to take and select “Enroll Now” from the bottom of the title card.
RELEVANT LINKS FOR TODAY'S CANVAS CORNER:
Training Portal Links:
- Training Portal Home Page (First time? Type in nmc.instructure.com, click “Submit,” and then “Authorize” on the next page)
- Opening Canvas (20 minutes – to enter, you must first authorize your Training Services account)
Relevant Knowledgebase Articles:
NMC Canvas Resources:
- Canvas Corner Playlist
- Moodle Minute Playlist
- Ed Tech Knowledgebase
- Growing with Canvas at Northwestern Michigan College (Instructor Training)
- Passport to Canvas (Student Training)
ABOUT CANVAS CORNERS
Canvas Corners will come out each week during the fall and spring NMC academic calendar. Each will begin with a short video where Ben will walk viewers through a straightforward, yet essential, Canvas feature or function. Below the video will be a description of that same feature or function, and then each post will conclude with pertinent knowledgebase links, relevant Training Services Portal courses, and other relevant links to assist you on your Canvas journey. If you have any suggestions for improvements to the Canvas Corner, please email me at bpost@nmc.edu.