Teacher-to-Student Communication, pt. 2: Using Notifications

In the previous post we spoke about sending direct messages to students. Today, let’s look at how we can make Canvas’s notification infrastructure do the work for us.

Setting Up Notifications

phoneConcern If set up properly, Canvas accounts will notify users – via email or push notification via the mobile app (see this article) – of almost any change/update to the course. On the student side, notifications can be generated by announcements, assignment creation and grading, and anything else that causes a change to what the student sees in Canvas. Instructors get similar access to notifications including flags for when assignments get submitted (on time or late). Below are two articles that explain how to customize notifications in Canvas:

How do I set my Canvas notification preferences as an instructor?
How do I set my Canvas notification preferences as a student? (Share this with your students!!!)
It’s important to note that you will not be able to set push notifications unless you download and install the Canvas Teacher or Canvas Student apps onto your mobile device.

Once we have all set our notifications (for both student and teacher accounts) we can plan different strategies that facilitate teacher-to-student communication for things like due-date reminders, calendar adjustments, or last-minute changes. Click the quick-tip button below to learn how to read an example.

Let’s say you create an assignment that was only discussed in person (it does not appear on the syllabus). The Calendar tool in Canvas will have already displayed the due date of the published assignment. However, you decide you want to give your students a reminder 2 days before the assignment needs to be submitted. By using the Announcements tool in your course, you can create a message that will go out to a course section and delay its posting to a specific date/time – in this case, 2 days before the assignment is due.

As soon as the announcement posts, your students will be notified of this and be reminded to turn in their submission. This scenario shows us how we do not have to rely on an external messaging system or keep up-to-date contact lists to communicate with a class if both you and your students have enabled notifications and updated contact settings for your Canvas accounts.

Clear communication is an integral part to any course. It will minimize scheduling issues, improve the overall planning of your course, and establish functional discourse between you and your students. Whether you prefer simple messaging or the automated notification method, make sure you keep it updated and check it often.

Below are a few extra tips (click the headers for more info.) and to help improve communication between you and your students. If you have any questions regarding the above-mentioned information or new ideas for communicating with students, let us know by submitting this help desk ticket.

Stick to a medium, method, and platform. Your students will get used to receiving messages and notifications from a certain point of contact and respond using whatever has worked in previous communications.

Gradebook and Speedgrader both provide comment boxes (capable of recording audio) when you enter grades. Thoughtful feedback increases students’ chances of success in your course.

As a general and non-trivial practice, be conscious of how your students will manage the readability, functionality, and general accessibility of your course materials. Things like broken links and improperly formatted images and text (stylized fonts, contrasting foreground and background colors, etc.) may negatively impact the comprehension of your messages, assignments, and pages. Visit FAU Student Accessibility Services to learn more!

In the Global Navigation Menu, a bubble containing a number will float on top of the Inbox button, detailing the number of unread messages you’ve received since the last time you opened your conversations.

Include it in your syllabus, tell them in person, and put it in big bold letters on the home page of your course!

If you expect students to respond to you over weekends or at specific times, give them a heads up. It’s also their responsibility to keep their notification settings up-to-date, check their messages/calendars, and be available during the times/events/meetings scheduled (in person or online) for your course. Lastly, be clear about the hours/days you are most likely to respond so that they have an idea of what a typical window of communication is like with you.

Your course may be run fully online, but that doesn’t mean you have to change your teaching style. Using video-conferencing software (e.g., WebEx, Skype, etc.) you can schedule online meetings with student groups or office hours if you happen to be out of town. Lecture-capture software (e.g., My Mediasite) allows you to create virtual lectures that contain a combination of presentation slides, web-cam feeds, and/or screen-captures. A schedule of Instructional Technologies’ workshops demonstrating these software types and other systems can be found here. You can also schedule a one-on-one training session with one of our experts or book our in-house studio (CM-144) to run video conferences or create your lectures.