Canvas
Panopto and Multimedia
Zoom
Other Technologies
Accessibility
Request Forms

Need live Canvas help now? Contact Canvas Tier 1 support 24/7. To access Canvas support, you must first be logged in. Use the Login button at the top left to log in, then you may access the complete Help menu .

Due to the large number of school districts, colleges and universities undertaking fully or partially remote instruction, wait times with Canvas support can be unusually long. If you do not wish to wait in a chat or phone queue, the "Open a Canvas Support Ticket" link in the Help menu will allow you to message Canvas support and they will reach back out to you via email. Additionally, the Pitt Educational Software Consulting team is available to provide support via email to edtech@teaching.pitt.edu during our regular Monday-Friday 8:30-5:00 hours.

Canvas Basics

Canvas provides extensive online how-to guides, which you may browse at the Canvas Community. You may also be interested in the Canvas Q&A and Ideas communities where Canvas users from around the world help one another and propose and vote on future development ideas. You can also get information about upcoming updates to Pitt's Canvas environment at our Canvas Updates page.

Global Tools and User Accounts

Creating and Managing Course Content

Modules
Pages
New: Custom Course Home Page Tutorial
Files
The Rich Content Editor
Course Navigation

Assessments and Grading

New: Information about Canvas and Assessment Security
Assignments
Gradebook
Outcomes
Quizzes
Rubrics
SpeedGrader

Managing Students and Other Course Users

Communication Tools

Canvas Integrations

Many of the other educational technologies used at Pitt integrate with Canvas to pull in student rosters, push grades back to the gradebook, or give students an easy "one stop shop" for access.

General Information about Creating Multimedia For Your Course

Multimedia refers to anything that uses both words and images together to communicate. Common examples of multimedia are videos and PowerPoint presentations. Multimedia, when done well, augments students' learning as compared to a words-only format.

Evidence-based best practices for creating multimedia resources for learning
Tips for planning and creating a multimedia resource
I want to make multimedia for my course, what software and hardware should I use?
Can I use a tablet device to capture my handwriting while I narrate a video?
How can I include videos in my Canvas course materials?
Do you want to provide access to a film you'd normally be showing in class or putting on reserve at the library? Please fill out this ULS Media Purchase Form and a librarian will be in touch regarding your options.

What is Panopto?

Panopto is the University of Pittsburgh's secure video recording, hosting and streaming platform. You can use Panopto to:

Record your lectures, with or without PowerPoint slides
Create a demonstration of a technique or skill
Upload videos you already have in a digital format
Embed quiz questions into your videos
Archive and share your recorded Zoom meetings
Manage your video files so that they are only seen by the people you give permission to

Panopto is integrated closely with Canvas, but can also be used stand-alone. You control the share settings on your videos in Panopto, so they can be viewed only by the people within or outside of Pitt that you designate. The Canvas integration automates these share settings so that when a video is presented in a Canvas course, the share settings are automatically updated to give all currently-enrolled students of that course viewer access, and all enrolled teachers and TAs creator access.

What are the Components of Panopto?

Panopto consists of three main components (click the links for more information on each):

The My Pitt Video website: the cloud storage and streaming platform for all Panopto videos
The Panopto Focus Recorder: a free video recording application you download to your own computer and can use to make your videos
The Canvas integration: creates a folder in My Pitt Video for each of your courses in Canvas, allows easy sharing of videos in your courses, and dynamically updates video share settings based on Canvas course enrollments

More support for using Panopto:

Zoom

You must first go to https://pitt.zoom.us/ and log in with your Pitt Credentials to configure your Pitt Zoom account.

Once you have done so, you may need to re-login to Canvas to make sure that the configuration has synced.

Zoom is Pitt's enterprise web conferencing solution. It can be used to hold synchronous classes and meeting, virtual office hours, and create recordings of these events for later viewing asynchronously. Zoom is supported by Pitt IT and is integrated with Canvas or can be used stand-alone.

At this time, Sponsored accounts do not have access to full license features. Talk to Pitt IT if you have a Sponsored Pitt account and would like to have full Zoom features.

Getting Started with Zoom

Pitt IT Zoom Support Pages: A wealth of information about Zoom at Pitt, how it is used, what the policies are, and best practices for running and attending Zoom meetings.
Pitt IT Zoom Training: Numerous types of training materials for learning how to use Zoom.
Starting a Zoom meeting through Canvas: For users of Canvas, this is the easiest way to start an online class.
Using Zoom Outside of a Canvas Course: How to schedule a Zoom meeting without going through Blackboard or Canvas.
New! The Zoom-Panopto Integration: When you record a Zoom meeting, the recording is automatically saved and hosted at Panopto.
Quick Guide to Pre-Assigning Breakout Rooms
Start-to-finish walk-through guide to setting up a Zoom meeting for your course through Canvas, inviting a Zoom Room if necessary, recording the meeting, and presenting the recording to your students using Panopto.

Hosting and Attending Zoom Meetings

Zoom Use Cases: How to use Zoom to conduct virtual office hours, one-on-one meetings, student and group presentations, and presentations where you need to "write" on the screen.
Zoom Rooms: Learn how to use the Zoom Rooms systems that have been installed in many classrooms across the Pittsburgh campus.
Zoom Host Features: When you schedule a Zoom meeting, you are the host. Meeting hosts have several tools available to them to help conduct a smooth and productive session.
Using Zoom for Students: Feel free to give this link out to help students get started using Zoom

Zoom Security Best Practices

Zoom Security: "Zoom Bombing" is the practice of unwanted guests intruding on video meetings for malicious purposes. This article covers methods you can use to prevent Zoom Bombing, or to respond to it if it happens during your meeting.
Download and print our How to Stop Zoom Bombing When It's Happening tip sheet to keep handy during your meetings.

What Other Educational Software is Available At Pitt?

The University of Pittsburgh offers instructors a number of technology tools to use in their teaching. Some of these tools integrate seamlessly with Canvas, others are used stand-alone, and some can be used either way.

Get general information about Canvas integrations and how to request a new integration be considered.

Guides for Other Popular Educational Software

Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a free video discussion platform from Microsoft that helps educators see and hear from every student in class and foster fun and supportive social learning. In Flipgrid, educators post discussion prompts and students respond with short videos, whether they are learning in class or at home.

Visit the Flipgrid Getting Started Guide
Browse the Flipgrid help articles
Using Flipgrid with Canvas

Gradescope

Gradescope bridges the divide between paper-and-pencil and digital assignments, ideal for disciplines such as math, chemistry, engineering and economics. Using Gradescope, either you or your students themselves can digitize and upload handwritten assignments for assessment using Gradescope's online feedback and grading system.

Visit Gradescope's Get Started video guides
Visit the Gradescope Help Center
Gradescope is integrated with Canvas. Learn more about using Gradescope with Canvas.

NameCoach

NameCoach helps students and instructors create accurate audio name pronunciations, to promote respect, inclusion, and belonging in every interaction.

Using NameCoach with Canvas

OMET Teaching Surveys

Get more information about teaching surveys from the Office of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching (OMET)
Using OMET Teaching Surveys in Canvas

Qualtrics Online Survey Service

Qualtrics allows you to easily create a survey, collect and store data securely, analyze responses, and present results. It is available to Pitt students, faculty, and staff at no cost. Qualtrics can be used to support teaching, academic research, and institutional business. Please note that Qualtrics does not integrate with Canvas.

More information about Qualtrics

Respondus 4.0

Respondus is a tool that can help instructors take a quiz created in a Word or other text format document and import it into Canvas in a way that Canvas can understand and use to create a Quiz. Respondus can also help you turn a Canvas quiz into a Word document for printing should you or your students require a pencil-and-paper version of the test.

More information on downloading, installing and using Respondus.

Top Hat

Top Hat's active learning tools bring real-time student polling and interactive assessments to your classroom. Top Hat can be used stand-alone or integrated with Canvas.

Turnitin

Turnitin offers a suite of tools designed to help instructors assess the originality of student work as well as provide feedback and promote peer-to-peer assessments. Turnitin can be used on its own or as an integration with Canvas. Instructors must request a Turnitin account if they wish to use it stand-alone.

University of Pittsburgh Accessibility Resources

Accessibility and Remote Teaching and Learning

Accessibility within Canvas
Remember Accessibility in the Rush to Online Instruction: 10 Tips for Educators
Creating Accessible Courses for Remote Learning Presentation by Angie Bedford-Jack

Checking your Accessibility in Canvas with UDOIT

Creating Accessible Documents

Using Your Computer's Accessibility Features

Creating Accessible Multimedia/Video

Web Integrations

I would like to request...

Access to Blackboard
As of December 11, Blackboard will be retired and direct access to it will be unavailable for faculty, staff and students. System administrators have retained access and can grant limited direct access on an as-needed basis, or we can work with you to retrieve data or content from Blackboard post-retirement. Use this form to request an evaluation of your needs.
To Crosslist my Canvas Courses
Are you teaching the same course to students who register for it under different departments, course numbers or section numbers and would prefer to maintain the online content in a single Canvas course shell for all of your students?
A Canvas Demo Course
We can create a course with no content and no student enrollments for you to learn how to use Canvas or begin to develop a future course.
A Canvas Organization
An Organization is very similar to a course in Canvas, but it is not connected to the enrollment system and can be used for student and faculty groups and organizations.
A Canvas Commons Group
Canvas Commons is a learning object repository that enables educators to find, import, and share course resources. Forming a Group in Commons allows a limited set of instructors and staff (such as in a department, program or course sequence) to share materials with one another only, without sharing with the entire institution or Commons community.
A One-on-One or Group Training Consultation
For topics outside the scope of our training webinars, we can arrange one-on-one or group consultations on a first-come, first-served basis.
My Blackboard Content Be Imported to Canvas
Use this request form if you need assistance importing content from Blackboard that was not covered by the bulk content migration (all active Blackboard courses from Summer 2018 through Spring 2020).
A Turnitin Instructor Account
If you plan on using Turnitin outside of Canvas, you must request an account first. (Please note, this request form is for instructors only, students do not need to request accounts.)

Digitize a VHS/DVD
Classroom Services offers this service on a limited basis, and this form will connect you with a team member who will work with you to explore your options.

Something Else Not Covered Here