1. Top FIVE things to know about Canvas

2. Publish, Publish, Publish
In Blackboard to make materials visible to students, you selected to make items available. Canvas requires you to publish items so that students can view them.  Similar to Blackboard’s folder functions, if you place a published item inside an unpublished Canvas module- students would not be able to see the item.
If you want to make sure that students can view a particular item, you would use the “Student View.” The course layout in both the instructor’s and student’s view is extremely similar, except in Student View you only see published and enabled items, i.e. what you want the students to see. Disable any items in the Navigation Menu that you will not be using in the course via “Settings” to avoid overwhelming students.

3. Set Your Notifications Preferences
four delivery types:
notify me right away,
daily summary,
weekly summary, or
don't send.
Canvas has a strong emphasis on communication tools. The equivalent to Blackboard Course Messages is Canvas Conversations Inbox. Unlike Course Messages, the Canvas Inbox cannot be hidden or disabled. Therefore, it is extremely important that you and your students set up your Notifications. By default, Canvas sends course notifications to you via your FIU address. One of the features of the Canvas Inbox is that you can reply directly to notifications received outside of Canvas and the reply will populate within Canvas.
Notifications are sent as one of four delivery types: notify me right away, daily summary, weekly summary, or don't send. If you change a setting, the change is made immediately to your account.  
Notification settings apply to all of your courses; you cannot change settings for individual courses.
You may be able to reply directly to notifications outside of Canvas. Replies are updated in the Canvas Inbox. However, please be aware that attachments added as part of an external reply are not included with the message shown in Canvas.

4. The Help Menu is your friend
Includes the following:
UMKC Connect
Accessibility Resources
Canvas Request System
Instructional Technology Support
Ask a Librarian
Online Student Orientation
Search the Canvas Guides
Ask Your Instructor a Question
Report a Problem
UMKC Resources and Policy Statements
The Help Menu is your friend

5. Use the Student View

6. Make sure you are using the New Gradebook