Two apps and your mobile browser
Latest revision: 2022-01-25
Carrying out your work as a teacher entirely through your phone is probably extremely challenging. However, you can benefit from being able to look into a course and check the situation or to communicate with your students via your phone.
Since many students use their mobile phones to a large extent, it is also good for you to have the apps so you can check what your course looks like in the phone.
There are two apps
In Google Play and App Store are two different apps for Canvas. One is intended for students and the other is intended for teachers. In the teacher app, you only see courses you are a teacher in. In the student app, you see all courses you have access to, i.e. both those where you are a teacher and where you are a student.
If you want to use your phone only to communicate and to check what course material looks like, you will do well with only the student app. If, on the other hand, you want to comment on submissions or update assessments, for example, you must have the teacher app.
You can get help via Canvas on your computer to log in to your mobile. When at the computer, click on the icon for your account and select QR code for mobile login. Scan the displayed code with the Canvas app in your mobile and you will be logged in.
Settings in the apps
You can find the settings in the app by clicking on the "hamburger menu" (1) at the top left and selecting settings (2).
Among other things, you can choose which landing page you want, i.e. whether the app should be opened with a course overview, with a to-do list or with your messages in the inbox. You can also choose if you want push notifications, i.e. whether the mobile should ring when something happens on Canvas.
Canvas in the phone's browser
The apps have some limitations, it is not possible to book meetings or join groups in the app for instance.
To access all functions, you can open the browser in your phone and enter the address of your university's Canvas Instance. However, because the phone's screen is so small, the pages will look a little different.
This is what Canvas looks like in the browser on a phone with a small screen.
Canvas' main menu is below the hamburger menu on the left and the course menu is below the arrow on the right.