Two students sitting on the ground making designs using pieces of colored tape

Place-Based Engagement: Featuring KSMOCA

Two students sitting on the ground making designs using pieces of colored tape

Contributors:Harold McNaron, Megan McFarland

Place-Based Engagement: Featuring KSMoCA

At PSU, we “let knowledge serve the city”, but how? To what end? Who benefits? What does it mean to center community interests at PSU? The place-based engagement strategies utilized as part of PSU College of the Arts’ (COTA) partnership with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary (Dr. MLK, Jr.) School provides a helpful example.

Who

PSU College of the Arts (COTA)

Where

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary (Dr. MLK, Jr.) School

According to the Place-Based Justice Network, place-based engagement is “a long-term university-wide commitment to partner with local residents, organizations, and other leaders to focus equally on on-campus and community impact within a clearly defined geographic area.” But how does that relate to pedagogical techniques and classroom activities? It starts with community.

Forming a Community Partnership

In 2014, administrators at Dr. MLK, Jr. School reached out to neighborhood residents and COTA faculty members Harrell Fletcher and Lisa Jarrett to explore a potential partnership. Specifically, the administrators and the PSU faculty members were mutually interested in increasing art access for the young students of Dr. MLK, Jr. School. Out of this collaboration, the King School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA) was born. Since its founding, KSMoCA has hosted collaboratively-designed gallery exhibits, artist talks, a student-produced podcast, publications, an artist-in-residence program, and more.

"PSU students benefit from off-campus, authentic art practice experiences in a public school setting."

Through the KSMoCA partnership, Dr. MLK, Jr. School students gain access to local artists, PSU faculty members, and PSU students for shared learning experiences, art-making, mentorship, and generative exploration. In turn, participating PSU students benefit from off-campus, authentic art practice experiences in a public school setting. PSU students also enjoy connections to Dr. MLK, Jr. students, school administrators and professional artists—local, national and international.

What roles do PSU students play?

Currently several graduate students in the Art and Social Practice program serve in leadership roles for art projects within COTA’s interdisciplinary course “Museum in a Public School”, involving everything from a visiting artist to even student safety patrols. The undergraduates taking this course come from a variety of areas of study and, as part of their participation in the course, mentor Dr. MLK, Jr. students one-on-one and support them in creating their own art projects.

“This is a key element of impactful place-based community engagement: challenging traditional and current disparities of power and privilege via more equitable, mutual and generative strategies.”

Rather than centering the partnership on any one product or outcome, KSMoCA’s success is attributed, in large part, to the relationship between and mutual commitment of the Dr. MLK, Jr. School community and PSU. Professors Fletcher and Jarrett, along with KSMoCA’s Program Director and current MFA student, Laura Glazer, use an iterative process to frequently query and return back to the interests and needs of Dr. MLK, Jr. students, their teachers and their families in program-planning efforts. This is a key element of impactful place-based community engagement: challenging traditional and current disparities of power and privilege via more equitable, mutual and generative strategies. Based on community input, KSMoCA organizers develop themes, program ideas, and student engagement plans as mechanisms of progress towards shared interests and goals. While specific projects and funders may vary, it is this common bond–authentic relationships between neighbors–that sustains the community-engaged learning efforts at KSMoCA.

Activate Your Teaching

To engage with current community partners:

 

    • Start course-based, annual or other planning efforts by querying and centering the interests and energies of area residents, activists and partner organization staff
    • Explore new ways of connecting PSU’s assets with community partner interests and vice versa (e.g. providing HRAC report data to support a grant they are writing or sharing a previous webinar recording aligned with community partner professional development interests)
    • Consider if one or more of PSU’s current community partner organizations seems to align with your goals. Your course/initiative might be an opportunity to expand or deepen the PSU-community partnership (e.g. Latino Network’s partnerships with University Studies’ capstone program as well as GDI’s Latine Futures initiative)

To foster new community partner relationships:

 

    • Check in with with OAI staff Harold McNaron about potential or current partnerships that might be a good fit
    • Review PSU’s current community partners via University Relations’ Community Impact Team
    • View the Community Engagement Toolkit from PSU's Student Community Engagement Center about strategies for successful community engagement strategies.
    • Explore off-campus groups and individuals using the on-campus resources above whose work aligns well with departmental and course-based learning outcomes and themes (e.g. governmental water safety teams or entrepreneur support networks)
    • Take time to understand key elements of the community-engaged context of any potential partnership (e.g. history of their organization; current goals and areas of focus; current funders, collaborators) and to share key contextual elements with your new partner, especially if they are not accustomed to partnering with colleges or universities (e.g. academic calendars; PSU student demographics; potential for sustained partnership, funding)
    • Reach out to OAI staff Harold McNaron to assist with designing meeting agendas, partner agreements and other resources to help your new partnership set a firm foundation

Teaching with Non-Supported Platforms

As stewards of PSU’s digital learning environment, the Office of Academic Innovation (OAI) is always exploring new teaching and learning platforms, applications, and resources. We take a risk-minimization approach to accessibility, with the goal of full inclusivity.

How does an application become adopted campus-wide?

Before any software is adopted campus-wide, it must be rigorously tested for both security and accessibility. If approved, it may be piloted among a small cohort of faculty, and the results of that user testing are reviewed. At that point, if budget approval is granted, OAI staff are trained to support faculty use, while the Office of Information Technology (OIT) staff are trained to support student use.

In some cases, a school or program at PSU may review and license an application for specific faculty. For example, interactive materials from McGraw-Hill Connect are often used by instructors in the School of Business. If you know the application you need is used by others in your program, begin by checking with your department administrator. Make sure to ask if there’s a dedicated staff member trained to support faculty use.

Note: Please submit your request at least one term before you would like to use the software to allow enough time for the review process.

Independent application adoption

PSU maintains a suite of tools that are centrally supported and approved. You may choose to use any software that you feel would help your learning community, but if you choose to use an application that has not been adopted by PSU, here are some things to keep in mind:

Student Support

It will be up to you to test and support the tool for use in your course. OAI and OIT staff have not been trained in the use of these applications, nor do they have administrative access to these tools for troubleshooting. Take some time to explore the support materials available on the application website. Make sure to search for “support” or “help” and review those resources carefully. This material will be significantly different from the marketing content on a product’s website.

When possible, test the application by creating prototype student resources or activities. It’s important to keep in mind that you’ll also be responsible for helping your students use the application. Be sure to check for any student-facing support materials available from the vendor so you can provide them.

In keeping with the University’s mission to provide equitable learning opportunities to all students, you may also take into consideration whether the tool is accessible for all students and that it is being used in a FERPA-compliant way (see FERPA Student Records Privacy Tutorial).

Student Experience

Look for possible areas of student confusion. If you can’t access a student view of the application, contact the company’s support team for more information. Another important step is to explore any user forums available. See what kinds of problems users have, and whether they receive the help and information they need.

If the learning and support resources for either instructors or students seem inadequate, you should be cautious with adoption. It can be stressful to troubleshoot issues during the term, particularly if you’ll be using the application for graded activities.

If you feel confident about adopting the application, we suggest using it for low-stakes activities at first. Let your students know you’re doing a “trial run,” and be sure to share instructions and support resources with them. It’s particularly important to make sure they know not to request help on this application from the OIT support desk.


Upload to MediaSpace from a mobile device

Back to Canvas Tutorials

You can share media recorded on your phone or tablet using Kaltura’s KMS GO application. The application is available for Android and iOS mobile devices. It allows you to upload audio, video, and images from your device to your PSU Kaltura MediaSpace account. Once uploaded and published as Unlisted, you can share that media in Canvas or via email.

Begin by going to the Apple Store or Google Play Store, and search for “Kaltura MediaSpace GO – Education” (do not select “KMS GO for regions“).

  1. Install the application and select Open.
  2. The app asks if you want to allow notifications. Select Don't Allow or Allow.
  3. You'll see a prompt to log in. Enter https://media.pdx.edu. This connects the application to the PSU Kaltura platform, but you're not yet logged into your own MediaSpace account.
  4. You may see a prompt asking if you want to allow KMS GO to "make and manage phone calls." We recommend you select Don't Allow.
  5. Your display will now show that you're connected to PSU MediaSpace. To log in, select the Profile icon. If you're uploading media you may select the Upload icon, which will also prompt you to log in.
  6. Sign into MediaSpace with your PSU Odin/password and authenticate with Duo. You'll now see Settings and Profile icons. Select Profile to see your current media list. You'll also see icons for:
  • Home – returns you to the homepage.
  • Upload - select to upload media.
  • Inspire me - shows publicly available media.
  • Explore - lets you search shared PSU videos on MediaSpace.
  1. Select the Upload icon and choose the type of media you want to upload: video, audio, or image.
  2. You'll be asked to allow KMS GO to access media on your device. Select Allow.
  3. From the options shown, select the area of your device where the media is stored.
  4. Enter a title for your media and select Upload.
  5. Agree to the copyright protection prompt.
  6. When the upload is complete, you'll be prompted to publish the media now or later. If you want the video to remain private, select Later. To share the video, select Yes.
  7. The media will display with these publishing options: Private (default), Unlisted, and Public. To share your media in a Canvas course or via email, select Unlisted. This makes the media viewable by those with the link or in your Canvas course.
  8. Select UPDATE.
  9. You'll be prompted to copy the media's URL to your device clipboard. To share, select Yes.
  10. Open your email or Canvas course account to share your URL. To paste the URL, press and hold within your email or Canvas text field. For more information on how and where you can share media links in Canvas, please see Add media files to Canvas.
iOS home screen.
iOS home screen
Android home screen.
Android home screen

This article was last updated on Nov 4, 2024 @ 5:18 pm.


Teaching Strategies for Digital Class Meetings

Contributors:Lindsay Murphy

Digital class meetings are sessions that some or all students attend via Zoom or another virtual meeting platform. Such meetings may be recorded for students to also use asynchronously. Digital class meetings are most often associated with these delivery methods:

  • Online – Scheduled Meetings: Online courses with required meeting times
  • Hybrid: Fewer in-person class sessions with more online, remote, or self-directed activities

Learn more about PSU course delivery methods, including examples and guidelines, in the Faculty Guide to Course Delivery Methods.

Set Expectations

You and your students may have varied experience with digital class meetings. It can help to gauge student expectations and circumstances at the start of the term and to communicate your expectations clearly.

Try a Pre-Course Survey

A pre-course survey is a great way to get to know your students and understand where they are in their learning. When your course includes digital class meetings, it can help to include questions about students’ technology setups and their expectations for participating. For example, you might ask how students anticipate they’ll usually attend class (in-person or via Zoom). If they’ll attend via Zoom, it’s a good idea to ask about their Zoom and technology setup.

Will they join:

  • From a smartphone, tablet, or laptop/desktop computer?
  • At work, on campus, or at home?
  • In a private space or from a shared space?
  • With a camera and reliable internet?

All these factors can influence access to digital class meetings.

You can use what you learn from the survey to set your expectations and plan your digital class meetings. For example, if many of your students will join from a smartphone, asking them to pull up Google Docs, Canvas, or specialized software may prove challenging.

Communicate Your Expectations

As you plan your course, take some time to reflect on your expectations for student participation in digital class meetings.

Consider:

  • How will you assess engagement in person? On Zoom? When students use recordings?
  • How will you handle questions in the chat?
  • How will you handle technological issues that emerge?
  • Are there bare minimum requirements for participating (e.g. a way to take notes, access to the textbook or handouts)?
  • Will you require attendance?
  • Will you require or expect students to keep their cameras on? If so, how will you handle accessibility, equity, and privacy issues?

Consider:

  • Do you expect students to attend in-person and use Zoom only for emergencies?
  • Will you record every session and make it available to all students? Only when requested? Only in some circumstances?
  • Will you always attend in-person? What is your backup plan if you or a family member gets sick?
  • Will remote students interact with in-person students? For example, during small group activities or class presentations?

Consider:

  • If students miss scheduled synchronous activities (whether digital or in-person), how can they make up the work?
  • What will students need handy during scheduled meetings?
  • How do you expect the class to stay in touch and on track between meetings?

Once you have a sense of your expectations, how can you communicate them to your students or even collaborate with students to define participation norms collectively? At a minimum, consider sharing expectations in your syllabus and in early class communications.

Beyond Lecture: Active Learning in Digital Class Meetings

Student feedback indicates that when synchronous class time is heavily lecture-oriented, students are less motivated to attend remotely. As you plan teaching strategies, remember to factor in what you know about your particular group of students and any technological or logistical constraints.

Among the many teaching strategies to consider, this handful may be particularly well suited to the constraints and capacities of digital class meetings:

  • Include self-paced activities online before class to help build a cohesive and well-balanced blended-learning environment.
  • Use short, ungraded knowledge checks to assess learning during sessions.
  • Give students opportunities for peer-to-peer learning using think-pair-share, jigsaw, and other small group activities.
  • Allow students to choose how to give presentations: via Zoom, in-person, or recorded and shared.
  • Punctuate lectures or course discussions with polls, problem sets, example generation, and/or other applied practice. Use Google Docs and forms to give students space to contribute answers and ideas regardless of how they attend.

Deliberately plan each class, accounting for the technological complexity of digital class meetings. Plan your first class session especially carefully; it sets the tone for the rest of the term. As you plan, find ways to intentionally bridge the gap between modalities and create a supportive learning environment.

Here are some example plans with teaching strategies to engage students across modalities — and with planning down to the minute.

Along with creating a detailed lesson plan for yourself, consider sharing a brief agenda with students at the start of each class meeting. This can help you set the tone for the day and communicate any particular needs or high priority items.

Here are some example class agendas.

Across modalities, it may be easier to connect with some students than others. However, it’s crucial to engage with all students regardless of how they attend. Here are a few suggested practices to help connect across modalities:

    • Welcome everyone to each class, specifically speaking to in-person students, remote students, and students using the recordings.
    • Learn your students’ names, how to pronounce them, and which pronouns they use. Greet and refer to students by their names. (Get tips on learning students names, even in large classes.)
    • Find ways to show the contributions of remote and asynchronous students live and in class. For example, share the collaborative documents remote students are working on, or screen share the discussion posts asynchronous students have contributed.
    • Use Canvas as a “home base” for the course. This centralizes communications and provides a consistent space for students to interact across modalities when possible.
    • Take proactive steps to foster community and connection in your course.
    • Maintain your digital presence through timely feedback, virtual office hours, regular announcements, and other means.

Ideally, complete a practice run before your course starts in the classroom or space you’ll teach in.

    • Try out your classroom equipment, run through your day-one plan, make a practice recording, and test anything you’re worried about.
    • Ask a colleague or TA to join as a practice remote student.
    • Practice including all groups of students (in-person live, virtual live, and/or asynchronous).
    • Practice pulling up the various content you want to display and sharing it in the room and on Zoom.
    • Practice switching between items you’re sharing.
    • Practice basic touch-screen functions such as managing participants, turning the waiting room on and off, and starting/stopping the camera and microphone.
    • Use your practice recording to note any potential problems.

Streaming Class Sessions from Campus Classrooms with Zoom

Zoom capabilities in general pool classrooms might be different from what you’ve experienced elsewhere. Consider these key distinctions.

These assume the instructor joined the meeting via the classroom’s Logitech touch panel.

You can

  • Start and stop recording.
  • Share screen from classroom computer display, doc cam or HDMI connection.
  • Mute/unmute Zoom participants.
  • Share computer audio to Zoom participants through screen sharing options.
  • Engage in limited chat with Zoom participants.

You cannot

  • Show chat screen and gallery view simultaneously.
  • Pause recording.
  • Launch Zoom polls.
  • Launch or manage breakout rooms.
  • Display remote participants in classroom.

These assume in-person students are not individually signed into the class Zoom session and are relying on the default setup for classroom technology.

Available to Students

  • Remote participants are audible. (Volume is controlled by classroom speaker settings.)
  • The instructor’s shared materials are visible — by either computer display or doc cam. This may mirror what the instructor is screen-sharing to remote students via Zoom.

Not Available to Students

  • Remote participants’ video and thumbnails are not visible.
  • What students say in the classroom likely isn’t audible  over Zoom. (The default microphone is at the front of the room; audio pickup varies when the speaker is not close to the microphone.
  • Zoom chat is not visible.

These assume remote students are individually signed into the class Zoom session and the instructor is using the default setup for classroom technology.

Available to Students

  • The instructor is visible when at the front of the room, and audible when behind the default microphone.
  • A shared screen is visible, either from a computer feed or a doc cam, controlled by the classroom Logitech touch panel.
  • Zoom chat is available.

Not Available to Students

  • In-person students are not visible.
  • The in-class whiteboard is not reliably visible or legible.
  • In-class questions or conversations are not reliably audible.

To learn more about in-classroom Zoom technology, contact OIT’s Audio Visual Services and/or review OIT’s full technical documentation for Zoom rooms.

Getting More from Zoom in the Classroom

Before using these suggestions in class, try them privately to evaluate what you’re comfortable managing, along with which ones you feel will benefit you and your students the most.

  • Move the podium or the monitor/webcam to capture different camera views, if possible. This may be helpful for student presentations, or other times when you want to share a view of the full classroom with remote students.
  • Ask an in-class student to join the Zoom meeting and keep an eye on the chat. Make sure that student does not join audio. When questions or comments come up in chat, the in-person student should raise their hand and voice the chat contribution, crediting the contributor. Rotate this role each class session and let remote students know the plan. Let remote students know that direct messages to you may go unnoticed.
  • Join as the meeting host or co-host from your laptop or the podium computer. Don’t join audio (recommended), or keep your microphone and speakers muted to avoid audio feedback. As a host or co-host of the meeting from your laptop, you can:
    • Add live transcription to your meeting.
    • Pause and restart the video recording.
    • Initiate and manage breakout rooms.
    • Expand the chat window on your laptop view so you can more easily monitor and respond to chats.
    • Check audio or other Zoom functionality as a regular meeting participant.
    • Launch polls.
  • Join from your smartphone. Mute the phone microphone and speaker when using the podium mic, and vice versa, to avoid feedback. Adding the additional microphone connection allows you to:
    • Move around the classroom without dropping audio.
    • Use the second microphone to pick up student questions that can’t be heard clearly through the default microphone.

Zoom meeting roles: co-hosts and alternative hosts

Back to Zoom Tutorials

Zoom defines meeting management roles as:

  • Host: The user that scheduled the meeting. They have full permissions to manage the meeting. There can only be one host of a meeting.
  • Co-host: Shares most of the controls that hosts have, such as managing attendees. The host must assign a co-host during the meeting. Co-hosts cannot start a meeting.
  • Alternative host: Shares the same controls as co-hosts, but can also start the meeting. Hosts can assign alternative hosts when they schedule a meeting.

Alternative hosts must have PSU credentials

In your PSU Zoom account, an alternative host must be a PSU community member and have an Odin username to login and authenticate with.

Co-hosts may be non-PSU guests

A co-host may be a meeting participant from outside the PSU community. To admit a non-PSU participant to your meeting, first adjust the default sign-in requirement from PSU account membership to any Zoom account. Once the guest is admitted to your meeting, you can assign them the co-host role.

Next, make sure your own account settings have the co-host role enabled.

  • Sign into the Zoom web portal at https://pdx.zoom.us/
  • In the navigation panel, click Settings.
  • Click the Meeting tab.
  • Under In Meeting (Basic), verify that the Co-host setting is enabled.
    Co-host setting enabled.
  • If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, click Turn On to verify the change.

There are two ways to make a participant a co-host during a meeting.

Once the guest is admitted:

  • Hover over their video.
  • Click the ellipsis (….) icon.
  • Click Make Co-Host.

Or use the participants panel:

  • Click Participants in the meeting controls at the bottom of the Zoom window.
  • In the participants panel, hover over the name of the guest who will co-host, and choose More.
  • Click Make Co-Host.

This article was last updated on Feb 25, 2025 @ 1:01 pm.


Display your syllabus file in the Syllabus area

Back to Canvas Tutorials

The Syllabus tool can be configured to display your uploaded syllabus file. Optionally, you can also display a Course Summary, which lists course activities by date.

  1. Navigate to the Syllabus tool and open the Insert menu below the Syllabus Description heading.
    Syllabus description insert menu with document upload selected.
  2. Select Document and Upload Document.
  3. Locate the syllabus file on your computer and upload it. This creates a hyperlink.
  4. Select the hyperlink and then Link Options.
    Syllabus link options selected.
  5. In the Link Options panel, rename the hyperlink if desired.
  6. Select Preview inline and Expand preview by Default.
  7. At the bottom of the Link Options panel, select Done.
  8. Optional: below the description field you may select Show Course Summary.
    If selected, a Course Summary is automatically generated based on assignments and calendar events. Summary Items can only be changed by editing or deleting the assignments or events. All assignments (unpublished and published) are visible to instructors in the Summary, but students don’t see unpublished assignments.
  9. Select Update Syllabus. Your document will now automatically preview, and can also be downloaded by selecting the Download icon.

This article was last updated on May 7, 2025 @ 11:29 am.


Canvas Student Support and Syllabus Statement

OAI supports only faculty, but this article provides options for students to get help with Canvas.

Syllabus Statement

Consider adding this statement to your syllabus:

This course uses Canvas as the main learning platform. If you haven’t used Canvas before, I recommend you take the PSU Learning Center’s remote readiness course this week. If you’ve used Canvas and you just need occasional technical support, contact the OIT Helpdesk. If they can’t help you, please let me know.

Canvas Resources for Students

The Learning Center has self-paced learning resources for students new to Canvas. We recommend sending students there first — and encouraging them to take the Center’s remote readiness course during the term’s first week.

The OIT Helpdesk offers “just in time” technical support. This is good for students having trouble logging into Canvas, finding or accessing Canvas materials, and other technical issues.

The Help item (on the global navigation bar within Canvas) reveals links to OIT’s Canvas resources and to technology support through the myPSU portal.


Growing with Canvas

Growing with Canvas

Resource type: Self-paced Canvas course
Intended for: New faculty, emerging practitioners

Growing with Canvas is a self-paced training course to introduce the main Canvas tools. You can self-enroll through the Canvas learning system. The course is organized into modules with videos, text explanations, examples, and practice exercises. Consider working through the modules in order, because some topics build from others.

What's in the Growing with Canvas course?

In this module, you’ll learn more about the basics of navigating your Canvas course as well as how to communicate with students via the Inbox and Calendar tools.

This module covers:

  • Getting Around in Canvas
  • Communication Tools

This module focuses on overall course design, sharing strategies for customizing your course appearance as well as organizing content to support student learning.

This module covers:

  • Customizing Your Course
  • Course Design

In this module, you’ll learn more about the different Canvas activities you can use to support student engagement in your course.

This module covers:

  • Pages
  • Discussions
  • Assignments
  • Quizzes

This module shares strategies for effectively using Canvas SpeedGrader™ to assess your students’ work and share their grades with them so they can keep track of their progress in the course.

This module covers:

  • Course Settings and Weights
  • SpeedGrader and Gradebook

This module reviews how the Canvas Groups tool can be used to support learning and develop a sense of community in your course. It also outlines the steps for copying your course materials from term to term, as well as how to share content with your colleagues.

This module covers:

  • Groups and Collaboration
  • Copying and Sharing Courses

Tools You'll Use

The Growing with Canvas self-paced course is built within PSU’s learning management system, Canvas by Instructure. You can learn more about how to use Canvas with our Canvas Tutorials.

About the Course Creators

This course was adapted from the Instructure’s Growing With Canvas: Faculty Development course and customized for the PSU community by OAI staff.


Add a User to a PSU Canvas Course

This article was last updated Apr 2, 2025 @ 2:48 pm.

While most people are added to a Canvas course through an automated process, you may occasionally need to add one or more people manually. In most cases, this is something you can do yourself, but some situations may require support from OIT.

Adding a user with an Odin ID

You can add anyone with an active Odin ID to your Canvas course as long as it is during the active course dates or prior to the course start date.

  1. In Course Navigation, select People (1) link.

  1. In the upper right corner of the class list, select the +People (2) button.

Note: If the +People button is grayed out, it is likely because the course has concluded. To add a user, you will need to reopen the course by updating the course’s Participation date settings. However, be aware that updating the course’s Participation settings will open the course to all users. If you want to reopen the course for only specific users, follow the steps found in the Incomplete Student Access to a Canvas Course article.

  1. Enter the PSU email address (3) of the person you want to add. (Note: To add multiple users, enter their email addresses on a single line separated by commas.)
  2. Using the dropdown menus, assign the user(s) Role (4) and Section (5). (Note: When adding multiple users at once, only one role and section can be assigned. If you’re not sure which role to choose, read User Roles in Canvas.)
  3. Select Next (6).

  1. If located, the users to be added to the course are displayed. Confirm these are the correct users, then select the Add Users (7) button.

If you are unable to add a user with their email, you can also try adding them with their Login ID. This is the same as their Odin ID (or the part of the email before the @). If you continue to have trouble, contact the Office of Academic Innovation for faculty support.

Adding a user without an Odin ID

A user must have an Odin account to be added to a Canvas course. If you are working with a community partner or other colleague outside the PSU community and would like them to have access to your course, they must first obtain an Affiliate Account and Odin username.

After receiving an Affiliate Account and Odin username, you should be able to follow the steps above to add a user with an Odin ID. If you have any trouble adding the new user, contact the Office of Academic Innovation for faculty support. Please include the user’s pdx.edu email address in your request. This email address is required for our support professionals to add users to a course, as PSU IDs are not used in Canvas.

Student Repeatedly Removed from Course

Question:
My student keeps getting kicked out of my Canvas course! Every time I add them back in, the student gets removed again. Can you fix this?

 

Answer:
Your student is likely being removed from Canvas because of enrollment status changes in PSU’s official enrollment system, Banner. Banner sends enrollment information to Canvas regularly to keep Canvas enrollment up-to-date. If you manually add a student to your Canvas course, but that student isn’t enrolled through Banner (or their enrollment changes after you add them), Banner will tell Canvas to remove the student because of the change in their enrollment information.

 

When this occurs, contact OAI. Our support professionals can work around the Banner unenrollment.


Copy or send items to a Canvas Course

Back to Canvas Tutorials

Copy or send a course item to another Canvas course

Every Canvas index page (list of items in Modules, Assignments, Discussions, Pages, etc.) gives you the option to “push” a copy of an item to a different Canvas course in your account, or send it to another Canvas user at PSU. These options are found in the 3-dot menu to the right of the items listed. The example below is from the Modules index, but the Copy To… and Send To… options are the same in each area.

  1. In the course you want to copy materials from, select Modules from the left navigation menu.
    Modules menu item.
  2. On the right side of the list, select the three vertical dots aligned with the item you want to copy.
    Module item menu with Copy To highlighted.
  3. Select the Copy To… menu item.
  4. Select the course you want to copy this item to. You can also select a specific module to copy it into.
    Select a Course menu and Copy button.
  5. Select Copy.

Note: if you copy the same material twice without changing the filename, the first copy will be overwritten.