Tech: Download Your Courses, especially the gradebook, and Why Use Canvas Chat First?

First, we strongly recommend that you download your courses so that you have your own copy. We especially recommend that you download your entire gradebook as a .csv file (see image below). Having a folder with past gradebooks can be helpful in writing recommendation letters, especially in the case of Alumni.

Second, if you experience an issue, your first best resource is the Canvas chat, where you will get an immediate response from an actual person, NOT a chatbot (there might be a short line depending on timing). You will find the chat for faculty under the “Help” menu (see below). You can also search the Canvas Guides (top link) where you will find many answers to common questions.

• The beauty of Canvas chat is getting a live person right away. While you can put in a Service Desk ticket, that ticket needs to be routed to the correct person, and that person could be out that day, in a class, or otherwise unable to respond as quickly as you’d like. It also can lead to a long back and forth while we gather pertinent information from you– information that you can provide directly in chat. 
• You can also speak to an actual person by calling the Canvas Support Hotline.