Introduction to Canvas (For Faculty) – WJC Information Technology and Services Office

If you have questions about navigating Canvas, you can start by browsing the Canvas How-To Guides for Instructors.

Another helpful resource is the Canvas 101 course that you have all been enrolled in. After logging into Canvas through OneLogin, it can always be found on your Dashboard or you can access it here: https://canvas.williamjames.edu/courses/173

How do I add a TA to my course?

If you are trying to add a TA to your course by WJC email and get an “user not found” error, try the following:

Start by reviewing the steps for adding someone to a Canvas course in this how-to Canvas guide. In the Role drop-down menu, select TA.

The very important part! Whenever adding someone to your Canvas course, you’ll run into less trouble when you add by Login ID instead of email address. For the Login ID, type what comes before the @ in their WJC email (jane_smith, egreen25, etc.).

"Why can't I just add someone using their full WJC email?"

In Canvas, you can’t add someone by email if they haven’t manually verified the email address of their Canvas account. This is a Canvas rule and the WJC staff cannot change this.

Getting people to complete the verification can be tricky, which is why we recommend adding people using Login ID instead. For anyone who can’t be added by email yet, you can ask them to follow the steps in the first half of this Helpdesk Guide to manually confirm their email address. Once they do that, you will be able to add them to courses using their WJC email address.

How do I add or change a course nickname?

Go to your Dashboard in Canvas.
Make sure you're in Card View (not List View) so you can see your course tiles.
Find the course you want to rename and click the three dots (⋮) in the upper-right corner of that course card.
In the pop-up window, type your preferred nickname in the “Nickname” field.
(For example: “Couples Therapy – Fall 2027” or “Psychometrics – Section 3”)
Click Apply.

That’s it! The nickname will now appear on your Dashboard and in various menus — like the Inbox, course import tool, and other dropdown lists — making it easier for you to quickly identify the course. This nickname is just for you - other people will still see the official course name.

You can update or remove the nickname at any time by repeating these steps.

How do I copy materials into a course?

You can copy course content such as assignments, modules, pages, and discussions from previous Canvas courses into existing courses.

The Import Course Content option allows you to copy content into existing courses. You may be able to copy content into a new course shell.

Note: you can only copy content from courses in which you are enrolled as a user whose role has managing privileges

Warning: Importing a course more than once may have unintended consequences. If you import content into a new course, edit the content in the new course, and later import the previous content again, the imported content will override the existing content. This cannot be undone.

Copying Content From Another Course

In the Course Navigation Menu on the left side of your course, click on Home.

2. Click on Import Existing Content.

3. In the Content Type drop-down menu, select the Copy a Canvas Course option. Then, search for the course.

4. When importing content, you can choose to import all materials or "select specific content."

5. For specific content, when the job appears, you'll press "Select Content" to pick the materials for import.

6. Check the boxes to import the categories. You can narrow down the items by clicking the right pointing arrow.

7. The import status will appear under "current jobs". It will take 1-10 minutes to process the import.

If you have any questions, please contact the WJC Support Team by either emailing Support@williamjames.edu, calling 617-327-6777 ext. 1600, or visiting the IT Office on the ground floor.

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