Canvas helps both students and teachers stay organized by notifying users of important events and actions within their courses. Due Dates were just the beginning; teachers receive To Do notifications for assignment submissions that need to be graded, students receive notification of announcements and events within their courses, and everyone can choose to receive email notifications or push notifications on a mobile device for a wide range of things, such as new Inbox messages, discussion posts, due date changes, grade entry, and much more. This section will highlight some of the more important student-facing notifications and will show you how you can adjust your own notification settings so you get the right amount of communication from Canvas.

What are Canvas Notifications?

Key Concepts:

By default, Canvas sends all users emails to their Wabash address based on their Notification preferences.
You can customize your Notifications settings by navigating to 'Account' in the Global Navigation menu, then 'Notifications'.
Downloading the Canvas Teacher or Canvas Student App to a mobile device enables users to receive push notifications.
Canvas Inbox messages are categorized under 'Conversations' in notification settings. You will receive an Outlook email notification for every Inbox message you receive.

What triggers an immediate email notification to students?

Key Concepts:

Students will receive an immediate email notification when you do the following in your course:

Adjust a Due Date.
Change a grade value.
Create an assignment, discussion, or quiz.
Post an Announcement.
Post assignment feedback.
Send an Inbox message.

Take care when doing the above items, as it's easy to accidentally flood students with emails!

Next Steps

Once you understand how to adjust your Notifications (Account > Notifications) and what triggers immediate email notifications for students, you are ready to test your knowledge in the Canvas Essentials quiz. Select 'Next' to move on to the quiz. Questions? Give us a ring in the Canvas Q&A Discussion.