Canvas FAQs
Welcome to our FAQ page about Canvas VLE queries! Here you will find answers to some of the most common questions users have regarding the Canvas Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Canvas is a popular learning management system used by educational institutions across the world, offering a wide range of features and tools that facilitate the delivery of courses and the management of educational content.
During your studies, you may encounter questions or issues while using Canvas. Our FAQ page aims to provide you with clear and concise answers to these questions.
We hope this FAQ page provides you with the information and assistance you need to make the most out of your Canvas VLE experience.
Access to Canvas will be provided 48 hours after enrolment has been complete in Qsis. Once this is complete you can log into Canvas using your student email address or your student number followed by @ads.qub.ac.uk e.g. 12345678@ads.qub.ac.uk and your password. You will also have to approve the sign-in via MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication). Further detail on MFA can be found on this Information Services MFA webpage. There are a variety of ways to log into Canvas, the page called ‘How Do I Access Canvas?' in the Student Canvas Orientation Course will show you 5 different options.
Note: If you are experiencing errors please see Logging into Canvas – Useful Information and Guidance.
One of the many benefits of Canvas at Queen’s is that Support is available 24x7x365 from the Canvas Tier 1 Team. This Team provide technical support as well as just in time training, advising on how Canvas can be used, for example, to upload a file, submit an assignment, contribute to a discussion forum, view grades, etc.
Whenever you need some help with Canvas, the HELP menu in the Global Navigation is where you will find help. From there, you will have direct access to the Canvas Tier 1 Support team. There are a number of contact methods available;
– Phone
– Email
– Submit a support ticket
– Live chat
If you cannot log in to Canvas and cannot access the help menu, you can contact Canvas Support via email at support@instructure.com
View the assignment submission details to know that you have turned in the assignment. All file submissions also appear in your personal unfiled folder.
For step-by-step guidance, please see below:
How do I know when my assignment has been submitted?
Please Note: if you are using the Student App, make sure that you use the full Canvas web application on your desktop or laptop rather than the Student APP for submission of assignments to ensure that all submission functionality is available to you!
A Central University Turnitin Account has been created for Turnitin assignments created and submitted through Canvas. The integration also allows staff and students to create, submit and grade assignments as well as viewing plagiarism reports, grades and feedback without ever having to leave Canvas or login to Turnitin.
For step-by-step guidance, please see: Student Guide – How to Use Turnitin within Canvas
To create, view or interact with Office 365 content, you will first need to login to Office 365 through the link in the Canvas course navigation menu. If an ‘unexpected error’ message is displayed when creating a collaboration, please check that there are no spaces at the beginning of the collaboration’s document name/title and that none of the following special characters have been used: \ / : * ? ”
If the error continues to occur please:
a) Go to the main module home page, click office 365 in the course navigation menu on the left, your office 365 files should then appear.
b) Click log out on the right-hand side. Once logged out, sign back in, by clicking log in (you may have to enter your sign in credentials again).
c) Once you have logged back into office 365, navigate back to the collaborations section and create the collaboration.
If the error persists try deleting your browser cache/history and cookies (see guides for all supported browsers here: Mac or PC) then repeat step B.
If the message ‘you are not allowed to view this content’ is displayed when opening a collaboration, please check that you have been provided with access or have been added as a collaborator.
If you have been provided with access / added to the collaboration and the error persists, please log out and back in to Office 365 within Canvas, by completing step B above.
No, however your course timetable or class schedule can be viewed in Qsis by completing the following steps:
- Log into Qsis.
- Click on the ‘Classes’ tile.
- Click on ‘My Weekly Schedule’ (or My Class Schedule’).
Exam timetables can be viewed via Queen’s Online by completing the following steps:
- Log into Queen's Online.
- Click on ‘Exam Timetable’ under ‘Service Applications > Admin’ on the left side of the page. You can also find these instructions on this QUB webpage.
You should access Canvas using the most current version of one of the following browsers:
- Chrome 114 and 115 (recommended browser)
- Firefox 115 and 116 (Extended Releases are not supported*)
- Edge 114 and 115
- Respondus Lockdown Browser (supporting the latest system requirements)
- Safari 15 and 16 (Macintosh only)
Due to some restrictions on the iOS operating system, some features in Canvas (such as embedded videos) may not display correctly on Canvas Apps for Apple devices, or on the Safari browser. To resolve this please try using a browser such as Chrome.
For more information on supported browsers and devices for Canvas please see the following guide and browser checker tool: What are the browser and computer requirements for Canvas?