How do I submit a text entry assignment?
You can submit an assignment in Canvas using text entry. Text entry assignments are created in the Rich Content Editor. You may also have the option to resubmit assignments if your instructor allows.
Before submitting an assignment, you may want to review all assignment information, such as the assignment rubric, if any.
- Not all of your assignments may be submitted online. If you cannot see the Submit Assignment link, your instructor may want you to submit your assignment in a different way, or the availability date has passed. View the description of the assignment for instructions, or contact your instructor for assistance.
- You can also submit assignments using your Android or iOS device.
- If enabled in your account, Canvas plays a celebration animation when you submit an assignment on time. However, if you prefer, you can disable this feature setting in your user settings.
- If the assignment you are accessing displays differently, your assignment may be using the Assignment Enhancements feature. Please view this guide for more information.
Open Assignments
In Course Navigation, click the Assignments link.
View Course Assignments
Click the name of an assignment.
Start Assignment
To submit an assignment, click the Start Assignment button.
Note: If you cannot see the Start Assignment button, your instructor may not want you to submit your assignment online or the availability date has passed. View the description of the assignment for instructions, or contact your instructor for assistance.
View Final Grade Notice
A banner may appear above your assignment to indicate that your instructor has removed the assignment from total grade calculations. However, this setting does not affect assignment submissions.
Open Text Entry
To submit a text entry assignment, click the Text Entry tab.
Submit Text Entry
Type or copy and paste text into the Rich Content Editor [1]. Click the Submit Assignment button [2].
Add Media
As part of your text entry assignment submission, you can record media or upload a media file [1].
You can also embed images from Canvas or upload images in your text entry assignment submission [2].
View Submission
The Sidebar displays information about your submission [1].
If allowed by your instructor, you may choose to resubmit another version of your assignment by clicking the New Attempt button [2]. You will only be able to view the details of your most recent submission in the Sidebar, but your instructor will be able to see all of your submissions.
Once the instructor has graded your submission, the Grades link in Course Navigation displays a grading indicator. You can also see details about your assignment and links to additional feedback in your Grades page.
- After submitting an assignment, the assignment will still appear in Assignments and in the Syllabus; the listing is not removed with assignment submissions.
- When you resubmit an assignment, you can only access and view your most recent submission. However, instructors can view all of your submissions.
Blank Canvas
The blank canvas is, as the name says, empty. It is a blank slate for you to fill. Either use it to make your own canvas or stick post-its on it and see what happens organically.
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How To Use the Blank Canvas
The blank canvas can be used in two ways. You can use it to make your own canvas, as described in the step-by-step guide below, or you can use it to let patterns emerge organically, perhaps confronting the team with their own uncertainty. Keep a blank canvas to the side of your workroom and use it to collect the things you are uncertain about, or the ideas you need to work on that don’t have a clear purpose at this moment.
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- White space The canvas has a lot of white space for you to explore.
Step-by-step guide
1 Before you start
Before you begin creating your own canvas, take a little bit of time to think about the purpose of that canvas. Canvases help you structure information (typically using post-its) visually, and it makes sense to think about the questions you would like to see answered, and the patterns you would like to see.
Checklist
2 Canvas Guidelines
It is too easy to just put a few unrelated blocks together on the page, give them names, and then say you’re done and have created a new canvas. Doing that is pretty useless. Good canvaseses follow a few basic guidelines.
Example In the Business Model Canvas, the 9 building blocks are all connected. There is a flow of information from left to right – from ‘creating value’ to ‘delivering value’ – that reflects how you might think about a business model. The way it is organized gives the reader extra insight. Building blocks that are connected on the canvas are also linked conceptually.
Checklist
3 Choose a perspective and a visual organization
Depending on what you want to clarify with your canvas, there are a number of ‘perspectives’ you can adopt. These are the basic flavors of canvases you already know. A canvas should primarily deal with one of the following perspectives. Choose one as your main perspective.
Checklist
4 Choose a metaphor
To make the canvas easier to read, use a metaphor. If it is just a collection of rectangles, the user won’t immediately get the picture. The metaphor could be quite abstract, or really shaped as a picture. Generally, if you make the canvas more detailed, it becomes easier for a larger group of people to understand what to do without much instruction.
Example The Team Charter Canvas uses the metaphor of driving the bus with all of the outside influences in the world around it to guide a team around the important topics to be discussed at the start of their journey.
Example The Cover Story Canvas uses a more detailed layout to make it clear what kind of information the team should fill in.
Example The Context Canvas depicts the different aspects of the context the user can think about in an image of the world around your business. This also leaves some space for users to come up with additional topics that may not initially have been listed.
5 Plan, Test and Draw!
To draw the canvas, use two steps. It may be quite tempting to just take a marker and draw what you have in mind, but in practice it usually turns out that the organization on the page needs to be changed. So, post-its to the rescue! First, come up with the different building blocks you need, and write them on post-its. Try to organize these on the page. See if you have everything. Get a feel for your spacing. How are the blocks related? Are things that belong together in the same spot?
Tip! When looking at an ordered sequence of things, we (at least in western countries) are used to seeing a direction from left to right. Usually, left precedes right. Things that are on top are more important than things on the bottom. Use these principles to organize your canvas.
Next, test your design (yes, before drawing it!) – come up with one or a few examples and try to fill them in. Does it work? Or do you find that you need an extra building block? Which blocks are really full and need more space? Which ones are quite empty?
Tip! Get real-world examples to do this, so you are not fudging your information to fit. Even better: do it together with other people, that are invested in the result. That way, you can test if the canvas is useful immediately!
Finally, after a few rounds of testing, use the locations of the building-block post-its as a guide to draw your canvas. Remove the post-its, and add a description for each of the building blocks in smaller print.
6 Review and Next Steps
Now, the time has come to review and test your canvas. Use it a number of times. Keep track of what works, and what doesn’t. Do users struggle with some of the points? Do you get the output you were hoping for? If not, go back in and adjust it.
Tip! Have an artist or visual designer visualize your canvas. It makes it easier to convince people your canvas is legit if it looks good and is printed. That helps to convince them to invest time understanding the new tool.
Tip! Find ambassadors for your new tool to take it into the organization.
