In this chapter, we will cover how to access Canvas and navigate the home screen, which is called the dashboard. Once you have learned your way around the site, you will learn how to set up your Canvas profile, enter your contact information, adjust your general settings, and configure your notification preferences. Next, we will learn how to create a Canvas course, specifically, how to create a course yourself versus how to begin participating in a course that has been set up by your institution. Once we have created your course, we will be ready to move on to building your course in the next chapter.

A wide range of institutions across the world use Canvas as their institutional learning management system (LMS). In addition, Canvas is usable in a variety of learning situations outside of traditional institutions. To accommodate the different situations in which users may find themselves while teaching or learning, Canvas offers two types of accounts.