Canvas: New Dashboard User Interface Coming

On December 11th, ITS plans to turn on the new user interface for the dashboard area of Canvas. The dashboard is the main landing page that appears immediately after you log into Canvas. This is the only page that will be affected- the appearance of courses themselves should remain the same.

Essentially, the new user interface (UI) moves the tabs/links traditionally found along the top of the Canvas screen to the left side of the screen:

The links for Courses, Groups, Calendar, Inbox, and Account have moved from the top area of the screen to the left side of the screen. Additionally, the middle area of the screen will now provide a more visual view for updates within courses you have favorited. The four tabs underneath each course "square" represent the four main Canvas features for student course activity: Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, and Files. 
A line beneath the tab indicates new activity (see the blue line under the Discussions icon for the first course in the above image; click on the image to enlarge).

For more detailed information about the new UI, please see the following article:

http://guides.instructure.com/m/4152/l/420619-how-do-i-use-the-dashboard-new-canvas-ui

Students and eReserves in Canvas

A number of instructors have reported students who are unable to access eReserves in Canvas and have not been able to get immediate assistance from either 6-TECH or the Library. So far, the problem has been that the students (just like with instructors) need to first activate their UNCG Box accounts before accessing eReserves in Canvas (since eReserves are housed in Box).

To activate your UNCG Box account (for faculty, staff and students):

1. Go to http://box.uncg.edu and login with your UNCG credentials (username (NOT full email address) and password). This will activate your personal Box account. Your personal Box account will not show your eReserves- you just need to login here at least once for eReserves purposes, although you may of course continue using your Box account for file sharing and storage once you have activated it, if you would like. 
2. After you have activated your Box account, then access your eReserves like normal through your Canvas course. You may still get a prompt to login to Box, but if so it will be inside of the Canvas course framework.

Please note that you will not be able to access eReserves if you are logged into Canvas via the mobile app on either an iOS or Android device.