[ARCHIVED] Student messages

[jparker]

My Canvas training has directed me to these community group and I am to connect with a designer or technician. Here I am, connecting.....and I am not sure where you are in the plethora of information that is here. I must say, I am delighted that there is so much passion around DE and training. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Question:  How does a student send me a private "Message?"

[laurakgibbs]

Hi  @jparker ‌! The Canvas message system is one that definitely takes some getting used to, especially depending on what system you were using before Canvas. My school just switched from D2L this year, and D2L relied on email for communication. Canvas is very different: instead of having access to email addresses, you have the Canvas inbox and message system which is where you send and receive messages, and your students do the same.

In my experience getting started with Canvas this year, it is really important to let your students know how you will be using Canvas Inbox/Messages and how you will be using email if you will be using a mix of both (I use a mix of both). 

It's also really important to let your students know how to set up their notifications so that if they want email or other notifications of messages in their Inbox, they can get that, along with all kinds of other message settings. Here are the tips I give my students about Canvas based on what's important to my classes; you'll figure out which things you need to explain to students based on how your classes work:

Online Course Wiki / techtips 

Have you seen the Canvas Guides section here?

Canvas Guides 

The inbox and messaging system is under Conversations there; this might be a good place to start:

What is Conversations? 

And definitely bring questions here to the Community. I'm new to Canvas, but there are other people here who are total experts. It's a great place to share and learn! 🙂

[Stef_retired]

Hi,  @jparker  Welcome   to the Canvas Community! I am so delighted that your Canvas training has directed you here, and you'll find that we are a large group of passionate educators ready and willing to help you.

laurakgibbs has given you great guidance. Another guide you might find helpful in giving direction to your students for messaging is https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2670 

And, when it comes to orienting yourself to the Community, check out the Rewards link on your profile. You'll see a list of available onboarding badges and quests you can use to (1) learn about the Community, its resources, and its members and (2) earn points and badges! (Toggle over to Unearned.) You'll find information about that in https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1313-what-is-the-canvas-community-reward-system?sr=search&s...‌

We're all here to help one another--and have fun!

[Robbie_Grant]

 @jparker ,

We are giving the Instructional Designers area a little bit of love and just want to check in with you.  This will also bring this question new attention. 

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie