Canvas
Quick-Start Guide
Everything you need to get your course site live, your syllabus published, and your students ready to go — in about 15 minutes.
Canvas Adoption Policy: UT requires all organized undergraduate and graduate courses with five or more enrolled students to publish a course site and syllabus in Canvas by the first day of class each semester.
Full policy ↗Action Required — Classic Quizzes Retiring May 31, 2026
Instructure is retiring Classic Quizzes on May 31. All quiz content must be migrated to New Quizzes before this date. ET's Canvas team has published a step-by-step migration guide with automatic question conversion tools. Most question types migrate automatically; file upload and essay questions require manual review. View the migration guide →
Course Setup in 5 Steps
Follow these steps at the start of each semester to meet Canvas Adoption Policy requirements and give students a complete, ready-to-use course site.
Canvas uses UT Single Sign-On — no separate Canvas password needed. Your courses for the current and upcoming semester appear automatically on the Dashboard once they're available in the course scheduling system.
UT policy requires your syllabus to be posted in Canvas by the first day of class. You have two UT-approved options:
New courses are unpublished by default — students can't see the site until you publish it. Once your syllabus and at least a basic structure are in place, publish from the course home page.
Canvas Gradebook is the only FERPA-approved tool for communicating course grades electronically to students at UT. Configuring it before the semester starts prevents grade-access issues later.
Students look at Canvas the moment a course is published. Even a single Module with your Week 1 materials and a welcome Announcement creates a strong first impression and reduces support emails.
Key Features for Faculty
Canvas has a lot of functionality. These are the tools most faculty use week-to-week.
Tools That Connect to Canvas
These UT-licensed tools integrate directly into Canvas — no separate account setup required. Access them via External Tools in the course left-nav or within Assignments.
Canvas Adoption Policy — What's Required
Adopted by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. Applies to all organized courses with five or more enrolled students.
What you must do by the first day of class
- Publish your Canvas course site so it is visible to enrolled students
- Post your syllabus using the Simple Syllabus tool or as a file upload with "syllabus" in the filename
Automatic exceptions (no request needed)
- Courses offered for zero credits
- Individual instruction courses (Practicum, Independent Study, Private Lesson, Thesis, Dissertation, Individualized Instruction, Clinical Individualized Instruction)
- Organized courses with fewer than five students enrolled as of the first day of class
Other exceptions
- Subject to approval of the Chair and Dean of the instructor's department and College, School, or Unit (CSU)
- Submit a Policy Exception Request for review by Academic Affairs
Need help with compliance?
- Contact the Office of Academic Technology at oat@utexas.edu
- Drop in during Canvas team Office Hours
- Attend a Canvas workshop (see Training & Learning)