How do I communicate with my instructor and other students in my courses?

Announcements, Discussions, and Conversations (Inbox) are some of the tools people use to communicate in Canvas. Each instructor decides which tools will be used in a course.

Announcements: Announcements are a way for instructors to communicate with students about important course activities. If you reply to an Announcement, everyone in the course will see your reply. (Not all announcements are designed to accept comments.)

Discussions: Discussion boards are an online space for instructors and students to post topics and leave comments on topics posted by others.

Conversations: Conversations is the name of the messaging tool used to communicate within Canvas. Your Conversations Inbox stores messages between you, your instructor, and other students in your courses. It's similar to email, but you can't send or forward messages from your Canvas Inbox to external email addresses.

Video transcript

Announcements

Click the appropriate Announcement title.
Leave a reply for the appropriate announcement.

Discussions

Click the appropriate Discussion title.
Leave a reply for the appropriate discussion.

Conversations/Inbox

Click the Inbox link in the Global Navigation bar.
Enter a name, course, or group you would like to send a message to.
Write and send the message.

Read More in the Canvas Guides:

Learn more about communicating with your instructor and peers in Canvas.

Tip:

You can add audio and video comments in many places in Canvas. Record directly in Canvas, or upload a file.

To continue with the orientation, select the Next button at the bottom right.