Getting acquainted with the three main areas of the Canvas user interface

1. The Global Navigation Menu in Canvas 
2. Canvas Dashboard basics
3.  The Functions of the Canvas Side Bar

When you log into Canvas, you will see the [1] Global Navigation menu, [2] the Dashboard, and [3] Side bar.

Looking at the above image: The [1] Global Navigation menu lists icons that enable you to:

• Make user profile changes in Account.
• Access your favorited courses in Dashboard. 
• Access all your current and past enrolled Canvas classes in Courses.
• View and edit due dates for assignments across all your courses in Calendar.
• Initiate and respond to course messages by clicking on the Inbox icon.
• View and access recent course history for all your active courses by clicking the History icon.
• Quickly access Online Campus Virtual Office hours, and various Canvas support links to articles by clicking the Help icon.   

Looking at the [1] Dashboard section of the screen below, clicking the [2] three dot menu in the upper right hand corner displays [3] three Dashboard viewing options.   and [3] Side bar.

Looking at the above image, the Dashboard is set to Card view. Looking at the Purple colored course card, you can set up to [4] four icons for announcements (bullhorn), assignments (paper & pencil), discussions (text boxes), and files (file folder). These icons mimic visibility and order in course navigation. The number badge above the (text boxes) icon denotes unread messages in discussions. Click the icon to access these unread messages.

Looking at the image below, you can edit the course card to organize your Dashboard by [1] clicking the three dot option menu on the card. [2] select a nickname and [3] color with a hex code if desired. Click Apply, to save your changes.

In the [1] move tab, shown below, you can reorder your course cards on the Dashboard by selecting a move option. Additionally, by clicking on the course card and dragging it, you can re-order course cards horizontally, vertically, and to the left or right.

Looking at the image below, click the [1] Dashboard options icon (three dots), and select [2] color overlay. 

Looking at the image below, the [3] color of the course cards still appears behind the [4] more options icon on the course card and the setting applies to all course cards with images.

Looking at the image below of the [1] Recent Activity view from the Dashboard options icon menu [2] displays a stream of recent notifications from all of your courses including [3] Announcements, [4] Conversations, [5] Assignments, and [6] Discussions. The blue indicator dot in the [6] Discussions field denotes a new or unread activity. You can view the details of each activity by clicking the [7] SHOW MORE link.

 In the image below, the [1] new or unread activities expand under the Discussion heading, where you can then click each activity to view its contents. Clicking the [2] show less link will collapse the recent activity. Click the [3] remove icon to remove a notification.

The Side bar section shown below includes; the [1] To Do list, [2] Coming Up feed, and [3] View Grades button.

The [1] To Do list shown above helps you keep track of assignments you need to grade. Clicking any assignment link from the [1] To Do list will open Speedgrader, displayed in the image below for the assignment.

Looking to the image below, clicking the [1] remove icon will ignore the assignment, but will [2] reappear when a new submission is made.

The Coming Up feed, shown below, lists upcoming assignments and events within your courses.  

To view Grade information for your courses click the and View Grades button shown in the image below.

You can quickly access Grades for any of your courses, as in the image shown below. Click into a blue course link on course you are teaching.

Looking at the image below shows a view of clicking into a course you are teaching; you'll see your [1] Gradebook for that course. The [2] Blue shaded cells indicate student submissions are Late. The [3] Pink shaded cells indicate the student submissions are Missing.