Canvas — Common Issues & Tips for Teachers

Canvas — Common Issues & Tips for Teachers

This article covers the most frequently reported Canvas problems at Noble Schools, with step-by-step fixes for each.

Copying or Migrating Assignments to a New Course

1. In your new course, go to Settings (bottom of the left sidebar).
2. Click Import Course Content on the right side.
3. Under "Content Type," choose Copy a Canvas Course.
4. Search for your previous course and select it.
5. Choose All content or select specific items.
6. Click Import. The import runs in the background — check the Current Jobs tab for progress.

Tip: Assignment publishing status and dates from the old course will copy over as-is. After importing, go to Settings → Adjust Events and Due Dates to shift all dates forward automatically.

Canvas Is Slow or Not Loading

1. Clear your browser cache: In Chrome, press Ctrl + Shift + Delete → check "Cached images and files" → Clear data.
2. Check if other sites are slow too — if yes, the issue is your network, not Canvas.
3. Log out of Canvas and log back in.

Students Cannot See an Assignment

• Check the assignment is Published — unpublished items have a grey icon.
• Check that the module is Published - unpublished modules will hide published items within them.
• Check the Availability dates — if "Available from" is set to a future date, students cannot see it yet.
• Check Section overrides — if the assignment is assigned to specific sections, students in other sections will not see it.

Gradebook Is Not Showing Correctly

• Make sure Assignment Groups are set up correctly (Assignments → Assignment Groups).
• Check that grading scheme is enabled if you are using letter grades: Settings → Grading.
• Use View → Filters in the gradebook if columns seem missing.

Need Help?

Canvas has a built-in help button (question mark icon at the bottom of the left sidebar) with access to step by step guides. For Noble Schools-specific issues, submit a workorder at support.nobleps.com and select Software or Website.