Information for Instructors

Every course at HCCC has a Canvas site.

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When you log in to Canvas, courses for which you are currently the instructor will appear on your Dashboard. To view courses from previous terms click the Courses icon which is right under the Dashboard icon on the green vertical Canvas bar; a fly-out list of current courses will appear – scroll down the list and click on the All Courses link.

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Students can only see a course after it is published. For fully online courses, this is usually one week before the course starts. Online faculty have access to the contents of their fully online and hybrid courses in Canvas two weeks prior to the course start date.

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Fully online and hybrid courses are preloaded into Canvas by COL every semester. Faculty are responsible for reviewing the content before the course starts. Remote and face-to-face courses are not preloaded and must be set up by the instructor.

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Canvas provides 24/7 live support to all HCCC faculty via phone by calling (833) 685-8350. You can also email the Center for Online Learning at COLFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE.%C2%A0For login issues, contact Information Technology Services at itshelpFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE.

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Yes there is! For more information and download instructions go to the Canvas Mobile Users page.

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HCCC licenses the Unicheck similarity checker to help maintain academic integrity by checking submitted assignments for plagiarism.  Unicheck is fully integrated into Canvas and can check a wide range of file formats, including Word and PDF. You can quickly get up to speed on how to use Unicheck by viewing these Unicheck in Canvas videos If you prefer a written user guide, you can read this Instructors Guide to Unicheck.

Tip: If you have a paper that you want to manually submit to Unicheck as a one-off, you can use the Canvas “Student View” to do so; contact the COL if you need assistance.

Tip: Unicheck includes tools for annotating papers; COL recommends using the annotation tools in Canvas instead.

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Labster is used in STEM courses to embed simulated science labs. You can browse https://www.labster.com for ideas and inspiration. They also have a Live Chat button.

The method for installing Labster simulations changed in Fall 2022. Here are the required steps:

Note: Do not use Safari with Labster.

Note: If you are thinking of copying Labster simulations from one course into another, read the note at end of this section.

Installing a Labster Simulation:

1. Click on Assignments on the Canvas course menu.
2. Click +Assignment (the big green button in the upper right corner)
3. Type an Assignment Name.
4. Set the number of Points (if any).
5. Scroll down to Submission Type and set it to External Tool.
6. Click Find.
7. Scroll down and click Labster (notice it has a Search icon next to it).
8. That will bring up a floating window where you will Search or Browse for your desired Simulation.
9. When you find the one you want, click +Add.
10. You will be returned to the Canvas ‘External Tool’ window….you must now click Select.
11. Set number of allowed attempts (Unlimited? Limited?).
12. Click Save or Save and Publish.
13. The Simulation is now in your list of Assignments! It’s now up to you to make it available to your students like any other Assignment in Canvas (e.g., Publish it, place it in a Module, etc.).

Installing the Labster Dashboard

The Labster Dashboard is no longer located on the Course Menu. Instead, you install it just like other Labster simulations, following the same steps as above, but selecting Labster Dashboard as the item to Add. Like other Labster items, it will appear in the list of Canvas Assignments; make sure to Publish it to make it available to the students.

Copying/Importing Labster simulations

Don’t reuse a Labster simulation from an old course (prior to Fall 2022) – they no longer work. You can re-use Labsters from Fall 2022 courses or later, but here’s an important note: Copying or importing Labster labs from one course into a new course *almost* works – the missing ingredient is that you have to use the new method (detailed above) at least once in the new course to “manually” insert a Labster lab in order for the LICENSE to be activated in that new course. You can delete it as soon as you create it, and the license remains activated.

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