Guides for Canvas, calendars and studying.
Practical answers to the questions that come up every term: getting Canvas due dates onto a real calendar, finding work the Canvas calendar does not show, planning a semester before it gets busy, and studying with methods that work.
For what the product does with your Canvas courses, see Scholarwire for Canvas and the Chrome extension. For longer walk-throughs of the same problems, read the blog.
Canvas calendars and due dates
Canvas calendar not showing assignments? What to check
An assignment is in the course but not on your Canvas calendar. Six causes in the order worth checking, from ones you can fix to ones only an instructor can.
How to see Canvas due dates on your phone
Subscribe your phone's calendar to the Canvas feed for due dates, keep the Canvas Student app for grades and announcements, and set Canvas notifications once.
How to see all your Canvas assignments in one calendar
The Canvas Calendar page merges every course. Switch it to the Agenda view for one dated list of everything due, and know the three things it leaves out.
How to add Canvas to Google Calendar
Copy the Calendar Feed link from Canvas, add it in Google Calendar under Other calendars, From URL, and due dates stay in sync. What updates and what does not.
Planning the semester and the week
How to turn Canvas assignments into a weekly study schedule
Canvas says when work is due, never when to do it. List the week, estimate each item, schedule back from each due date, and plan sixty percent of your hours.
How to plan your semester in the first week
In the first week, read every syllabus, put every graded date from every course on one list, and mark your heaviest weeks before the first assignment is due.
Studying for exams
How to bring a Google Doc into your notes
Pull a Google Doc, Slides deck, Sheet, PDF, Word or PowerPoint file from Google Drive into a note, with headings intact and a link back to the original.
Spaced repetition and FSRS explained for students
Spaced repetition shows a card again just before you would forget it. How FSRS picks that moment, why it aims for 90 percent recall, and how to rate honestly.
How to study for an exam in five days
A day-by-day plan for the five days before an exam: map the scope, test yourself with notes closed, drill the weak pile, sit a timed practice run, then sleep.