Canvas Behind the Scenes

Helpful behind the scenes info on how Canvas integrates with my.harvard, common administrative questions, and more.

Data Feeds

Canvas gets data feeds from my.harvard every 5 minutes, including:

• Course catalog information (course description)
• Class roster (instructors, enrolled students, prospective enrollees, teaching fellows)
• Sections

Accessing Canvas site(s)

• Students: via the course catalog in my.harvard (once enrolled, canvas.harvard.edu).
• Instructors and Teaching Staff: via the my.harvard course portal or canvas.harvard.edu.
• Course Support Staff: via canvas.harvard.edu.

Giving people access

• Faculty, teaching fellows, teaching assistants, and other instructional staff should be added in my.harvard.
• Other guests, course librarians, and course support staff can be added within Canvas. 
  • Learn more about how to add people in Canvas

Combining sites

Courses with multiple catalog listings, but one actual meeting time/group of students, can use a single Canvas site. This includes:

• Cross-listed courses between schools 
• Cross-listed courses across departments
• Multi-level courses (e.g. for both undergraduate and graduate students)
• Courses taught in section (e.g. Expository Writing, Languages)

Sectioning 

Courses with sections can either:

• Use the my.harvard Sectioning process, which feeds automatically into Canvas (best for large courses)
  •  Learn more about my.harvard sectioning
• Create sections manually in Canvas (best for small courses)
  • Learn more about managing sections in Canvas

Course conclusion

• Course sites become “read-only” at the end of academic year
• Alumni can still access their Canvas sites via their HarvardKey (in most cases)