Explore what Chat is in Canvas, and how you can use it.
The Chat tool in Canvas allows students and lecturers to interact in real time using text. It is a form of Instant Messaging. A user must be actively viewing the Chat tool to appear in the Chat list. You may consider posting Chat hours in the course calendar to let students know when you are available.
Chat is a course tool that is available to all students in the course. Chats cannot be limited to specific students. You can find out who is currently online in your Canvas course, but you cannot then pick that person and chat to them. When you open the Chat page, you immediately join the chat. Chat discussion appears in the content window.
Lecturers can use the chat tool to allow students to contact them when online, create virtual office hours, conduct group discussions or study sessions.
All users in the course can also access the chat history.
Hints and Tips
- A course instructor has an Instructor label next to their name. This helps identify their message from the others.
- Students cannot delete chat comments and all messages are visible to everyone in the course, lecturer and student. Lecturers can delete Chat messages. Deleting messages is permanent. You cannot restore a deleted message.
- Messages contain a timestamp and user name/profile picture to easily identify who the sender is and when they posted.
- Chat uses emojis
- Web addresses (URLs) become clickable in Chat.
- To receive audio alerts for new chat messages, click the New message alerts button. You will receive audio alerts if Chat is open in Canvas but is not the active browser window. You will not receive alerts if you leave Chat to view another area in Canvas. You can open Chat in a new browser window while viewing other areas in Canvas so that you are reachable in Chat but able to go to different pages at the same time.