Student Guide to Online Learning Tools
Peabody students have access to a variety of tools to accomplish their learning goals in their academic courses. Explore the areas below.
Primary Academic Technology Resources
Canvas Learning Management System
The primary enterprise system for teaching and learning and Johns Hopkins University is the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS). Available at https://canvas.jhu.edu, the Canvas LMS is our central hub for announcements, discussion, grading, and resource sharing. More than just an alternative to the physical classroom, Canvas is used by many faculty even when teaching face-to-face courses. The possibilities multiply in the online format.
Using Canvas, students can:
- Receive announcements via email or by logging in to each course section. Note that your notification preferences can be customized to your preferences in Canvas.
- View syllabi and course materials (PDFs, PPT decks, music files, web links, embedded media).
- View and submit assignments, depending on how each faculty is utilizing the system.
- Access grades via My Grades in each course.
- Access recordings of course meetings and other course events.
- Access a number of other tools depending on faculty utilization, including VoiceThread (asynchronous video conversations and annotations), Noteflight (composition, sharing, and grading of music scores), and Hypothes.is (collaborative annotation of web content and articles).
Get Canvas Support
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a complementary platform to Canvas. Some faculty will add a Teams site in addition to a Canvas site for your course. In Teams, faculty and students can:
- Have informal, collaborative threaded discussions
- Create and work concurrently on Microsoft Office 365 documents and other file types
- Work collaboratively on shared notebooks
- Access a number of integrated tools, including Polly (inline polling), Microsoft Forms (surveys), and Microsoft Planner (project management and tasks).
Get Teams Support
Zoom Videoconferencing
Zoom is Peabody’s video conferencing solution. For comprehensive information on Zoom, please visit the Zoom for Students and Families page. Please note that students access full Zoom accounts by logging in at https://jhubluejays.zoom.us.
Microsoft OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive is an online file storage service (cloud file sharing service) that can help keep your files secure and easily sharable with your classmates and faculty. Through JHU’s Office 365 license, every Johns Hopkins student has access to 5 terabytes of storage. It is a great way to share files too large to email. You can also work collaboratively with colleagues on files stored in OneDrive.
(Note: “JHOneDrive” is the JHU branded instance of Microsoft’s OneDrive for business made available through JHU’s Microsoft license.)
For instructions on how to get started, please visit: https://cer.jhu.edu/tools-and-tech/onedrive.
Access to These Resources
Students with JHED IDs can access all the tools on this page with their JHED. If students do not have a JHED, please contact your faculty to inquire about access. Faculty and students are automatically enrolled in Canvas courses via a SIS integration. All of these tools are also accessibility-compliant for students with a variety of learning needs. Faculty and students are 100% supported in their use of these tools by IT@Peabody team.
Other Technology Resources
Students may also utilize other technology resources depending on their teacher and classes. Other tools you may encounter are:
- Cleanfeed – for use in conjunction with Zoom to increase audio quality and reduce latency
- Panopto – for video assignments, video posting, and screen capture
- VoiceThread – for asynchronous video conversations and annotations
- SoundTrap – for online collaborative audio recording, editing, and mixing
- Noteflight – for composition, sharing, and grading of music scores
- SmartMusic – for online music education tools and resources
- Hypothes.is – for collaborative annotation of web content and articles
Utilization of these tools is determined be each of your teachers. If you need help learning any of the tools, IT@Peabody can help.
Assessments and Final Exams
When learning online, your assessments and final exams will be delivered remotely. Your faculty may utilize one of several tools to deliver and receive assessments: Canvas, email, and OneDrive. Please consult your syllabus and your faculty for more information regarding how each of your classes will handle testing.
Canvas FAQ
Here are the most frequent questions we get about Canvas, organized in order of functions that require increasing effort to learn and use:
- How do I access Canvas? Access Canvas either via https://my.jhu.edu in the “Education” tab, or by visiting https://canvas.jhu.edu directly. Once on the site, log in using JHU Enterprise Authentication and your [email protected] ID. If you do not have a JHED and have been sent a link for guest access, log in using the “Open Non-JHED Login” option.
- Why can’t I see my course in Canvas? Students cannot see a course until it is made available by the faculty. If you are not seeing your course and you are sure you are properly enrolled in SIS, please contact your faculty member and ask them to make it available.
- My teacher confirmed that the course is available, but I still can’t see it, Why not? Double-check with the Registrar to make sure that you are enrolled in the course in SIS. Once enrolled in SIS, the course may take up to 24 hours to appear for you in Canvas.
- I accidentally submitted the wrong assignment and now I can’t submit again, even though it is before the due date! What do I do? Contact your instructor to let them know what’s happened. Peabody’s Canvas administrators cannot clear assignment attempts without your instructor’s permission.
- My internet stopped working in the middle of my test and now I can’t get back in! What do I do? Contact your instructor to let them know what’s happened. IT@Peabody cannot clear test attempts without your instructor’s permission.
Zoom FAQ
Please visit the Zoom FAQ on the Zoom for Students and Families page.