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Canvas pt. 2, Settings and Notifications

Path: Academic Resources/College Resources/Canvas/Canvas pt. 2, Settings and Notifications.mdUpdated: 2/3/2026

Before getting started with our course, please take a minute to customize your Canvas settings and notifications.

Customize your Settings

Watch the 2-minute video below to learn how to upload your profile picture, select your pronouns, add additional email addresses and/or a mobile phone number, and more. Note: Names come to Canvas from Admissions, so they cannot be changed by users. Visit Admissions Forms to change your name or preferred name for Southwestern College, including Canvas, or contact the Online Learning Center to change your display name in Canvas only. 

!Canvas - User Settings.mp4

Update your Notification Preferences

This video will show you how to set your notifications:

  • which events you receive notifications about (like new grades and messages)
  • where you receive notifications (college email, personal email, mobile phone, etc.)
  • how often you receive notifications (immediately, daily, weekly, or never)

As you learn what works best for you, you can change your preferences as often as you like. To support your success in this class, SWC strongly recommends that you keep these notifications set to "Notify immediately": 

  • announcement
  • grading
  • submission comment
  • conversation message

!Canvas - Notification Settings.mp4