If you are a GCU student looking for help with your online classroom through Halo | Learn, please see our Help Center section for articles to assist you in your class.
Grand Canyon University hosts classes in our learning management system for non-GCU students and faculty. Though you have not applied to the University, you will complete your coursework in LoudCloud. This article will provide the information needed to be successful in your class!
To help with navigating your online classroom in LoudCloud, GCU has created a series of tutorial videos that will walk you through navigating your class.
If something in your course is not functioning correctly, we first recommend that you try basic troubleshooting. See the article below for instructions:
If basic troubleshooting does not resolve your issue, email Technical Support by emailing HSPartnerHelp@gcu.edu and we will be happy to assist! We have also compiled a list of Most Common Issues below to address the needs of your specific course. Also, if you are a faculty member, please click here to see the faculty article.
Most Common Issues
To access your class within LoudCloud, you will need to navigate directly to lms-hs.gcu.edu
To log in, enter your username and password.
If you aren't able to log into LoudCloud due to forgetting your password, contact GCU Technical Support by emailing HSPartnerHelp@gcu.edu. Make sure to use the email template below to request a password change.
Hello,
I am a student in a high school partner course, and I have been directed to change my password. The information that is required is listed below.
First Name:
Last Name:
School Email Address:
Requested NEW Password (You must use at least 8 characters and be school appropriate.):
Thank you for assisting me with this password change request.
Sincerely,
Since students in these courses are not official GCU students, you will not have access to the free version of Office we typically provide. If you are required to use any Office programs as part of your course, please reach out to your school representative for a solution.
There are many features and sections within LoudCloud. Please select one of the sections below for further information on LoudCloud and details on how to use that section:
Dashboard
If you have multiple courses in LoudCloud, you may see the Integrated Dashboard upon logging in. The Integrated Dashboard will provide quick and easy access to your messages, programs, and links to all your courses.
The My Classes widget will show any active courses that you have. Your completed courses will be displayed in the Past Classes. To access the Past Classes or Future Classes select the Edit icon in the upper right corner of the My Classes widget. This will display a menu of features that you can select for the widget. Under Show, select the downward arrow to display Current Classes, Past Classes, and Future Classes. Selecting Past Classes will display your completed courses for up to 5 weeks after the course end date.
To access a class, click on the class name from My Classes. Once you are in your class, you will be able to see the main dashboard. In the top left corner of your dashboard, you will see a navigation button that houses a drop-down menu with nine tabs for each section of LoudCloud: Dashboard, Path, Planner, Student Resources, Gradebook, Attendance, Connect, Messages, and Preferences. The Dashboard acts as a hub for quick access to important locations within your classroom.
The Weekly Calendar is found at the top of the Dashboard and provides a snapshot of the current week’s agenda, along with Course Materials, Topic information, Discussion Questions, and all assignments and quizzes that are due within that week.
You can find a link to any Forums with Unread Topics or Unread Posts underneath the Weekly Calendar.
You can access any announcements made by your instructor within the Announcements section.
The Assessments section allows you to view assignment and quiz submissions, along with any tasks that have been reassigned.
The Gradebook tab will reflect grades from recently submitted assignments.
Path
The Path tab gives you access to the Course Materials, Syllabus, Topics, Study Materials, and Tasks for your course.
The syllabus provides you with a detailed overview of the class and allows you to prepare for each week. To download the syllabus, begin by clicking Path within the Navigation Menu.
Next, click Syllabus in the upper right-hand corner of the Path page. If you don’t see the Syllabus button, click the Path header on the left side once more.
Most syllabi open as a PDF document. If you don’t already have Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, see Adobe Reader Installation and Setup for assistance downloading it.
Clicking on the Course Materials tab will expand a menu displaying all of the resources used throughout the class.
To view the resources, click on the title of the resource. You will then be able to see all of the information, links, and documents associated with that resource.
The Path tab will also display all topics that will be covered during the course. Under each Topic you will find Study Materials and Tasks that are applicable to that topic.
After selecting a Topic, select Tasks to view any Assignments, Discussion Questions, and Quizzes for that topic.
All weekly and group assignments will be displayed under Tasks of each Topic. Clicking on the assignment name will take you to the assignment drop-box.
The assignment drop-box provides details such as the due date, how many points the assignment is worth, and any information needed to complete the assignment.
This page is where you will submit your assignment(s). For each assignment, you will create an Attempt. An attempt can contain one file or multiple files, depending on the assignment details. Click the appropriate heading below to see instructions for submitting assignments in your class.
To access your Discussion Questions from the Path , begin by clicking on the discussion topic you would like to respond to.
Here you can read through the topic question and then click Add A Post to type your response within the message field. Once finished, you will need to click Post Reply to add your initial post to the forum. When other students reply to the post, the reply will be indented slightly to the right and directly below the original post. This view is called Thread Display and easily allows everyone to follow along in the discussion.
Discussion questions can also be saved as a draft so that it can later be edited or submitted. Saving as draft saves the post for viewing and editing that you may want to do; instructors do not have access to see draft posts. A draft will only remain editable for 24 hours. After that time, it will be stuck in Draft mode and you will not be able to edit or post it to the forum.
Once you submit your discussion question response, an Edit button will appear at the bottom of your post. Posts can be edited only if:
- The post has not been marked as substantive by the instructor
- The post has not been replied to
- 24 hours have not passed since the post was made
In addition to your initial response, you are also responsible for reading and responding to fellow classmates. To reply to a classmate, click their post and click Reply. You can also quote the original student by clicking Quote & Reply.
To access your group forum, go to the Group Assignment Dropbox, and click on Group Forum located in the upper-right.
Quizzes are only able to be completed during the week that they are assigned. To view quizzes, click on Tasks and then the title of the quiz. You will be taken to the quiz drop-box where you can see the due date, max points, a brief description, quiz duration (if applicable), and the number of questions for the quiz.
To attempt the quiz, you can select Attempt Quiz. If the page is refreshed or internet connection is lost during the quiz, it will be automatically submitted to the instructor. If this happens, please contact your instructor and ask for the quiz to be reassigned.
To progress through the quiz, you will click Save & Next located at the bottom of the question after providing your answer. Along the top of the quiz is a series of numbers indicating which question you are on, as well as the status of the quiz.
Once you click Save & Next, the number of the question you answered will change from orange to blue to indicate that your answer has been saved.
On the last question, the link changes from Save & Next to Save. Once you save your final question, click the Submit Quiz Attempt button to submit it for grading.
Once you complete your quiz in LoudCloud, there may be some additional questions that require manual grading by your instructor. These quizzes will show as Ungraded in the Gradebook section. Once graded by your instructor, only the score will be available. Individual question results will not be viewable. We recommend contacting your instructor if you have any further questions about your quiz grade.
You may encounter various errors when taking a quiz in LoudCloud. This article contains several issues and related troubleshooting steps that you may perform to address them.
If your quiz is accidentally submitted, it can be frustrating. Here are some tips on how to avoid it and what to do if it does happen:
- Make sure to set time aside to complete your quiz. Most quizzes have a time limit.
- A stable internet connection is required to complete the quiz. If your internet connection cuts out during the quiz, your quiz may automatically submit itself.
- Do not navigate away from the quiz page. Any navigation away from the quiz page, such as clicking the back button on your internet browser, will submit your quiz.
- Do not close the tab or browser when completing a quiz. This will cause the quiz to auto-submit.
- When answering the questions in your quiz, be sure to click Save and next to save your response. Using the numbered navigation at the top will save your answers.
- For optimal browser performance during the quiz, it’s best to close all other browser tabs/windows and to clear your cache and cookies before beginning.
You may come across an error while taking a quiz where the Save & Next button does not appear for a question. Here are a few workarounds you can use to help you answer the questions and submit the quiz:
Screen Resolution
You might need to adjust your screen resolution to better view the quiz. Please see Changing Your Screen Resolution for complete instructions.
Page Zoom
The Save and Next button may not appear on a certain question if your browser is zoomed in too far. In order to zoom out, press and hold the Control key (Command on a Mac) and press the minus (-) button. This will incrementally adjust the size of the text and images appearing within your browser. If this does not show the Save and Next button, move onto the next step.
The final question of each quiz will only have the option to Save. Be sure to click save before selecting Submit Quiz.
Tab and Enter
There are some occasions where even though the button is not visible on the screen, the option to select Save and Next is possible. To test this in the LoudCloud system, select the answer and press the Tab key twice, then press the Enter key. The answer counter on the right-hand side of the page will let you know if you have any unanswered questions in the quiz.
Study Material contains the online reading resources needed for that specific topic. Simply select the name of the resource to view its contents. Each week you should review any additional readings and websites that are made available for the topic. This provides you with a foundation for the week’s learning.
Planner
The Planner tab allows you to view course assignments and discussion questions in a Month, Week, or Day view. When first entering the planner, you will be in the Month view by default. Just like the Weekly Planner, you will have gradable items scheduled here. Clicking on the title will take you directly to the item itself. For example, clicking on an assignment’s title in the planner will take you to the Assignment Dropbox and details. Hovering over a scheduled item will give you more details such as item start date and due dates. You can filter planner items by Classes, Types, and Status.
The Weekly tab opens up the planner for the current week and the Daily tab opens the current day. Here you will see any scheduled items for that week or day. Like the month view, the various individual Assignments, Discussion Questions, Quizzes, or CLC Assignments can be accessed by clicking on the titles of the scheduled items. You will also have filter options for scheduled items by Classes, Types, and Status.
You can create custom scheduled items to be displayed on the planner by clicking Add Personal Event. Enter in a Title and Description, choose the Type, and set the Start and End Dates. To add the event to your planner, click the Save button.
After creating the task, you can go back and edit the task, mark as complete, or delete the task. Once the task is marked as complete, it is given a green check mark on the planner.
Student Resources
Gradebook
The Gradebook tab is where you will be able to view your grades. Start by selecting Gradebook from the drop-down menu under Dashboard. The Gradebook page will show your grades, including the due date, submission date, score, and comments for all assessments. You can go to a specific assessment by clicking its title. You can also see your running grade total at the top of the page.
You will be able to filter these results by selecting the filter icon in the upper right corner. The content can be filtered by selecting Assessment Type and Assessment Status.
You can also view the most recently graded assessments from the Gradebook widget on your Class Dashboard. Clicking on the title of the assessments will take you to view their details.
If your instructor left feedback on your assignment, you can view it from the Assignment Details page. At the bottom of the screen you can view the Points, Instructors Comments, and Instructors Documents.
In addition to feedback left in the Instructors Comments box, check to see if they have attached any documents with feedback on your paper next to Instructors Documents. If you did not receive any comments or feedback but would like clarification on your grade, we recommend reaching out to your instructor through the Private Forum.
To check your classroom Grade Scale, navigate to Path.
On the Path page, click the Hamburger menu located on the upper right-hand corner. Then, click Grading.
You should now then be able to see the Grade Scale in your classroom.
Connect
The Connect tab provides access to the Class Forums, Class Wall, and Roster.
The Forums tab allows for easy communication with your instructor and other students. To access the Forums, select Forums in the Connect tab on the Navigation Menu.
There are three types of forums that you will be able to access from here:
- Discussion Question
- Private Forum
- Questions to Instructor Forum
The forums are where all communication takes place in the LoudCloud classroom.
As previously mentioned in the section covering Discussion Questions, this area is where weekly discussions will take place.
If you have a question that you would like to ask the instructor privately, one that you might stay after class to ask if you were attending in person you should send your question through the Private Forum. The Private Forum helps you easily keep track of communications since it is all available at-a-glance right inside the classroom. Furthermore, the Private Forum has an added feature where students can also communicate with their classmates.
The forum titled Questions to Instructor is where you will be able to post questions for the instructor that you would normally raise your hand in class to ask.
Please note, you can edit topics posted in either one of the forums. To do this, go into the forum where the topic is located, hover your mouse over the gear icon and select edit.
Keep in mind, you CANNOT edit topic(s) if the instructor or a classmate has replied to the topic.
The Class Wall is just like a coffee house on campus, it is a place for students to hang out and get to know each other. You can filter these posts by utilizing the Unread post, Most Recent, and Past Two Weeks Posts tabs located in the upper-left section of the Class Wall.
To post to the Class Wall, select Post a Comment in the upper right side. Then, you can either type or copy and paste it into the comments field and click Post. Please keep in mind that you will not be able to edit or delete posts from the Class Wall.
The Roster is a list of everyone in the course. This is also where you can find your instructor’s contact information. You can access the Roster by clicking Roster in the Connect tab within the Navigation Menu.
Here you will be able to see the names of your classmates. If you would like to see your instructor’s information, click on the tab that says Instructor.
You can view additional information your instructor has made public by clicking on their name.
If your instructor has not made their profile information public, Announcements is often another area in which you may find your instructor’s contact information.
LMS includes an editable profile where students and instructors can provide contact information, work experience, and education history. It will allow you to upload a profile image, as long as the file size is less than 20KB in size.
The profiles are not private so any information that you do not wish to share should not be added to your profile or should be placed under Private.
Messages
Messages contain both course Notifications and Announcements. Notifications will alert you of any new material added to the course or if any existing material changes.
You can change how and where to receive notifications by selecting Notification Settings located in the upper-right corner.
In Announcements, you will be able to see important announcements from your instructor about anything new and exciting that is coming up during the week. The instructor may also provide information on specific assignments or clarify any expectations that they may have. It is recommended that you check your announcements each day you log in.
You will receive alerts through the notifications page whenever there is new activity in the classroom such as updated content, instructor or student replies, or shared materials.
To view your notifications, click on the Notification icon in the top right-hand corner.
If you click on the title of a notification, a new window will open enabling you to quickly access the material by clicking on Go To Content.
You can modify or remove notifications by placing a checkmark in the boxes next to the appropriate notification(s) and click Mark as Read, Mark as Unread, or Delete.
The Notification Settings option is also located on this page.
These settings will allow you to set if you would like to receive notifications and how you would like to receive them.
Viewing Announcements
Announcements allow your instructor to keep you informed and up to date on any information you may need for class.
To locate the announcements, click the Announcements icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page. The icon will have a number next to it to notify you when a new announcement has been posted.
From the announcements page, you can sort by Title, Author, Start Date, and End Date. You can also search for announcements, if desired.
There may be times when your instructor will ask you to respond to an announcement that was posted. To do so, select Messages from the Navigation Menu.
Then, select Announcements from the drop-down menu.
Once on the announcements page, click on the announcement you want to view and comment on.
Below the announcement, select the Post a Comment option.
You will be prompted with a text box to enter your response. Once you have written your response, click on Post.
Your response will now post to the bottom of the announcement!
Completing Tasks
In this section how to complete various tasks for both assignments and objectives in various forums, in LoudCloud, will be discussed. Assignments focusing more on Path tasks and forum focusing more on, again, various tasks that could need to be done in any given forum, like responding to a discussion question.
Assignment Tasks
Before submitting an assignment, make sure to close out of all documents and files needing to be uploaded. Next, click on the assignment from the Weekly Calendar. Alternatively, you can select Path from the drop-down menu in the upper left corner, which will allow you to see all assignments in the course.
Once you have navigated to the assignment, click Browse From My Computer to upload a file from your computer.
In the Upload File window, click Browse to locate your file(s).
After choosing the file(s) you would like to upload, you will see the name of your file appear in the upload box. Please note, you should avoid using special characters in the title of the file. If you have used a special character, we recommend renaming the file and then uploading the renamed file. If you need to upload more files at any time, just click Browse From My Computer and repeat the process. Once you have uploaded your file(s), click Upload.
Once uploaded, you will see a time stamp for when your file(s) was uploaded.
If your assignment requires to be submitted through the LopesWrite system, click on Submit next to Similarity Index. If your assignment does not require submission to LopesWrite, the button to do so will not appear.
The Submit button will become inactive after you click it. Don't worry, this means that your report is generating. Reports will typically return within 15 minutes to an hour.
After your report has been generated, you can view it by clicking on View Report.
This will open a new window in LopesWrite to view the Citation Report.
Once you are ready to submit your assignment, you will need to select the file(s) you wish to submit by placing a check mark in the box next to the file. Once selected, click Submit Assignment.
You will receive a message confirming you are ready to submit your assignment. If ready; click Yes.
Once submitted, you will receive a message confirming that the assignment was submitted successfully. Click OK to dismiss this message.
You will see a time stamp for when your assignment was submitted. To view your submitted file(s), click the number next to Files Submitted.
After pressing Submit Assignment, this will be treated as your final submission for the assignment – meaning if submitted, you will not be able to go back and resubmit.
If you need to resubmit your assignment for any reason, you should contact your instructor and ask them to reassign the assignment.
In order to download a previous assignment log into your course, you can then access your previous assignments from the Home tab by clicking the assignment from the Calendar. You can navigate to previous and future weeks by clicking the respective link next to Week in the upper right-hand side of the Calendar.
Once inside of the Assignment Details page, click on the Files link to expand your attempts. Towards the end of the attempt, you will be given a download option. Once selected it will begin downloading the assignment. Repeat these steps to save any previous assignment.
Once you have uploaded files, you may remove them by clicking the red X as long as you haven’t submitted the file(s).
If you remove a file after it has been submitted, it will only remove your view of the assignment, the assignment will still be submitted to your instructor. You will still see what files you have officially submitted under Files Submitted.
When you have a group assignment, submissions will be made by following the same steps listed above. All uploaded documents can be viewed by your group members under Files, and any group member can select and submit any or all of the uploaded files.
Once you are ready to submit your assignment, you will need to select the file(s) you wish to submit by placing a check mark in the box next to the file. If you want to select all of the files, you can also just add one check mark next to Select All. Once all of your files are selected, click Submit Assignment.
You will receive a message confirming you are ready to submit your assignment on behalf of all members. If ready; click Yes. Please note, you will not be able to upload any more files once the assignment is final submitted.
Once submitted, you will receive a message confirming that the assignment was submitted successfully; click OK to dismiss this message. You will also see a time stamp for when your assignment was submitted.
You will still be able to create attempts after a final submission has been made, but the Submit Assignment option will not be clickable.
You may need to complete group projects within your online classroom. To complete these assignments, your instructor will place you in a group with a few of your classmates.
Once you are a member of a group, you will gain access to a team-specific forum for you to discuss and collaborate on the assignment. On the Group Assignment Details page, click on the Group Forum button located in the upper right-hand corner.
Your team specific forum will appear below the assignment details. Only members of your group and your instructor can see any responses within. To start a conversation, click the Add a Post button or simply click on a classmate’s post and click Reply.
If you'd like to submit a document to LopesWrite, you can do so within your group forum. Start a new post and then click Browse to upload your document.
Once the document is attached, save the post as a draft.
Click the Submit to Turnitin button within the post. Once the report returns, you can post the reply if you would like to share the information with the group.
An assignment that is active and ready for submission will give you the option to “Browse from my Computer”. If you see this option, you should be able to upload a document from your computer and submit the file(s) for grading. Here are a few reasons why you may not see the option:
- The assignment has not started yet. You can only browse for files to upload once the start date has been reached. This does not mean you cannot start working on your assignment early; you just can't submit it until the assignment has been opened.
- The assignment is past due. Depending on whether the assignment has been closed or graded, you may be able to still upload files, but not submit the files. Please contact your instructor for more details on submitting a late assignment.
- There may be an issue with your internet browser preventing you from submitting your assignment. The symptoms of this issue may be a never-ending processing request when attempting to upload or an inability to click the Browse from My Computer button. If this sounds like what you are experiencing, please clear your cache and cookies and try again.
- If you continue to experience an issue while trying to upload your assignment, you may need to update your computer. For more information about checking for updates, check out the article Computer Troubleshooting.
The initial assignment submission to LopesWrite typically returns a report within 15 minutes but can take up to an hour. Additional submissions after this point may not return results for a full 24 hours so as not to pull information from a previous draft. It is always best to create and submit your work a day or two in advance to give the system time to generate a report fully.
If it is close to midnight and your report has not generated, you may choose to submit the assignment to your instructor anyway. Doing so carries the risk of a high similarity report however, so we recommend waiting for the report if possible.
The best practice is to submit to LopesWrite early. This ensures that you have time to adjust your paper if the report comes back with high similarity.
When an assignment is reassigned, you will receive a notification in the Assessments widget on the Dashboard of your LoudCloud classroom.
Once you access the Assignment Details Page, the due date for the assignment will update with the date that your instructor has set the assignment to be turned in by.
To view your instructor’s comments from the assignment details page, click on This assessment has been reassigned to you. This will open up to show any comments your instructor left for you and when they reassigned the assignment to you.
You may also view any previous final submitted attempts of your assignment by clicking on View Past Submissions.
A list of previous attempts will appear towards the bottom.
There may come a time that you submit the wrong attempt to your instructor or the file that was uploaded wasn't your most current revision. Accidents happen! LoudCloud will only allow you to perform one final submission to your instructor. Once an attempt has been sent, no new attempts can be created for that assignment. The best course of action is to contact your instructor and let them know what happened. If possible, you may also ask your instructor to reassign your assignment. Open and honest communication with your instructor is always the best policy.
Some assignments provide a rubric to show how the assignment is going to be graded.
1. To access your rubric, first access the assignment you want to view the rubric for. Then click on Rubric.
2. Another window will appear, this is the rubric for your assignment. Here, you can see the different categories that the instructor uses to grade the assignments.
1. To download your rubric, first access your rubric. See the Accessing Your Rubric section for instructions. Click Download in the top right-hand corner of your rubric.
2. The rubric will begin downloading. Once the download is finished, open the file to view the rubric.
1. Once your assignment has been graded, your instructor may leave feedback on your rubric. To view your instructor’s feedback, access your assignment and then click View Applied Rubric.
2. Click on the blue dialogue box to view your instructor’s feedback.
Forum Tasks
Discussion questions (DQs) help to facilitate conversations in the classroom and contribute toward your grade. There are a few different ways you can access your Discussion Questions: directly from the Dashboard’s Weekly Calendar or from the Navigation Menu’s Path, Planner, or Forums under Connect.
If you access a forum topic via the Weekly Calendar, Path, or Planner, then you will see the option to Add a Post. If you access a forum topic via the Forums in the Navigation Menu, you will see the option to Reply to the post.
If you select a Discussion Question from the Dashboard’s Weekly Calendar or Planner, you will be directed to where the DQ is in the Path. You can also go to the Path directly from the Navigation Menu.
Once in the Path tab, click on your Topic for the current week. After clicking on your Topic, select Tasks.
In Tasks, click on the Discussion Question to which you would like to respond. After you have selected a discussion question, you will be able to see the content of the question. To reply to the discussion question, click Add A Post.
Once you have typed your response, you may either click Post Reply, Save as a Draft, or Cancel. When you save your post as a draft, it is only visible to you. It will be available for you to edit for the next 24 hours.
After clicking Post Reply, you will see your official response with a time stamp.
Begin by selecting Forum under Connect from the Navigation Menu.
From the LoudCloud Forums, you can reply to topics in the Discussion Question forum, the Private Forum, and the Questions to Instructor Forum.
After locating the topic, you want to reply to, read the Description of the topic, and then select Reply under the topic Description.
Once you have typed your response, you may either click Post Reply, Save as a Draft, or Cancel. When you save your post as a draft, it is only visible to you. It will be available for you to edit for the next 24 hours.
After clicking Post Reply, you will see your official response with a time stamp.
Reply to a Classmate’s Post
When answering discussion questions, you will often be required to respond to classmates’ posts for participation. Begin by accessing the classmate’s post that you would like to respond to.
After you click on a DQ response, you will be able to see the content of the response. To submit a response, click Reply.
Once you have typed your response, you may either click Post Reply, Save as a Draft, or Cancel. When you save your post as a draft, it is only visible to you. It will be available for you to edit for the next 24 hours.
Once submitted, your post will appear underneath your classmate’s post with the time stamp!
Post Icons
You can determine if a post was made by your instructor, if it has been graded, or if it was marked as substantive by the following icons:
Post was made by instructor
Post has been graded
Post has been marked as substantive
Tracking Participation
To track how many responses or posts you have made for your discussion questions, begin by selecting Connect from the Navigation Menu.
Then, click on Forums.
By default, you will be taken to the Discussion Question forum. Here it will provide you with a list of all your discussion questions sorted by the earliest to the latest topics for the course. In the My Posts column, it will provide you with the number of posts and responses made for each discussion question.
While there may be a Delete button visible on your DQ posts and responses, you cannot actually delete them. If you press the Delete button, you will receive an error that states, "You do not have permission to complete this activity".
You can still edit the post however, as long as none of the following statements are true:
- Your post has been graded by the instructor.
- Your post has been marked as substantive.
- A student or instructor has replied to your post.
- The post was made over 24 hours prior.
The Private Forum allows for private communication between yourself and the instructor or a classmate. You may ask questions in the Private Forum that you wish for only the instructor to see. When a topic is created in The Private Forum, you and your instructor will receive a notification.
To initiate a discussion with an instructor or classmate, click New Topic in the upper right-hand corner.
After selecting the student or staff you would like to contact, you must enter a Title and Description; if desired, you may attach a file to your message. To send the message, click Submit.
You can sort the private forum by who sent the last message.
The Questions to Instructor Forum allows for class-wide communication. Topics in this forum are visible to all instructors and students in the class.
To initiate a discussion, click New Topic in the upper right-hand corner.
You must enter a Title and Description; if desired, you may attach a file to your message. To send the message, click Submit.
Editing your text
To change how your text looks, such as the font, size and style, you can use the top panel of your discussion question.
Hyperlink
You can hyperlink and remove hyperlinks using the chain and broken chain icons.
Inserting an image
Copying and pasting an image into your Discussion Question may cause an error. Instead, you can insert an image by following the steps below.
1. Click the Insert/edit image button.
2. Click the browse button.
3. Select the image you wish to upload and click Open.
4. In the General tab, you can add an Image Description and change the Dimensions of the image. This step is optional.
5. In the Advanced tab, you can change the style of your image by entering numbers in the Vertical space box, the Horizontal space box, or the Border box. You don’t have to put anything in the Style box because it will automatically update as you change the values in the other three boxes. This step is optional.
6. Once, you’re ready to upload your image to the Discussion Question, click Ok.
Preview
The preview button gives you the ability to see how your post will look before you submit it.
Spellcheck
To spellcheck your response, click on the ABC button.
Sometimes, when you go to submit to the forum, you will get the error null:
This error can happen when your browser isn't working properly, you have a browser extension that is interfering with the post, or other browser related issues. To avoid this error, you can try to submit your post via a private or incognito window using the instructions on our General Browser Troubleshooting article or disable the extension blocking you from posting with our article Managing Your Browser Add-ons and Extensions.
A Processing Request message that loads indefinitely may occur if you add emojis to forum posts or if the post is too long (around 60000 characters but the exact limit depends on system). To solve this, simply remove the emoji, make sure your post is not too long, and try posting again. If you do not want to shorten your post, you can try attaching a Word document with your post contents to your reply.
Please note, you can only use the special characters or emojis provided through LoudCloud; emojis added from your mobile device or computer do not allow you to post.
Also, it is worth checking if your post contains a URL / hyperlink. If entered incorrectly, a URL / hyperlink may cause the Processing Request message to appear. To address it, try re-entering the link using the hyperlink tool in LMS or converting the link to a plain text format.
Once your course ends, you will no longer have access to make posts within the Discussion Questions forum. You can still create new topics in the Questions to Instructor forum and Private forum.
If you are unable to see the posts made by other students within the discussion questions, make sure to post your initial response to the discussion question. Some discussion questions will prevent you from replying to another student’s posts before your reply to the main question.
If you continue to experience issues with seeing other students’ posts, please reach out to the instructor about this issue.
When you access the forums in your LoudCloud classroom, you may run into an orange spinning loading circle. This can sometimes happen when the browser is having trouble loading the content from the LoudCloud server.
Here are a few easy steps to clear up the orange loading circle:
- The easiest and fastest step is to simply refresh your browser. You can do this by clicking on the Refresh button (usually shown as an open circle with an arrow at one end, located near the address bar). If you prefer using the keyboard, you can press F5 or hold Ctrl(Command on a Mac) and press R.
- If refreshing your page does not clear up the circle, try restarting your computer. Restarting your computer will force your browser to create a new connection to the LoudCloud server and should load the content.
- Clearing out your cache and cookies is always a good idea to keep your browser fast and responsive. It's also a great step to try to clear up the orange loading circle.
- Try restarting your Internet connection. Similar to restarting your computer, this will force a new connection to LoudCloud.
- Finally, you can always try a different Internet browser. Here are the Internet browsers that are supported for use with LoudCloud.
We are actively seeking out the cause of these endless orange loading circles. If you have attempted these steps and the content still does not load, more information on your specific browser or LoudCloud server you are connected to can help us troubleshoot further. You can send us this information by submitting a support request.
FAQ
1. To set up your profile, click on your name located in the upper right-hand corner.
There are five sections that you can edit on the profile page:
- Personal Information
- Guardian
- Address
- Work Experience
- Education
You can click on each section individually to view and edit the information in that section. You can also control whether a section is Public or Private. If you set it to Public, any information you share will be visible by your classmates.
2. To add or edit information, expand the section by clicking on the icon of a plus sign.
3. Then click Edit.
4. Once you are finished entering your information, click Save. The Save button will appear at the bottom of any section that is currently being edited.
While you have the capability to edit your email and time zone on file, you should not. Changing your email to anything other than your student email address and/or changing the time zone to anything other than Arizona time will negatively interfere with your profile and assignments in LoudCloud. This can cause assignments to show overdue or late prior to it being midnight in Arizona.
1. Click on your name located in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Next, click on the plus sign to the right of Personal Information.
3. Then, click Edit.
4. Next to Preferred Time Zone, select (UTC-07:00) Arizona from the drop-down menu.
5. Once you are finished, click Save. The Save button will appear at the bottom of any section that is currently being edited.
In addition to editing profile information, you can also add a picture to your profile using the following steps:
1. Click on Change Picture under your name on the left side of your profile page.
2. On the Upload Profile Image dialog box, click Choose File to upload a picture that is saved to your computer. The accepted file types are .jpg, .png, .bmp, and .gif. The file size cannot exceed 20 kilobytes. The recommended size is 200x200 pixels.
3. Once the file has been selected, click Save to complete the upload process.
There is a Profile Completion bar on the right that displays the percentage of what has been completed on your profile. The information entered is completely voluntary; your profile does not need to be 100 percent complete.
Bookmarks allow you to save frequently visited pages for quick access. To create a new bookmark, begin by navigating to the page you would like to save. Once on the page, click the bookmark star in the upper right-hand corner.
Next, create a title for the bookmark and click Save.
Once a bookmark has been saved, click Bookmarks in the lower right-hand corner and select the desired bookmark.
LoudCloud scheduled maintenance occurs every Thursday from 12 AM - 4 AM Arizona time. During this time, all LoudCloud classes are temporarily unavailable.
All other GCU websites are still accessible during LMS maintenance, however. If you need to contact your instructor immediately, you can still do so through your school email.
There are a number of different error messages that students can receive when accessing their LMS classroom. These errors typically indicate that you are trying to log into the wrong version of the LMS, or that it is too early to access your class.
Examples of error messages you may receive when attempting to log into LoudCloud can be found below.
Error: “An error has occurred. Please contact Technical Support for assistance.”
Solution: This error typically occurs when you attempt to access a LoudCloud platform in which you do not have any courses. First, check the start date of your course. Students can generally access a course three days prior to the start date, but in some situations the course is not accessible until the actual start date. It also takes up to 24 hours after being added to a course for your name to appear on the roster. If you were recently added to a course, check again after 24 hours have passed.
If the information above does not apply to you, check to ensure that you are accessing the correct version of LoudCloud. You will want access your course through lms-hs.gcu.edu.
Error: HTTP Status 500
Solution: This error most commonly occurs when you search for "LoudCloud" in a search engine such as Google. There are multiple LoudCloud platforms, each containing different types of courses.
The best way to access your LoudCloud classroom is to log in directly to lms-hs.gcu.edu.
Additionally, check the start date of your course. Students can generally access a course three days prior to the start date, but in some situations the course is not accessible until the actual start date. It also takes up to 24 hours after being added to a course for your name to appear on the roster. If you were recently added to a course, check again after 24 hours have passed.
Error: HTTP ERROR 400
“This page isn’t working. If the problem continues, contact the site owner”
Solution: This error can occur for a number of reasons. To resolve it, try some basic troubleshooting steps; please visit our Basic Troubleshooting article.
Error: Error 524 - A timeout occurred
Solution: Error 524 occurs when the Cloudfare, a cloud-based connection, fails to establish and connect to one of our GCU servers. This may occur because there are too many users trying to access a server at once. To address this error, we recommend attempting basic troubleshooting:
- Refresh or re-load the webpage you are trying to access.
- Clear your browser’s cache and cookies
- Switch to another web browser (please click here for the list of our supported browsers)
- Restart your modem
- Wait 10-15 minutes for server traffic to decrease and try again.
If the resource you’re attempting to view is still inaccessible after the waiting period, contact Technical Support so we can research the issue and try to replicate it. You can reach us at our toll-free phone number at 1-877-428-8447 or our local number at 602-639-7200.
Error: j_spring_security-check
Solution: This error occurs when you access the incorrect LoudCloud platform for your class. To resolve it, ensure that you are logging into the correct LoudCloud Platform.
The best way to access your LoudCloud classroom is to log in directly to lms-hs.gcu.edu.
When you log into the Learning Management System, you will be taken to the Homepage. This is a customizable page from where you can access your classes as well as view your Planner, Gradebook, and Submissions.
You can access the Homepage from anywhere by clicking the Grand Canyon University logo in the upper left-hand corner of the page.
Adding Widgets
By default, the My Classes widget will be displayed on your Homepage; this widget cannot be disabled as it provides the link(s) to your class(es).
You can add widgets to your Homepage by clicking on the Dashboard Widget icon in the upper right-hand corner. To add a widget, check the box for the desired widget. To remove a widget, simply uncheck the box next to the corresponding widget.
Customizing Your Widgets
There are several options available for customizing the widgets on your Homepage.
Organizing Widgets
Widgets can be reorganized on the Homepage in a fashion that best fits your needs. To move a widget, hover over the Title Bar, then click and drag the widget to its desired location.
Customizing Individual Widgets
The My Classes, Gradebook, and Submission’s widgets each have their own customizable features; these include filtering and color options. To edit these features, hover over the Edit icon. This will display a menu of features that you can select for the widget.
At the top of the LoudCloud page, there is a drop-down menu that allows you to easily switch from one course to another. The menu is located at the top left-hand side.
To switch courses, click on the menu and select the course you would like to enter. That’s it! The page will refresh, and the selected course will appear. You can also click on LoudCloud to return to the LoudCloud integrated homepage.
Server information can be found through the Tech Support link. This can be found at the bottom of the page for the login screen and within your classroom.
After clicking the Tech Support link and receiving a Technical Support pop-out box, you may need to scroll down to locate the server information under Server Name.
This window also provides your Operating System, Browser, Flash Player, and Cookie information. If you click on Send Information to Tech Support, you can email this information to us directly. Simply send the information to technical.support@gcu.edu with a description of your problem.
LoudCloud has a built-in timer that will automatically log you out after approximately 28 minutes of inactivity (window inactivity is recognized when the page is minimized). At this time, a pop-up window will appear, giving you 30 seconds to either close or continue your session.
First, open Onedrive so that you can see all of your files. Then Place a checkmark next to the file you wish to download.
Select Download.
After this the file will be downloaded and you can upload it to a LoudCloud assignment if you need to.
Open the file in Google Drive that you want to download. Then click File followed by Download.
Make sure that you select the Microsoft file type (docx, pptx, xlsx), unless otherwise instructed.
Access to discussion questions does not close like assignments and quizzes do. You can continue to reply in the discussion forums even after the week has ended. The only restrictions to posting are that you can't post before the start date of that week or after the class has ended.
No. DQ dates cannot be changed; assignments must be reassigned by the instructor.
Instructors provide their availability and contact information within their personal profiles in LoudCloud. Instructor profiles can be found in the class Roster.
Disclaimer: Instructors contact information, by default, is set to private in LMS. Instructor’s information may also be provided in the Announcements if unavailable on their profile.
No. If you want to complete your assignments or DQs ahead of time, that's perfectly okay. You simply need to wait until the week that the assignment or DQ is due to submit it.
The information provided applies to the LMS system as well. Assignments or DQ’s will not display the options to Browse From My Computer or Add A Post until the week that the assignment or DQ is due.
The overall quiz score will be available as soon as the quiz is auto graded or manually graded by the instructor. Individual question results are not viewable, however. We recommend contacting your instructor if you have any questions about your quiz grade.
On the LMS, resizing the screen to view the Save and next button or expanding the window fully can be done without closing the quiz, but anything beyond that may cause the quiz to close and automatically submit itself.
LMS is based on the time zone you have selected in your LMS profile and changing this can cause issues with due dates on assignments and quizzes. We recommend keeping the time zone set to (UTC -07:00) Arizona.
Instructors have 48 hours to respond to their students. If more than 48 hours have passed and you are concerned with a lack of communication, you can contact your school representative so they can look into the issue.
In the LMS, faculty have to manually make their profile information public. If no email is present, you may ask your instructor to add their email address onto their profile or contact your instructor via the Private Forum.
All of the Grand Canyon University websites are shown advertisement free. If you see any advertisements in LMS or any GCU website, your computer may be infected with malware which can cause serious damage to your computer. We suggest checking your computer for malware or asking someone you trust to look at it.
Even though there may be a separate assignment on the calendar labeled, Participation, it simply serves as a reminder to participate in class discussions. The Participation calendar card cannot be responded to and will be marked as "Completed" after you've met the participation requirements for the week. Each class is different, so it is important to reach out to your instructor for clarification about how your participation should be completed.
The Preferences tab allows you to change what page you see first when logging into your course, accessing the Path, and when switching courses.