The CUW systems you will use as an online nursing student
Concordia University Wisconsin runs student business through the Portal at my.cuw.edu, which leads to Self-Service Banner, Canvas and Webmail, alongside Concordia Central and the Rincker Memorial Library. CastleBranch handles your background check. No current CUW page names a clinical logging or placement system, so clinical paperwork goes wherever your course faculty and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator direct.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your CUW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Which CUW system does what
Most of these open from the Portal. The last column shows where each one meets your clinical work, which is the part CUW's pages say least about.
| System | What CUW uses it for | Clinical connection |
|---|---|---|
| Future Falcon application (apply.cuw.edu) | Admission application, including the MSN's recorded video introduction | Before acceptance |
| Portal (my.cuw.edu), the CU Portal | Grades, email, financial aid, registration, textbooks and forms | Registering for each clinical course |
| Self-Service Banner | Midterm and final grades, registration tools, unofficial transcripts | Confirming registration and prerequisites |
| Canvas | Course content, the gradebook, Brainfuse tutoring | Course work; clinical paperwork location not published |
| Webmail (Outlook) | University email on a cuw.edu or cuaa.edu address | Messages with faculty and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator |
| Concordia Central | Advising, your bill, financial aid, schedule and grades | Account and schedule questions |
| Rincker Memorial Library | Primo search, research guides, Ask a Librarian, interlibrary loan | Evidence for SOAP notes and DNP projects |
| CastleBranch | Certified background check on acceptance | Clearance before clinicals |
The Portal and Self-Service Banner
The Portal at my.cuw.edu is the front door. CUW describes grades, email, financial aid, housing and class registration as all managed through it. The catalog calls it the CU Portal, sends you there to buy textbooks (Student Tab, then My Books) and keeps forms such as independent study requests there.
Self-Service Banner, reached through the Portal, holds your midterm and final grades, the Registration Tools (registration status, pre-registration requirements and class registration) and unofficial transcripts. For a clinical student, it is where you confirm that the next course in your sequence is actually on your schedule.
Registration rules weigh more on clinicals than on other courses. Each clinical requires the one before it, and the catalog drops a registered student whose prerequisites were not completed. Courses longer than 8 weeks can be added until the end of the first week with instructor approval, part-time online students register by the first day of the term, and a waitlist offer expires after 72 hours. Term dates are on the semester calendar.
Canvas: your courses, not your placement file
Canvas is CUW's learning management system, which CUW calls its tool for online teaching, learning, community building and knowledge sharing, and it opens from www.cuw.edu/canvas. Instructors keep the Canvas gradebook current for progress-report grades in 16-, 8- and 6-week courses, and online tutoring through Brainfuse is reached from Canvas as well.
No CUW source ties Canvas to clinical paperwork. The 2013-2015 NP handbooks used an earlier course system, ANGEL, and ran clinical logs and evaluations through Typhon, and no current source names what replaced either for clinicals. Your course faculty will tell you where proposals, logs and evaluations go; the logs and evaluations guide shows what they have looked like in the past. Read each clinical course's Canvas materials early, since the syllabus is the likeliest home for current clinical instructions.
Webmail and the software CUW supplies
CUW issues a university email account when you enroll, on a cuw.edu or cuaa.edu address, delivered through Outlook at outlook.office365.com. Graduates keep that email for one year. Use it for everything clinical: your course faculty, the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and any preceptor thread you may need to forward.
That last habit has a history. CUW's 2014-15 NP handbook asked a student who changed plans after a preceptor had agreed to tell the provider and forward a copy of that email to the Clinical Education Coordinator. Keeping preceptor correspondence in your CUW mailbox gives you a clean record if a placement changes.
CUW also supplies Microsoft Office 365, Zoom and Respondus LockDown Browser as required course software. Zoom carries the DNP programs' opening orientation, which takes place before the program starts.
Concordia Central, the library and support services
Concordia Central is CUW's self-service hub for academic advising, your CUW bill, financial aid, your course schedule and grades. When a question concerns your account rather than a course, start there.
The Rincker Memorial Library serves online students in full. You get Primo search, research guides at cuw.libguides.com, Ask a Librarian and interlibrary loan, and Online Student Library Services will mail books to your home if you choose Home Address as the hold shelf location. That matters for the evidence behind SOAP notes and for the literature review in a DNP project.
The Academic Resource Center adds tutoring, writing help through the Writing Center and Online Writing Lab, and accessibility services, on the Mequon and Ann Arbor campuses and online. Handshake carries job listings for current students and graduates, which becomes useful as your final clinical winds down.
Systems CUW does not name for clinicals
If you expected a placement platform, CUW publishes none. The 2026-27 catalog returns no results for Typhon, Exxat, ACEMAPP, Medatrax or InPlace, and no CUW-branded clinical placement portal appears in any CUW source. Placement at CUW runs through people: you secure the preceptor, graduate faculty approve the site, your course faculty run the course, and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator assists. The Graduate Clinical Coordinator guide explains who does what.
Some health systems use platforms of their own. Aurora and UW Health take requests through MyClinicalExchange, and Ascension Wisconsin through its Electronic Student Clinical Placement Process, but in each case the school submits the request rather than the student. See sites with their own processes before you approach a clinician inside one of those systems.
Why CUW students choose us to keep the placement file
Since CUW has no public placement portal, your placement details live wherever you keep them. We keep them for you in one organized file: the preceptor's license, board certification and CV, the site's address and contract status, and your own clearances. Whatever form or system your course faculty hand you, the details are ready to enter. If a preceptor or site changes, we update the file and mark which details the proposal needs again, so a resubmission starts from a complete record.
We also hold one calendar for all three clinicals, so registration, proposal and onboarding dates stay in view together, and the next site is lined up before the current course ends. See how it works or tell us about your program.
Questions CUW students ask
What is the CUW Portal used for?
The Portal at my.cuw.edu is CUW's main student hub. CUW describes grades, email, financial aid, housing and class registration as managed through it, and it leads to Self-Service Banner, Canvas and Webmail. The catalog calls it the CU Portal and uses it for textbook orders and for forms such as independent study requests.
Where do I see my grades at CUW?
Final and midterm grades sit in Self-Service Banner, reached through the Portal, which also holds unofficial transcripts. While a course is running, instructors keep the Canvas gradebook current for progress-report grades. Concordia Central shows grades too, alongside your course schedule and your bill.
Where do I submit clinical paperwork at CUW?
CUW does not publish that. No current source names a clinical tracking system, and none ties Canvas to clinical forms. Older handbooks used Typhon for logs and evaluations, but only 2013 to 2015 is confirmed. Your course faculty and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator tell you where proposals, logs and evaluations go.
How long do CUW graduates keep their email?
One year after graduating, according to the catalog's technology requirements. Before that year ends, save preceptor correspondence, signed hours forms and evaluations somewhere of your own, especially anything you may need later for board certification or credentialing. The same catalog page lists the software CUW supplies to students, including Microsoft Office 365 and Zoom.
Can online CUW nursing students borrow library books?
Yes. The Rincker Memorial Library's Online Student Library Services include home delivery: choose Home Address as the hold shelf location when you request a book. Online students also get electronic resources, research guides, Ask a Librarian and interlibrary loan. It is a practical way to get the texts behind SOAP notes and a DNP literature review without a trip to Mequon.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against CUW's own academic catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
- Concordia University Wisconsin: Concordia Central
- Concordia University Wisconsin: Canvas
- Concordia University Wisconsin Rincker Memorial Library: online student services
- Concordia University Wisconsin Academic Catalog 2026-2027: technology requirements
- Concordia University Wisconsin Academic Catalog 2026-2027: registration policies
CUW asks you to secure your preceptors. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your CUW track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NURS course, gather the license, board certification and site details CUW's graduate faculty review, and flag early whether the site needs a new clinical contract.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, mental health settings for PMHNP, an agency mentor for DNP projects
- Preceptor license, certification, CV and site details ready for CUW's approval
- All three clinical courses planned together, close to home in a state CUW's disclosure lists for your program
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next clinical course is all we need to begin.