Designing Your Canvas Course

Create a site with a welcoming Home page and clear navigation for your students.

( This page is under development )

Create a Home Page

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The ‘Homepage’ of your course can be customized as you prefer.

• The default is the ‘Recent Activity Dashboard' which displays the current Announcements to your students.
• Or you can choose to create a custom page (a Page I Design Myself) or the list of Modules as the Homepage.

We recommend selecting "a Page I Design Myself" to create a welcoming and identifying front page for your students.

For a list of recommended components to include on the Home pape, click the show more button below.

Components that should be included on the faculty-designed Home page are:

• title of program/course, and/or a welcome message or brief offering description (2-3 sentences)
• a related image (recommended dimensions: 700 pixels wide by 300 pixels high)
• indicate where students should "start" in the site, such as using text or an icon linked to the Modules List
• meeting day(s)/time(s) and location(s)
• faculty name(s)
• faculty office hours and location (or create a "Faculty Page" to include more information)

See Instructure's illustrated guides for more instructions:

• Locate the Course Home Page
• How to set the Course Home Page
• How do I edit Pages?

Add and Manage Files

Create Pages

Add Content

Use Modules to Organize Content

Modules allow you to organize your content to help control the flow of your course.

• How do I create a new Module?
• How do I add items to a Module?

Last Steps: Test and Publish

A course is made accessible to students by publishing it. Use Student View before publishing to see the course as students will see it.

• How to use Student View
• How to Publish Your Course

Related pages

• Canvas Guide for Faculty
• Technical Requirements for Using Canvas
• Canvas for Students

Still Need Help?

• Canvas Guides for Faculty
• Canvas Student Guides