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

Create a welcoming landing page for your students.

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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 and Content

How do I add a file to my course?

• Upload your syllabus and other files in PDF and Word formats

How do I move and organize my files?

• Files are organized in alphabetical order. While you can still move files into folders, you cannot rearrange the alphabetized structure of the files and folders.

What types of media files can be uploaded into Canvas?

• Canvas will accept most media files as uploads. However, not all media files can be played within Canvas.

What document types does Canvas convert using the Scribd preview?

• With Scribd preview you can scroll through the document, zoom in and out, and view the document in full screen.

See also Instructure's video: Files - Add Content

Create Pages

Add Content

Use Modules to Organize Content

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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?

See also Instructure's video: Modules - Creation and Management

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