Canvas best practice

Follow these Canvas tips for planning courses for the upcoming academic year. These recommendations will create an organized and engaging Canvas course for students

Homepage

  • Create a homepage that includes
    • Your name
    • Course name
    • Contact information
    • Office hours
  • Upload a relevant image that relates to the course.

Modules

  • Create a module for each week or unit. Weekly is recommended for helping students build time management skills.
  • Add readings, assignments, and quizzes to each module.

Assignments

  • Create all assignment types with built-in due-date settings in each module. This includes presentations and non-digital assignments. Students' Canvas calendars will be populated with all the assignment due dates, and you will model good organizational skills.
  • Use quizzes as formative and summative assessments to track student learning.

Syllabus

  • Use the digital syllabus as either a homepage or a secondary page. This will provide students with an overview of all assignments listed in Canvas.
  • In addition to the digital syllabus, provide a downloadable PDF copy of your course syllabus.

Rubrics

  • Using a rubric will aid students in understanding the expectations of the assignment and how their work will be evaluated.
  • Adding a rubric provides faculty structure and consistency when grading assignments. 

Gradebook

  • Use the Gradebook so students can track their progress in the course.
  • Posting grades and feedback in a timely manner (two weeks or less is best practice) provides students with guidance on future assignments.

Accessibility

  • Use headers to indicate a new section or topic.
  • Use easy to read fonts and contrasting background colors.
  • Use bulleted lists to identify key information.
  • Be sure video content has closed captioning
  • Use the Accessibility checker in the Rich Content Editor to ensure accessibility.

Hide menu items Hide navigation links students do not need to access like: Files, Pages, Quizzes, Assignments, Conferences, People, etc. This will make it easier for students to locate the menu items they do need.

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