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.