Courses and Modules

Finding Your Courses

By default, every class that you have had since the district signed teachers up for Canvas is listed in your Courses navigation menu.

To adjust this, so you only see your current classes, you will need to select "Favorite" classes.
Here's how to do that...

  1. Scroll down to the bottom of the "Courses" menu and select “All Courses.”

  2. Toggle the star symbol to "favorite" courses. These will be the courses visible to you in the initial course navigation menu. Favorited courses have a colored star next to their name.

  3. You can then navigate away from the "All Courses" page.

*You will have to "unfavorite" courses after you no longer wish to see them.

For a more permanent (still reversible) solution, you can set an end date for your courses. This archives them so they do not appear in your current course listing. To do so follow this guide from Canvas. This is the only way to change course designations.

Course Navigation Links

Course navigation links are links located on the left side of the page. Unlike the Canvas navigation links, teachers can customize the viewable Course navigation links and arrange them in the order that they want them seen by their students. As a teacher you have complete visibility of all of the course navigation links. We advise making the following Course navigation links viewable to your students:

  • Home (returns teachers/students to the class homepage; teachers can also do “student view”)

  • Modules (all content, assignments, discussions, and quizzes, are organized and stored in modules)

  • Grades (teachers can access their gradebook; students can access individual grades)

  • *Discussions

  • *Conferences
    *    Based on your needs for your classes, these are great links for Distance Learning

You can then select "Student View" on the far right context menu to see what your students will see on their end.

Home Page Customization

Setting up your “Home” Page
The Course Home Page is the first page students see when they open the class. The “Home” Page also helps students understand how they can navigate through the course. You can customize the Home Page to create a specific workflow for your students. There are 4 default choices that Canvas has for you to choose from and 1 that is customizable. When you are ready to select a home page, click on the course navigation link, “Home,” then find the “Choose Home Page” link from the right sidebar menu and click on it. A window will appear with your homepage choices. Click on the one you want to select as your homepage (you can change it whenever you want) and click, “Save.”

Using Modules

Modules are used to organize course content by weeks, units, or a different organizational structure. Modules essentially create a one-directional linear flow of what students should do in a class.

Each module can contain files, discussions, assignments, quizzes, and other learning materials. Module items can be added to the course from existing content or new content. Course content can be added to multiple modules or several times throughout an individual module. Modules can be easily organized using the drag and drop feature.

Create a Module
Before you create a module, be sure to have already developed a skeleton outline of a plan for the class. Next, click the “Modules” link from the course navigation menu. Then click on the Add (+) Module link at the top of the page. Then name the module and click “Add Module.” You might see the "hidden" symbol next to modules hasn't changed. This is because there are currently no published modules in your course. You'll publish the module later, but first you need to make assignments.

Add an assignment to the “Module”
The module in this example has been named, “Introduction.” To add an assignment to the Introduction module, click on the light grey (+) sign. Click on “New Assignment,” then number and name the assignment and click, “Add Item.” This is an assignment “shell,” it is a shell because no content has been added to it yet.

The next section covers how to fill these in with content, adjust settings, and publish.