You can customize your course by selecting a Canvas Page Template from the Pages section. Before publishing for your students, be sure to delete any pages that are not needed. Below is a list of the available page options

1. Welcome page: This page contains information to help you use this template. It is only for instructors; it should be unpublished or hidden from students.
   
   

2. Three Homepage Design Choices: The course home page serves as the initial entry point into your course and helps to orient students to what they need to know and how to navigate it.  In the template, faculty can choose from the following:
   
   

   1. 1. FA/SP Weekly/Module Navigation Design - Embellished homepage and navigation design based on a 15-week timeline, with customization limited to HTML only.

      2. SU Weekly/Module Flex Navigation Design - A more simplistic homepage and navigation design based on a 10-week timeline, with customization limited to HTML only.

      3. FA/SP/SU Module-Based Navigation Design - No-code simplistic button-based design homepage with a customizable number of navigation buttons (add/delete buttons using the Canvas Icon Maker tool).
         
         

3. Instructor Resources: This page contains links to useful resources for setting up an accessible syllabus, teaching and learning resources, and links to technical support.
   
   

4. Students Resources: This page contains links to useful learning resources and links to technical support. 

NOTE: As you edit a page, please keep in mind the following:

• Text content within each page design can be edited using the rich-text editor. 

• Button text can be modified and linked to any page or item inside or outside of Canvas. To add a link, follow the steps shown in this video or below: 

1. Navigate to the page and click on the "Edit" button. 

2. Highlight the word or select the icon you want to link to a resource.

3. Select the "Link" icon in the rich-text editor. You can link the button text or icon to an external website or any item in your Canvas site, such as an assignment, a module, your syllabus, or your homepage. 

• Images and Icons, such as the banner image and icons next to buttons, can be swapped out with your own images and icons.

  • • Websites for Copyright Free Images: Pixabay.com, Pexels.com, Unsplash.com

    • Website for Copyright Free Icons: https://materialdesignicons.com/

• Save frequently! You can always go to the three dots at the top of the right of the page and view the page history to go back to a previous save.

Syllabus template: The syllabus template in this section is set up to be accessible so you can use this template for your syllabus. It also contains sample verbiage that you can copy and paste into your syllabus. Please make sure to keep this module unpublished, or delete this section before you publish the course for your students.

Assignment Groups in Canvas allow you to organize the assignments in your course. 

With weighted Assignment Groups, you can make the organization of your assignments in Canvas match the organization used on your syllabus. You also have greater flexibility than is offered by weighting each individual assignment: if an assignment needs to be dropped or added, you can simply remove it from/add it to the appropriate assignment group, and Canvas will automatically recalculate the final grade accordingly.

The course template features sample assignment groups with pre-made weighted groups (categories) that can be modified to meet your needs. For ideas on how to use weighted groups, please refer to this tutorial from the Stanford Canvas support team.

**Note: We DO NOT recommend importing a sample entire course shell into an existing course with developed content. It is best to import the template into an empty course or Canvas DEV shell or to import only specific content into a developed course. 

How to set up a Canvas DEV course shell and Import the Canvas Sample Course Shell

1. Use the links above to download the appropriate Canvas Sample Course Export File. The file is in .imscc format (Do not try to open this file).

2.  (if you do not already have one) Request a Canvas DEV course shell.

3. Enter the Canvas DEV course shell and click on the "settings" tab in the left side menu.

4. Click on the "Import Course Content" link on the right side menu.

5. For Content type, select "Canvas Course Export Package" in the drop-down menu and then browse for the .imscc file that you downloaded in Step 1.

6. For Content, select "All content" ( or specific content if you would like to get only some pages).

7. Click the "Import" button. The process may take a few minutes to complete.

8. Optional if you selected specific content, you will have to select said content after importing the course. Please see this tutorial for more information.

9. The template is now imported into your Canvas DEV course shell.
   For more information visit the Canvas tutorial: How do I import a Canvas course export package?

For information about the Course Import Tool's limitations, view the Course Import Tool overview.