Step 1: Clean Up Course Navigation

Streamlining your course navigation makes it easier for students to find resources they need, improving focus and increasing consistency between courses. The links in the course navigation can be enabled, disabled, and arranged from the course settings. Don't forget to include your course syllabus! Customize the copy-and-pasteable syllabus featured in the video tutorial above or use the one your school. Find course scope and goals, standards, pacing guiges, and Tier I instructional materials on the Curriculum Hub. A recommended course navigation order is Home, Syllabus, Announcements, Modules, Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, People, Grades, and Grade Sync.

Step 2: Assignment Groups and SIS Sync

Organize your assignments into groups. Create separate formative and summative assignment groups for each quarter for a secondary class or each semester in an elementary subject. Use these instructions on how to sync each of your assignment groups to your formative and summative assignment categories from Infinite Campus. If you are cross-listing your courses (see below), you will have more than one section to sync for each assignment group.

Step 3: Creating Modules and Assignments

One way to structure your class is the create modules to house your the curricular resources for each of the units. Get started by clicking on the + Module button from the modules page of your course. Want an easy way to decrease printing in your class? Change the submission type on your new assignment to Online > Student Annotations. This enables students to type directly onto an uploaded PDF (or any file type), decreasing the amount of paper you use in your classroom. Review these instructions to get help with creating modules and watch this video to see how to use this assignment type. 

Step 4: Cross-listing Courses

Teaching the same secondary content to different sections throughout your day or work within a departmental structure at your elementary school? Cross-listing like courses and subjects allows you to manage all sections from just one Canvas course, all while keeping each student organized in their respective sections. You can use multiple "assign to" panels to differentiate due dates and availability times for each section and use the filters in Speed Grader to access each section separately. Review these instructions to set up cross-listed courses and subjects.