Marjon Canvas Page Templates Project

Overview

I am part of a team at Plymouth Marjon University who have developed a webpage based approach to curating and sharing teaching and learning resources.

Summary of our Work

We are using generative AI to adapt pre-designed templates and incorporate the resources required for any given blocks of learning.
We are sharing our page templates across campus and training colleagues to vibe code and encouraging them to adapt designs for their own use while maintaining key quality attributes.

The questions that underpin our work

Many of our students are now turning up to class with a laptop - how are we responding to this change in the classroom environment?
Students should really be spending more time learning out of class than in class....if I want my students to spend more time engaging with content in our VLE, how can I do that effectively?
How can we provide resources for different approaches to teaching and learning?

Asynchronous Quality Resources in a Traditional, Synchronous Environment

We want our students to do the following:

- Engage with upcoming session content
  - skim review what's coming up next week
  - do the suggested pre-reading
- Engage in class
  - use resources shared in class, select content to engage with, stay on task as much as possible, have all task explanations available when needed
- Straight after class, we want our students to review their learning and consolidate it by engaging with the shared resources
- In several weeks time, we want students to prepare for assessments by efficiently locating and engaging with resources from earlier in the module.
- Next year, we want students to re-engage with prior teaching and then apply it in a different way (e.g. research methods for a final year project)

We also want to offer different ways of delivering "learning" like live & online, personalised learning pathways, and content that works at different levels.

All of these "wants" require asynchronous learning. Therefore, we need asynchronous quality resources in what is often described as a more traditional, synchronous environment.

What we are doing

We are raising the profile and importance of good VLE design work for standard, face-to-face learning - "VLE FIrst"
- We are encouraging colleagues to think much more about navigability and narrative (the explanation that goes next to any given resource)
We have designed a range of page templates that work in Canvas pages (i.e. basic inline HTML).
We are supporting teaching colleagues in learning the skills and techniques needed to adapt these templates using gen AI (vibe coding).
We have encouraged hubs of staff on related programmes to work together to develop new versions of the templates for use in their own areas.
We have established a community of practice whereby all good practice and design work is fed back in to the toolbox of templates available for all staff.
We are having many great conversations about pedagogy as a result of this new approach to digital resources - it looks like it is all about the webpage but it is really about the way they are used, and how we can produce resources that align with the tutors approach to teaching.
- Example 1: We are making many more explicit connections (in the form of hyperlinks but also, conceptually) between teaching and learning content within a module and between modules and levels.
- Example 2: By sharing templates that embody good instructional design we have been able to highlight key phases of learning and encourage colleagues to think in different ways about how information is shared (e.g. demonstration, activation, integration or explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate etc)
Some of our designs and content can be seen below...

Template Content and Design Examples

This section contains examples of our resource page designs
The Cardiovascular Disease teaching and learning page on the right can be viewed in situ (a trial/demo page) at this link: https://marjon.instructure.com/courses/6470/pages/partner-provider-canvas-workshop-demo-page-1

Some features on the page to the right

Prior Knowledge Activation - Prompts learners to reflect on existing knowledge before engaging with new content
Multimodal Content Delivery - Combines text, animated GIFs, embedded slides, interactive elements, and structured visual design
Interactive Learning Objects - Embedded quizzes, drag-and-drop activities, and interactive challenges for active learning
Structured Progression - Clear pathway from asynchronous prep → live session → follow-up application (scaffolded learning)
Expandable/Collapsible Content - Details/summary elements reduce cognitive load while providing access to rich content
Visual Organisation - Colour-coded sections, clear typographic hierarchy, and consistent design patterns support navigation
Assessment Alignment - Explicit connections to practical assessments and portfolio requirements
Progressive Disclosure - Complex information (like pharmacology tables) hidden by default but easily accessible

What Next?

Through the academic year 2025-26, we are aiming to provide a one hour introductory session to all teaching staff on campus
- This session is enough for most to understand how to use page templates with gen AI and to be able to play around building new content. Some are ready to go, some are also having ongoing support
The next academic year will see how widespread uptake of this approach is and will also include reviews of VLE content to evaluate content against general principles identified in 25/26#

Find out more

Contact me at bjane@marjon.ac.uk to find out more
There are five of us on the Template team and we have lots to share about our design work, our use of gen AI and our campus-wide implementation.
- The PMU Canvas Template Team: Prof Jennie Winter, Assoc Prof Lynne Wyness, Dr Ian Stonebridge, Antía Álvarez Mera

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