How can I get started setting up my Canvas course site?

Designing your UVACanvas course site provides an opportunity to enhance learning experiences for students. The structure and organization of your site can be likened to the structure of an in-person learning environment. Ensuring that students can intuitively interact with tools and course materials decreases cognitive load and increases engagement.

Combine sections into a single site. (Optional)

A course site in UVACanvas is automatically created for each roster in the Student Information System (SIS). In some cases, you may want to combine roster sections into a single site, for example:

  • A course is cross-listed in different departments.
  • A course includes both undergraduate and graduate students, and the graduate students are enrolled in a different roster in SIS than the undergraduates.
  • A course includes both lecture and lab or discussion sections, and instructors would like to use a single site for all sections. However, they would like to be able to differentiate the individual lab or discussion sections while grading, send messages to specific sections, and assign different due dates to those sections.
  • An instructor is teaching several sections of the same course, and wants to deliver the same content to the students in all sections.

To combine roster sections into a single site, follow the steps in How do I combine/cross-list multiple courses or sections into one course site? (opens new window).

Consider structure.

Decide how you want to organize your course content for students. Is there a structure that is familiar to your students, whether it be from your department, school, or field of study? Some examples of structure include:

  • Weeks or classes
  • Topics or units
  • Chapters in a book

Consider what system would make it easiest for you and your students to navigate course content.

Tip: You can find information about using sample course templates provided by UVA's Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) in View & Import CTE Templated Courses in Canvas Commons (opens new window).

Screenshot showing examples of tool placement in the menu described below.

Tools that are in the Course Navigation Menu should be ones that students will use throughout the semester. If a tool is being shown in the menu that students will not use, hide it from view to create a more accessible student experience.

The placement of tools within menu should signify relevance to coursework and frequency of use. For instance, if your course regularly meets in Zoom, place the Online Meetings tool near the top of the menu. If Zoom meetings are an exception, placing the tool closer to the bottom of the list would reflect the limited need for access. If you will be using tools like Course Email that students do not need to access frequently, place them closer to the bottom of the list.

While it may seem like a minor adjustment, the placement of tools in the menu can create a workflow conducive for student success. Students who have to hunt for tools and content can become frustrated or discouraged, which may decrease their engagement.

Details about how to change the visibility and location of navigation links can be found at How do I manage course navigation links? (opens new window).

Note:

  • There are several tools that will always appear in the instructor's course navigation menu, even if they are hidden from students.
  • Some tools designed for instructor use only, such as Photo Roster and Export Grades to SIS, cannot be displayed to students.
  • The Home tool will always be visible to everyone in the course site and can't be hidden from view.

Choose your Course Home Page.

Screenshot of the options for choosing the Course Home page.

Home is the landing page for your Canvas course site. Consider using your course's Home page to maximize the presentation of key content. You can select from several tools to display in Home:

  • Course Activity Stream: A list of recent announcements and activities, such as new posts in discussions, new assignments or quizzes, and due date changes.
  • Pages Front Page: The front page selected in the Pages tool. Many course site templates default to using a Home page with basic information about the course.
  • Course Modules: The Modules tool. If all of your course content will be delivered using Modules, you might consider selecting this option for your Home page. Some course site templates use Course Modules as their default.
  • Assignments List: The list of assignments in the Assignments tool.
  • Syllabus: The Syllabus tool.

For steps to choose your Home page and select a specific page in the Pages tool to use as the Home page, see the following help articles:

Tip: If you use a Pages Front Page for your Home page, including details such as contact info, office hours, and class meeting days/times is a great starting place. You can also create a Home page with links to other pages that contain dynamic and rich content. For example, you might have pages with weekly highlights, reminders, or embedded video messages.

Curate content.

An important step in course development is curating content. This could involve gathering or creating materials, such as:

  • Articles
  • Documents
  • Textbooks
  • Website links
  • Images, videos, and other media

When finding and creating content, we recommend checking that it is accessible to all students, regardless of their strengths and abilities. For more information, see What does it mean to make content accessible? (opens new window).

Tip: Contact subject librarians (opens new window), instructional designers, and the Student Disability Access Center (opens new window) for help. For instructions to request course materials such as articles and videos from the UVA Library, see the Course Reserves page (opens new window).

Add content to your Canvas course site.

Schedule online meetings.

You can use Zoom or Microsoft Teams to schedule online meetings and office hours. For steps, see the following articles.

Online Meetings (Zoom):

Microsoft Teams:

Record class meetings or lectures.

You can record meetings and lectures with Zoom, Panopto, or Kaltura Capture.

Online Meetings (Zoom): You can enable recording when scheduling a Zoom meeting, or you can start recording after starting the meeting.

Panopto: Panopto can be used to record asynchronous lectures, or to record meetings in the classroom for students to view later.

Kaltura Capture: You can record asynchronous lectures using Kaltura Capture though My Media in Canvas. If a PowerPoint presentation is shared in the recording, the slides will be automatically indexed and made searchable. For details, see: How do I record a PowerPoint presentation with Kaltura Capture? (opens new window).

Important: Refer to the UVA Policy PROV-005: Dissemination and Recording of Course Materials and Activities (opens new window) for guidance on making and sharing recordings. For more information about implementing the policy, see Additional guidance (e.g., sample syllabus statements about recorded classes) (opens new window).

Add a Syllabus.

Follow the steps in How do I use the Syllabus as an instructor? (opens new window) to add content to the Syllabus tool.

If you will be uploading a Word document for your syllabus, follow the steps in How do I upload a document in the Rich Content Editor? (opens new window). Once the link to the file is created, view the Link Options and select Preview inline and Expand preview by default to display the file on the page.

Important: Make sure your document is accessible (opens new window) before making it available to students.

Upload documents and media.

Many types of files, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF, and image files that are smaller than 500 MB in size, can be made available to students via the Canvas Files tool. For steps, see How do I upload a file in Files? (opens new window).

However, to deliver multimedia content, such as audio and video files, you should use a streaming media tool, such as Kaltura Media Gallery, Panopto Video, or Canvas Studio. These tools have very high file upload limits, files uploaded to them will not count against the Files quota in your course, their streaming features allow media to be displayed nicely on a variety of devices (computers, phones, or tablets), and you can easily add captions to media in the tools. Below are some links to help articles for how to use these tools.

Create assessment opportunities.

Determine how you want to assess your students, providing multiple ways of checking their learning.

Formative assessments: Low-stakes activities that give students a chance to demonstrate their understanding while giving both students and instructors the opportunity to identify learning gaps. For more information, see the A&S Learning Design & Technology team's Formative Assessments overview (opens new window). Tools you could use for formative assessments include:

Summative assessments: Higher-stakes activities that evaluate a student's proficiency after the completion of an instructional unit. For more information, see the A&S Learning Design & Technology team's Summative Assessments overview (opens new window). Tools you could use for summative assessments include:

Add modules and pages.

Modules and pages can be used to structure your course site and improve navigation. This structure can help reduce student cognitive load by making it easy for them to engage with the content.

You can create modules in your Canvas course and add your content to pages in the modules as described below.

  1. Create a module (opens new window)
  2. Add a page to the module (opens new window)
  3. Use headings to structure the page (opens new window) and present concepts in small "bite-sized" pieces.
  4. Guide your students with clear and concise instructions.
  5. Make navigation as simple as possible by adding links to activities (opens new window) (e.g., assignments, discussions, quizzes) on the page. Create accessible links (opens new window) with uniquely descriptive link text. Examples of meaningful link text:
    • "Submit Week 3 Essay" - link to an assignment.
    • "Intro to Accessibility (PDF)" - link to an article
    • "Access the Oxford English Dictionary online" - link to a website
  6. Provide context around embedded content. For example, if you embed a lecture video, provide a brief description of the content so that students will know what to expect when they watch it. For images, add meaningful text descriptions (opens new window).