Canvas Transition: Intro to the Canvas Template

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If you’re getting comfortable working on your courses in Canvas and are ready to take a jump and add design and structure elements to your course, you’ll be thrilled to hear about the template the CTL has created in Canvas. Canvas created the base template, then the CTL modified it to fit our needs. We’re currently using it in all our online courses to provide consistent structure and visual design elements (see our post about the template icons for more details!), and you can use it also to accomplish those goals in your course. Of course, there are elements that you can use and trade out to fit the template to your particular course! And one more note: anything in the template that is both bold and italicized are notes for you! Before you publish your course for students to see, make sure you remove those instructions/notes on the pages that you’re using. 

Let’s take a look at three big pieces of the template: front page design, page/assessment instruction templates, and embedded help information. 

Front Page Design

In Canvas, you have options for what your students see when they enter a course. You could set it so that they immediately see all the modules of your course. You could also set it so that the “front page” is your syllabus. This template also offers a designed welcome page to use as a front page. 

This designed welcome page has a customizable banner, and the CTL has loaded a generic banner image option as well as one geared toward your department. The page offers a spot to add a short welcome message or video, then it has tips on how to navigate a course. Below those items are three icons that will take students to helpful information – an “about your instructor” page that you can fill out, a “course Q&A” forum so that they can ask questions that you or other students could answer, and a “Learning Modules” link that will take students to the “modules” page in the course.

Page/Assessment Instruction Templates

This template also provides design templates for pages, assignments, quizzes, and forums in the course! We’ll take a look at an example of a page template and an assignment template. 

Page template

Here’s a Module Overview page template. The CTL uses this template for each module in all of the online courses – students can go to this single page each module for an overview of everything they need to accomplish that module. If there are sections of this that aren’t used in a particular module, we delete it (for example, there are some modules that won’t have new content for students to read). You can use Canvas’ linking feature to easily link course content into these pages. 

Assignment template

Canvas has different templates for quizzes, discussions, and written assignments – this one is for written assignments. It provides a space for you to provide the specific prompt, a place for more general guidelines (think pieces of information that would apply to multiple assignments, such as word count), and a technical support section. The technical support section links to the appropriate Canvas documentation for students to get help for technical issues with whatever kind of assignment they’re working on. 

Embedded Help Information

Canvas has provided several ways for students and instructors alike to access help resources when using this template. When you’re starting to use the template, check out the “About This Template” pages of the “Instructors Only Module” on the Modules page. Those pages will walk you through what you need to know as you prepare to use and modify the template for your course. 

Additionally, there is a “Canvas: Overview and Resources” module geared toward students. Students can use these three pages to get themselves started, view helpful tips, and get additional support. 

Of course, if you or your students have further questions, you can contact Canvas at any time by using the help menu inside Canvas or calling 937-766-7905 and pressing option 1. 

Ready to use this template? Contact the CTL (ctl@cedarville.edu), and we can import it into your course!

Note: edited January 6, 2021, to update the link in the “Linking Canvas content together” section to reflect the change to the New Rich Content Editor.
edited September 11, 2023, to remove the reference to Canvas Fellows and direct faculty in need of the template to the CTL.

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