Canvas Course Designs By Dr. Brian Chen
Home Page Examples .
The Canvas “Home” page is the first page students land the courses. There are several options including (a) Links to a ‘Start Here’ page, (b) Syllabus, (c) Course Modules, and so on. I have applied 4 different ways to create a ‘Canvas Homepage’ using advanced HTML coding and related techniques. All my Canvas course designs are responsive, which makes contents have a nice appearance and a good performance on all devices, such as phones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, and on the “Canvas App.”
Click each image below to see a larger screenshot with details on how it is created and designed.
Module Structure Examples.
The structure of Canvas ‘Modules’ can serve as a course map. Clear and concise naming, location, and structure are important elements to students being able to understand and work through the courses. Modules organize the course content in a linear progression by weeks or topics. A module may contain pages (learning objectives, learning activities) and assessments (quizzes, assignments, discussions). Proper use of text header, indentation, and copy-paste characters can help students locate what they need and focus on a specific section of the module.
Content Page Examples.
Canvas ‘Pages’ may contain videos, texts, and links to files and other class materials. Pages can be linked to other pages as well. Moreover, they can be used as a collaboration tool for course or group wikis where only users with assigned permissions can have access. Canvas can keep the entire history of the page to account for updates, revisions, and changes over time. ‘Rich Content Editor’ permits to use customized CSS and advanced HTML coding to create and embed contents.
CidiLabs DesignPLUS.
I participated in "CidiLabs DesignPLUS” Training Series and integrated new insights into the instructional skills to create a customized Canvas course homepage, improve the layouts and accessibility of Canvas pages, and customize/embed meaningful images into LMS.
Harmonize Discussion Board.
A variety of functions in “Harmonize” can be integrated with Canvas to increase student engagement and promote inclusive learning environments. Harmonize has a modern, visually appealing layout with capabilities that students and instructors can create posts using rich media, including text, images, video, and audio. Moreover, “Harmonize Discussion Boards” can be integrated with “TurnItIn” to empower students to do their best, original work with a self-plagiarism detection system.