I wanted to streamline my Canvas shell, so I used an Instructional Design and Development template while cutting pages and relabeling sections to create my ideal structure. This post offers a quick explanation of the home page navigation, which is the “starting” place for my students every time they log into the Canvas course.
Navigation Highlights
Technology and Student Support pages open at the start
Book Office Hours linked at top to help students get in touch
Course FAQ Discussion linked with answers about due dates, grading, and my contact information
Unit Layout with Week and Date to jump into the content
Help and Context Content
First, I uploaded an image to help students identify this course and stand out in their Canvas dashboard. Nothing fancy: I pulled a PR Graphic from Canva and opted for a Word Cloud that captured the topics we will cover in class.
I re-ordered the options on the sidebar to have Grades near the top as a key action students need. I also included the link for our Office 365 integration and the assignments, discussions, and quizzes so they could jump right into submitting their work.
The template built in links to “Syllabus” and a “Course FAQ” portal, which I thought was a great feature.
I relabeled “Syllabus” to “Book Office Hours” because I want to nudge students and clear the path for them to contact me. This link still goes to the syllabus page, where they can find my contact information and booking link right at the top before downloading the syllabus and textbook information.
The course FAQs go to a discussion board. I loaded in answers about assignments, grading, and my contact information. Since it is a discussion board, students could ask more questions that can be publicly answered.
Canvas lists the upcoming To-Do list on the right sidebar, and I will publish a few weeks at a time to keep that space from getting too cluttered.
The final pieces of my home navigation include links to tech help and student support, which IDD pre-loaded into the template and is always open at the start. Again, we want to nudge students to use these resources. At the bottom of the page, the Course Goals and the podcast episode of me explaining the course structure are always saved. I also included a transcript of the overview so students could read instead of listening.
Unit Structure
Each unit is organized by a week in our 16-week semester, which the template pulls in based on the modules. Unfortunately, I couldn’t change the label created in the template, so I added the date to the module heading instead. So when students click on “Week 2” they can verify with the date below since keeping track of weeks can be tricky after 3 or 4.
Each unit has two pages for students to check over, the Readings and Activities and the Lecture Review. The Readings & Activities houses the core content and materials for the week. The Lecture Review is where I post my slides and recordings after the lectures.
My goal is for students to select the Readings and Activities page and have all the information they need to succeed that week: learning outcomes, reading expectations, and tasks or assignments.
Conclusion
UNC pushes a students first mindset that guided my course navigation.
To me, students first means providing meaningful information with accessible pathways so students feel confident and able to act when or if they decide.
I believe this course navigation is students first because I labeled the pages and links to describe the content for meaning and cleared the path for action. As a result, students can quickly find where to Book Office Hours or get to their Readings and Activities without getting lost in pages or modules.
Comentarios