1.2 - Set Up Your Course Structure

Set Up Your Course Structure

Course Navigation Menu

The first thing you're going to want to do to set up a new course shell is customize your course navigation menu. This will make it easier for you and your students to find what you're looking for. We recommend leaving the following links enabled, and disabling everything else:

Home
Announcements
Modules
Grades
People
Zoom

Watch the video guide below and then customize the course navigation menu in each of your courses.

Video Guide: How to Customize Your Course Navigation Menu (3 minutes)

Modules Structure & Home Page

Next, you'll want to set up the structure of your course. We recommend using Modules to do this. You can think of Modules like file folders that keep the content of your course organized in manageable and consistent chunks. We recommend that every course starts with a welcome module where students can find course information and support information. Then you might decide to organize your course by week, by unit, or by type of item. Online courses usually benefit from a weekly or unit layout. Face-to-face courses can often use a type of item layout. But you should choose the layout that works best for you.

Watch the video guide below to get an idea of the structure that you need for your course.

Video Guide: Setting Up Your Course Structure (7 minutes)

Watch the video guide below to learn how to create modules. Then return to your course and create just the module structure that you'll need in each of your courses.

Video Guide: How to Create Modules (4 minutes)

309 - Modules Overview Links to an external site. from Instructure Canvas Community Links to an external site. on Vimeo Links to an external site..

Written Guides

How do I add a module? Canvas Guide Links to an external site.

BONUS TIP: If you think you'll use a similar structure in more than one course, you can set it up in one course and then copy it over to your other courses to save some time. Review the How do I copy content from another Canvas course using the Course Import tool? Canvas Guide Links to an external site. to see how to copy your content over.