Canvas Standards for Courses

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Canvas is an online learning platform, from a Utah-based company called Instructure (http://www.instructure.com/k-12). Canyons School District has provided every secondary teacher access to Canvas for their courses. Canvas is a great way to teach in a blended learning environment.  Blended learning combines face-to-face classroom instruction with online activities.  Canyons School District teachers and students log into the Canvas website at:
http://canyons.instructure.com

In order to ensure a successful experience for students using Canvas, the following standards have been designed for teachers to implement when creating their courses.  All teachers in the Canyons District should include the following items on their course homepage:
  • Course Name, Period & Welcome Message: The top of the page should include the teacher name and a welcome message.  The welcome message should introduce students to your class and give an overview what they will be learning this school year (or month quarter if you prefer.)
  • Contact Information: Please describe your preferred contact method for students and parents and list contact numbers and/or email address.
  • Syllabus: Even though Canvas will create a course syllabus based on your assignments and other course information, this section should include a link to your course syllabus saved as PDF.
  • Multimedia Element: Below your welcome message include a photo or video that relates to your classroom.  Adding multimedia, and changing the multimedia element regularly, is a great way to add interest to your class Canvas webpage.
  • Monthly Schedule: The monthly schedule should be broken into weeks.  Each of the weeks should be broken into days.  Each day should include links to any content pages, assignments, links, discussions, and announcements needed for class on that particular day. Each new week should be added above the previous week so that the newest content is at the top of the schedule.

Sample Course Homepage

Click for larger view.

Items to Include on Homepage

You should include the following items on your course homepage.
  1. Course & Name
  2. Welcome Message
  3. Contact Information
  4. Link to Discloure PDF
  5. Multimedia Element
  6. Schedule by Week/Month

Customize Sidebar Navigation

Customize your course navigation to include the following items in the following order.
  1. Home
  2. Syllabus
  3. Announcements
  4. Modules
  5. Grades

Links:

Last edited by: Rachel Murphy, 7/30/13