Course Building Best Practices

Start of Semester Checklist

This checklist outlines steps to help new and returning Texas A&M University instructors start their semester in Canvas and better ensure a positive digital learning experience for students.

Step 1: Create or Update Your Syllabus

The Texas A&M Canvas Template has a button linked to a pre-loaded syllabus page with the Minimum Syllabus Requirements. The syllabus menu option in Canvas is inactive and will not take students to the syllabus.

Create a Canvas Syllabus

Click on the Syllabus button on the homepage.
Click Edit.
Type your syllabus directly in the page or copy and paste sections from an existing syllabus document into the Canvas Syllabus Page.
Once finished editing, click Save.

For a guide to creating a Canvas syllabus, visit the Enhancing the TAMU Template page. Once the Syllabus page is finalized, link it to the Syllabus button on the home page.

Updating an Existing Syllabus

Once the syllabus document is updated, add it to the course by copying and pasting sections into the Syllabus Page in the Canvas Template. For a guide to creating a Canvas syllabus, visit the Enhancing the TAMU Template page. Once the Syllabus page is finalized, link it to the Syllabus button on the home page.

Upload to Howdy

Once the syllabus is updated, upload the PDF file to Howdy. Adding a PDF version of the syllabus in Howdy is required for undergraduate courses. View How to Upload Class Syllabus in Howdy for instructions.

For additional guidance, watch Editing the TAMU template (1:55).

Step 2: Merge Course Sections (if necessary)

Determine if merging sections is needed. To prevent loss of student data, this should be done before adding course content in Canvas. When making a request in the Online Request Course Administration (ORCA) website to merge courses, you will need to identify one section as the Master Course. Please follow the course merge deadlines. If a merge is necessary, follow these guidelines:

Merge prior to the deadlines associated with each semester.

Follow this guide or watch ORCA Demo Section Merging Feature (1:38) to create a merged course in ORCA.

Step 3: Export and Import or Copy Course Content

This step is only necessary if material is imported from a development shell, previous institution, or content from another instructor.

View the Copying Canvas Materials Between Courses chart to learn more about copying course content. This chart highlights important differences between course import and course copy.

To export or import course content, view Exporting and Importing Course Content for instructions. Texas A&M’s Canvas storage quota limits imports to 1GB. Duplicate data can be minimized by using the Import Specific Content feature which allows manual selection of content. For assistance with course export files that are larger than 1 GB, contact LMS Support.

For additional guidance, watch Importing Course Content in Canvas (1:52).

Step 4: Gradebook Setup

The gradebook in Canvas is used for entering grades, tracking student performance, and communicating to students. Setting up the gradebook at the beginning of the semester helps students see accurate grades and minimizes required work at the end of the semester. To set up the gradebook:

Settings: Establishing a Grading Scheme ensures the gradebook can be transferred to Howdy.

Grades: Create Late and Missing Policies at the beginning of a course means the policies are applied accurately across all assignments.

Assignments:

Create Assignment Groups for weight-based courses. Assignment groups should follow what is outlined in the syllabus. Point-based courses may not need assignment groups.

Create Assignment Rules such as dropping lowest or highest score(s) or choosing assignment(s) that will not be dropped.

Edit Due Dates if content is imported or copied from another Canvas course. Due dates should be edited to ensure late policies are applied correctly.

Step 5: Organize Course Content

Use the Modules feature to organize course content such as files, assignments, quizzes, and discussions.

To facilitate the use of Modules, the Texas A&M template automatically enables these Canvas features in the course navigation menu:

Quizzes, Assignments, Discussions, Files, and Pages remain hidden from student view because they should be viewed through Modules. When these items are enabled, students can navigate directly to assignments, files, and quizzes without viewing them through modules.

Content Creation

When building modules, consider both organization and structure. The module anatomy resource explains how to organize a course's module structure. Click on Modules in the course navigation menu and add content as needed.

Add Pages using the Rich Content Editor to provide information from the instructor to the student. Pages establish the foundation of the module. In the course template, several examples have been populated and can be copied.

Assessment Creation

It is best to use a backwards design approach and create assessments before creating other content. Assessments can fall under:

Assignments: For file-based, video-based, or text-based submissions (e.g., Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, or typing content directly).
Discussions: For asynchronous interaction. Can also be ungraded.
Quizzes: For quizzes, tests, exams, and homework assignments in a quiz-like format.
Third Party Tools: Used to enhance student experience within Canvas.

Module Settings (not required)

Students can be guided through a course in a custom format by locking modules, adding prerequisites, and requirements. To learn more, watch How to Lock, Add Prerequisites, and Publish Your Modules (3:26).

For additional guidance, watch Creating Module Content (3:06).

Set your Homepage:

The Canvas template will automatically be applied to the new live shell. To reset the Home page to the previously customized Home page, view Set Your Course Homepage for instructions.

The Canvas Template Homepage includes navigation buttons for different student resources, including Syllabus, Canvas Resources, University Resources, and Office Hours. Currently the Office Hours button is inactive. If using the Office Hours page, please consider linking the Office Hours Homepage button to it.

Step 6: Check Accessibility of Course

Once all of your content has been finalized in your course, it is important to check the accessibility report. Ally, our integrated digital accessibility tool, will provide a score for your course. If the course needs improvement, the accessibility report will provide guidance as to what needs to be fixed.

For additional information about the accessibility report, review the Understanding Accessibility Report Handout.

For further questions, please contact https://lms.tamu.edu/support.

Step 7: Publish Content

Publishing content for students involves three steps to ensure the course functions smoothly for instructors and students.

Publishing Modules

Publish active modules when the course is published by:

Locating the top line of the module.
Clicking on the circle with a line through it.
Once clicked, the circle will turn green with a white check mark inside.

View a course as a student.

Click Home in the course navigation.
Select Student View in the upper right-hand corner.
Start at the homepage and navigate your course as a student.
Fix any issues encountered.

Note: Course content delivered through LTIs (e.g. Google Assignments and Peerceptiv) cannot be previewed in student view.

Publishing the Course

Published courses and content will remain in a "read only" state for students until the first day of the semester.

Publish a course by navigating to Home or Settings.

Select Publish from the menu option on the right side of the screen.

Note: Published course content will remain in a "read only" state for students until the first day of the semester. To learn more, watch this video.

Post-Publishing Considerations

After publishing a course, continue to have an active presence by utilizing the following tools.

Announcements: Serve as the main source for students to receive updates for course due dates, deadlines, and other information.
Inbox: Send an email to students individually or in groups.
Gradebook messages: The Canvas Gradebook has a "message students who" feature which sends messages to groups of students based on their status in relation to a specific assignment. This feature sends simultaneous messages to students who fall into certain grade-related categories (i.e., Have Submitted, Have Not Submitted, etc.).
Calendar: The Canvas Calendar provides students with a to-do list in a calendar format, including Zoom class meetings, assignment due dates (if date is added in the assignment details), appointments, and more.
Speedgrader: Can be used to add feedback in line with student submissions, or through comments on a rubric.
Utilize the Texas A&M template by linking the included weekly module buttons on the homepage to modules you previously created. Watch Linking Homepage Buttons to Content (1:57) for additional guidance.
Place a welcome message on the homepage or send by announcement. Watch Adding a Course Trailer to a Canvas Course (3:31) for additional guidance.
Run the link validator to eliminate broken links in your course. Consult the Running the Link Validator video to learn more.
Run the accessibility report to address any accessibility issues flagged by Ally.

Tip: We recommend conducting all communication with students through Canvas to provide a central hub where students know they can communicate about course activities. Student View.

Large Course Setup

Canvas is a great tool for facilitating large enrollment courses (350+). However, additional thought and care is recommended when setting up large enrollment courses to maximize the digital learning environment. A few things to consider:

Use sections to leverage assignments and due dates
Leverage gradebook features like filtering and policies to cut down work when grading
Include only published content to limit the amount of content that needs managed

For a more detailed outline of designed a large enrollment course see Canvas Considerations for Large Courses.

Building from Scratch in Canvas

Building a course from scratch will allow you to organize your content more effectively, take advantage of the many features available in the Canvas LMS at TAMU, and improve the student learning experience. Using the template provided in every course shell, you easily can build your syllabus, content, assessments, and much more.

Set Up Your Canvas Course

All Course instructors will receive their live course shells in Canvas automatically before the beginning of the semester.

Navigate to ORCA where you can request course merging, cross-listing, and/or rename your course. From within ORCA, you also have the ability to enroll TAs, Graders, and Course Designers.

Tip: All individuals associated with a course in Canvas are required to have completed FERPA and Information Security Awareness training in TrainTraq. This includes Canvas course associate roles (Lead TA, TA, Designer, Grader, Grade Submitter).

If you need practice or development shells, email support@instructure.com. Practice and development shells do not have any associated student enrollments, so you can experiment and build your course content freely. Once you have finalized your course, you can move the content into a live course shell.

Set Your Course Homepage

Access your course to begin setting it up by following these steps to log in to Canvas:

Navigate to https://canvas.tamu.edu
Login using your TAMU NetID and password

The Texas A&M University Course Template has been added to all live course shells for instructors. It makes Canvas easier to use for course instructors and provides resources for students to augment their learning experience.

The template includes:

Four frequently used buttons designed to provide students with quick and efficient access to course information such as the Syllabus, Academic Resources, University Resources, and information about instructor Office Hours
Links to Canvas, Academic, and University Resources for students
A pre-built Syllabus page that contains the Texas A&M Minimum Syllabus Requirements which can be modified to add your course-specific content
Numbered module navigation buttons that allow students to access their learning materials directly from the homepage

Tip: After you modify the syllabus with your own content, you can print to PDF to add it to Howdy.

Modify the Course Navigation Links

The Course Navigation Menu is a series of links on the left side of your course that helps you and your students access different course areas.

A few pre-set course navigation buttons have been enabled to provide students a way to quickly and easily locate course content.

By default, these Canvas features are turned on for students to access:

Canvas also has features that are currently disabled from the student perspective. When enabled, students can use them to navigate directly to assignments, files, and quizzes without sequentially viewing all created content.

As a best practice, we recommend course instructors to add all course files, assignments, quizzes, and discussions into a Module to prevent skipped navigation to sequential content, add all course files, assignments, quizzes, and discussions into a Module.

Additional resource:
How to manage Course Navigation links?

Add Course Content to Modules

In the Texas A&M University course template, sample course content asset have been provided within the Instructor Module. These assets can be duplicated and added into Modules as necessary.

These assets include:

Overview and To Do List: A Page that introduces the Module and to do list of all of the required materials and assessments.
Presentation/Lecture: A Page formatted to embed lectures and presentation with a sample Google Slide.
Assignment: An Assignment with 0 points with sections for an overview, guidelines, and links to technical support.
Wrap-up and Looking Ahead: A Page that closes the module to re-cap the content and preview the upcoming Module.

Additional resources:
What is the Rich Content Editor?
Using Mediasite in Canvas

Organize Your Course Content

We recommend you use Modules to organize your course content. Using Modules enables you to organize your course that can make it easier for your students to navigate to specific resources and activities throughout the semester. In every course template, we have included weekly module buttons to allow for greater flexibility among all modalities.

Modules can also make it easier for you to manage and update the content in your course over time. All modules can be viewed by clicking the Modules tab on the course navigation menu.

Modules offer you logical and user-friendly options to determine how you want your students to progress through your course:

Lock a module until a specific date and time to ensure that students access course content at the appropriate time.
Prerequisites applied to entire modules ensure students complete each module in a specific order (e.g., students must complete Module 1 before they are able to access Module 2, etc.).
Requirements within a module ensure students complete each module item in a specific order (e.g., students must view a lecture video before they can access a quiz assessing their understanding of that lecture video).

We encourage you to take a look at our best practices for online teaching and learning to optimize the online learning environment for you and your students.

Tip: Use the Modules feature in Canvas to host all course content. These can be organized by week, chapter, or unit.

Set Up Gradebook

The Gradebook in Canvas is an efficient and powerful tool for entering grades, tracking student performance, and communicating grades to students. You can customize your Gradebook to your preferences by arranging and sorting columns, filtering by student names and assignments, and sorting by assignment type.

In Canvas, you can also create assignment groups to organize assessments and view grades in different groups. You can create groups for different types of activities, different modules of your course, or any other criteria that may be appropriate for your course setup and grading scheme. Your groups can then be weighted with different percentages to determine students’ final grades.

Tip: Use assignment groups to categorize assignments in a way that makes sense for your course. The benefit to this could be for organizing assignments, weighting final grades, and much more. Using weighted groups allows you to weigh an assignment group for a specified percent of the final grade.

Further resources:
How to use the Gradebook?
How to create assignment groups?
How to weight course grades based on assignment groups?

Create Assessments

Before creating and managing assessments in Canvas, course instructors should first approach the complex topic of assessment with a plan that aligns with their instructional objectives and content. After you have decided what type of assessment you need to create, build them in Canvas using the resources provided below.

Assessment Type Decision Tree

Use the decision tree below to choose which type of assessment to create based on your goals and learning objectives:

Add Graded Assessments

In Canvas, there are multiple ways to assess student learning:

Assignments: For file-based or text-based submissions (e.g., Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, typing in content directly).
Discussions: For asynchronous interaction to keep discussion of ideas and course concepts going beyond the classroom.
Quizzes: For quizzes, tests, exams, and homework assignments in a quiz-like format.

Tip: Incorporate Rubrics and use the Speedgrader to grade assignments, discussions, and quizzes.

Further Resources:
How to use Speedgrader?
How to add a rubric?

Use the Communication Tools in Canvas

Communication is key to maintaining a strong connection to your students and ensuring your active presence in your online course. Canvas has many options available for communication. Instructors can personalize their messages by posting audio and video messages in Discussions, Speedgrader, Inbox messages, and Announcements. Here is a list of the communication tools you can take advantage of in Canvas and a brief description of the uses for each:

Announcements: Use Announcements to serve as the main communication source for students to receive updates for your course due dates, deadlines, and other just-in-time information.
Inbox: Use the Canvas inbox feature to send an email to students individually or in groups.
Gradebook messages: The Canvas Gradebook has a feature called "message students who" which allows you to message groups of students based on their status in relation to a specific assignment. This feature allows you to send simultaneous messages to all of the students who fall into certain grade-related categories for a specific assignment.
Calendar: The Canvas Calendar tool provides students with a to-do list in a calendar format, including Zoom class meetings, assignment due dates, appointments, and more. Note: Be sure to add due dates to learning activities to ensure students can view them via the calendar.
Speedgrader: The SpeedGrader tool can be used to add feedback inline with student submissions, or through comments on a Rubric.

Tip: We recommend conducting all of your communication with students through Canvas to create efficiencies for you and a central hub where students know they can navigate to to communicate about course activities.

Accessibility in the TAMU Template

The Center for Teaching Excellence provides the best practices for implementing essential design components into your course. These design practices will help you to create an effective online learning environment for your students.

Texas A&M’s template has been pre-loaded into every course shell and is 100% accessible out-of-the-box. In conjunction with Ally, you can continue to add content to your course shell that can be reviewed for accessibility at any point in the semester. Course Teaching roles in Canvas (Teacher, Alternate Teacher) can access the Accessibility Report to identify the accessibility score for a course, as well as receive step-by-step instructions for how to improve existing content to keep courses as accessible as possible throughout the semester.

Ally is a third-party tool that is integrated into our instance of Canvas at TAMU that supports accessibility by providing color-coded gauges that automatically rate the accessibility of course content. TAMU has enabled Ally globally in Canvas so all course content is rated for accessibility in real-time. These ratings are visible to roles associated with instruction (Teacher, Alternative Teacher).

For additional resources on how to review the accessibility in your course, learn more on how to use Ally in Canvas.

Copying Canvas Materials Between Courses

Course Export and Import vs Course Copy

Content from courses in Canvas from a previous semester or in Development shells can be moved into the live course shell for the upcoming semester. Use the table below to determine what method should be used for moving content from one semester to another.

Feature	Course Export and Import	Course Copy
Ally/Accessibility	Alternative descriptions added through Ally will only be available in the new course. If descriptions were added within Canvas (i.e. using the Rich Content Editor), then the descriptions will migrate.	Using the course copy method means that no matter which way an alternative description was added, Ally will display them for students in the new course.
Announcements	Announcements are carried over the same with each method. Announcements don’t retain the name of the user who originally created the course content. After importing, instructors will need to manually modify dates and subscribe to or enable notifications for Announcements. It is recommended to NOT migrate announcements and re-build them.
Assignment Groups	Assignment groups do not carry over. They are placed in an assignment group called Imported Assignments. Duplicate Assignment Groups may also be seen which do not contain any assignments. Empty Assignment Groups can be deleted.	Assignment groups are carried over and assignments are placed within the same assignment group that the course was copied from.
Assignments	Assignments are carried over the same with each method. Assignment dates are reset when migrating. To adjust assignment due dates for holidays, or other days when there will be no class, use the bulk update due dates and availability dates feature in Canvas to update multiple assignments and assessments at one time.
Classic Quizzes/Question Banks	Classic Quizzes can be brought over successfully using both methods. Question banks are not tied to quizzes and are considered separate when using export/import. Any quiz questions linked to question banks will be linked to the previous question bank and will need to be relinked to the one copied over.
Discussions	Discussions are carried over the same with each method. Discussion dates are reset when migrated and will need to be manually updated.
Files	Any files that are imported will create a separate copy in the new course.	Any files that are explicitly copied will have a new copy in the new course. If files are not explicitly copied the files may still work but will be referencing the file in the original course.
Grade Posting Policy	The grade posting policy from the original course will override the grade posting policy in the new course in each method. Additionally, imported assignments will retain their assignment posting policy from the original course.
Groups	Group sets do not copy over as part of the copy. If instructors have grouped assignments in their course and if there are existing group sets in the new course, it will be linked to the group set with the same name. If there are no group sets in the new course, the assignment will be linked to a new Project Groups set.
New Quizzes/Item Banks	Currently, exporting New Quizzes is not an available functionality. That will change as soon as the seamless migration is in place.	New Quizzes can only be copied when using the All Content Option. Questions that pull from Item Banks may pull from previous course Item Banks. If the same new quiz is imported more than once, Canvas retains the original. A duplicate must be used for updates. Importing the same quiz will also override any student submissions in the quiz.
Rubrics	Rubrics are carried over the same with each method.
Third Party Tools	Third-party tools are brought over with each method. However, there are a number of external applications that need to be updated/reconfigured to work correctly in the new version of the course.

Considerations when Moving your Course

If you have a course in Canvas from a prior semester or that you have built in your Development shell, you may find that you need to move all of the content into the actual course shell for the upcoming semester.

What to consider before importing your course content into another Canvas course:

Some external tool assignments, like Gradescope, Peerceptiv, and Perusall may need to have their links updated when exporting the course over.
Copying and pasting lists of file links from one course to another will break those links. A best practice to follow is to use the export/import tool to copy files from one course to your other course, instead of copying and pasting the link.
To adjust assignment due dates for holidays, or other days when there will be no class, use the bulk update due dates and availability dates feature in Canvas to update multiple assignments and assessments at one time.
An exported quiz with questions linked to a question bank will not include an export of the question bank. If you want to import the quiz into another course along with question banks, you may prefer to import specific content and select Question Banks.
Canvas exports do not include backups of student interactions and grades. Grades can be exported separately as a comma separated values (CSV) file.
If you import a New Quizzes assessment and then re-import the same assessment, Canvas will revert to the original assessment. To import changes to a New Quizzes assessment, you must duplicate the assessment and then import it into your course.

Export Your Course

You can export a Canvas course to give to someone in another Canvas account or to create a copy as a backup on your local computer. You can import an export file into Canvas at any time.
Exports are packaged as IMSCC zip files, which can only be opened by programs that support Common Cartridge files.

From the course that you would like to export, click Settings in the course navigation
Click the Export Course Content link located on the right-hand side.
In the Export Type heading, click the Course radio button.
Click Create Export.
Note: If you have previously exported the course, Canvas will display prior exports under the Content Exports heading.
View the progress bar. Exporting a course in Canvas may take a few minutes, depending on its size. You will receive an email when the export is complete.
When your download is ready, click the New Export link.

Note: Content exports expire after 30 days and can no longer be downloaded.

Import Content

When importing course content with the Course Import Tool, you can choose to Import all Content or Import specific content. We recommend using the Import specific content option if you would like to leverage the new template provided in your shells.

Import All Content

From your new course, click Settings in the course navigation
Click the Import Course Content link located on the right-hand side
In the Content Type drop-down menu, choose the Canvas Course Export Package option
Locate the downloaded export and choose the .imscc file you want to import
Select All content
Click Import

The Current Jobs section displays the status of your import. Running reports display a progress bar indicating the time remaining to complete the import.

Import Specific Content (recommendation)

From your new course, click the Settings link in the course navigation
Click the Import Course Content link located on the right-hand side.
In the Content Type drop-down menu, choose the Canvas Course Export Package option
Find the Source file that was downloaded from the export and choose the .imscc file you want to import
In the Content section, click the Select specific content radio button
Click the Import button
A progress indicator displays the upload status by percentage
In the Current Jobs section, click the Select Content button

Content can be individual items or a content group. Content groups show the number of items within the group. To view content within a group, click the arrow to expand the content of the group.

If you would like to leverage the new template provided within your course shell, review the following content groups to determine if you would like it migrated to the new course:

Modules
Assignments
Quizzes
Question banks (Note: Item banks will not migrate)
Discussion topics (Note: only the topics will migrate, not student submissions)
Pages
Rubrics
Files

9. Click the Select Content button

The report displays a menu bar with the time remaining to complete the import. View the content from any completed imports by accessing any link in Course Navigation.

Copy a Canvas Course

When importing course content with the Course Import Tool, you can choose to Copy all Content or Select specific content. We recommend using the Import specific content option if you would like to leverage the new template provided in your course shell.

From your new course, click Settings in the course navigation
Click the Import Course Content link located on the right-hand side
In the Content Type drop-down menu, choose the Copy a Canvas Course option
Search for the course you would like to copy.
Select the Migration Content Type

All Content

Select All Content
Click Import

The Current Jobs section displays the status of your import. Running reports display a progress bar indicating the time remaining to complete the import.

Specific Content (recommendation)

In the Content section, click the Select specific content radio button
Click the Import button
A progress indicator displays the upload status by percentage
In the Current Jobs section, click the Select Content button

Content can be individual items or a content group. Content groups show the number of items within the group. To view content within a group, click the arrow to expand the content of the group.

If you would like to leverage the new template provided within your course shell, review the following content groups to determine if you would like it migrated to the new course:

Modules
Assignments
Quizzes
Question banks (Note: Item banks will not migrate)
Discussion topics (Note: only the topics will migrate, not student submissions)
Pages
Rubrics
Files

5. Click the Select Content button

Course Storage Limitations

There is approximately 1GB allotted for each Canvas course. If you try to migrate a course that is larger than 1GB, you will receive an error that states, "Your migration cannot exceed 1000MB." Your course export package file size must be smaller than the quota for your course as shown in course statistics. If the course is larger than the storage limit, you may opt to import specific content.

Resources

Link Validator

After you have imported your course content, use the Link Validator to verify if all links are working in your course.

Below are the steps for how to run the Link Validator in your course:

From the course navigation, click Settings
On the right side-bar, click Validate Links in Content
If this is your first time running the link validator, click Start Link Validation. If you have already run the link validator, click Restart Link Validation
- Tip: The Link Validator will need to be restarted every time you navigate to this page as it does not update after you have made changes in the course.
View the links and make changes to the content within your course
To confirm all links are resolved, click Restart Link Validation to verify

Check the Accessibility Report

The Texas A&M Template that has been added to every course by default is 100% accessible. After you have added your content to your new shell, we recommend checking the Accessibility Report provided through the ALLY tool for your course to verify the accessibility score and make updates if necessary.

Below are the steps to run an accessibility report for your course:

From the course navigation, click on Accessibility Report
- Note: This tool is not accessible to students and is used to aid instructors with their course content.
Review the accessibility of your course and make changes, if necessary within the Content with the easiest issues to fix or Fix low scoring content
The ALLY tool will guide you through how to resolve any issues with your content

For additional information on how to use the ALLY tool in Canvas, refer to the following resources:
On-Demand: Ally in Canvas training
Ally in Canvas Instructor Resources

Additional Resources

Course Design Checklist

The Center for Teaching Excellence provides the best practices for implementing essential design components into your course. These design components will help you to create an effective online learning environment for your students.

Course Design Checklist PDF
Mobile Course Design Checklist PDF

Canvas Community

To navigate deeper into what Canvas can do, check out the Canvas Guides.
Canvas Instructor Guides
Canvas Video Guides

CTE YouTube Channel

CTE YouTube Channel provides viewers with videos about Canvas, LTI tools, and much more. Viewers will find the CTE team demoing specific Canvas features, best practices, and third-party tools supported by the University.