Creating a Homepage that Matches CSD Standards

Canvas Homepage Style Guide

In order to create a uniform Canvas Experience for anyone using Canvas, Canyons District has created a style guide that teachers will be expected to follow. These items are discussed briefly below and in more detail in later modules. The big picture is that the following items need to be consistent among all teachers in Canyons School District.

  • Homepage design needs to be consistent.
  • Sidebar navigation needs to be consistent.
  • Module creation needs to be consistent (in module 3)
  • An understanding that the Canvas grade book is not the official grade book, students need to understand that the grade in Skyward is their official course grade.

Homepage Elements

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Your course homepage needs to include:

  • Course Name, Teacher Name & 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 or quarter if you prefer.)
  • Contact Information: Please describe your preferred contact method for students and parents.  List contact numbers and/or email address.
  • Disclosure Documents: Canvas will create a course syllabus based on your assignments and other course information.  However, it is important that your course disclosure is linked as a PDF on your homepage as well.
  • 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.
  • Course Schedule: The course 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. This will build a long running schedule which will serve as a course outline of assignments for students.