Do you wanted to make your Canvas course more appealing and clear for students to navigate? Today, we will cover simple strategies and handy templates you can use to make your Canvas pages and assessments consistent and effective. Specifically, we will cover using icons, buttons, banners, and customizable templates to make your Canvas course clear and inviting.
Design Tips
When designing your Canvas course, consider:
- Reability
- Make sure to utilize white space and a consistent design throughout the course
- Use formatted lists and formatted headings to improve readability and accessibility
- Navigation
- Simplify your course navigation menu by disabling anything you do not plan to use
- After disabling navigation menu links, they will disappear from the students’ perspective. Instructors can still see and use the disabled links
- To disable navigation menu links:
- On the left-hand side of your course menu, click “Settings”
- Select “Navigation” in the top right
- Click the three dot “snowman” on the right side of each item
- Select “Disable”
- You can also re-order items using the 8 dot “railroad” on the left side of each item
- Click “Save” at the bottom when you are done
- Create a welcoming home page instructing students where to go first and sharing important information students may need more than once
- Quick tip: Check out the Faculty Resource Center (FRC) below for customizable home page templates, banners, and more!
- Simplify your course navigation menu by disabling anything you do not plan to use
- Images
- Images and graphics can add a touch of your personality and general visual interest to your Canvas pages
- Be sure to add alt-text and/or descriptions for all images.
- To add alt-text, click “edit” on your Canvas page
- Click on the image and select “Image options”
- Add a brief description of the image’s content/meaning
- Quick tip: To learn more about formatting images on a Canvas page, check out “Easy HTML Editing in Canvas” below
- Be sure to add alt-text and/or descriptions for all images.
- Images and graphics can add a touch of your personality and general visual interest to your Canvas pages
Beyond looking beautiful, these ideas are practical and can be helpful for students’ cognitive load.
ODLT Faculty Resource Center
The ODLT Faculty Resource Center is a Canvas course housing all the design options that could improve the look and functionality of your own Canvas course. The Faculty Resource Center is packed full of tools, resources, and documentation to use when designing your Canvas course. The graphics and templates can be exceptionally useful to improve the look of your course with course banners, icons, buttons, page dividers, etc. Implementing course banners can be very helpful to help guide new students in your course. The Faculty Resource Center has instructions on how to best create your own customizable course banner. Page dividers and buttons are a great way to separate information in your Canvas course and improve navigation as well as the look of your Canvas course. The Faculty Resource Center comes with plenty of options for these features.
Enroll in the Faculty Resource Center here!
Here are some additional resources that can help with Canvas course design
- Easy HTML Editing in Canvas – Clemson University
- Clean Up Your Mess – A Guide to Visual Design for Everyone
- Color – Website Guidelines | Clemson University
- Color Hex – ColorHexa.com
- WCAG – Contrast Checker
Schedule a consultation with ODLT today!
ODLT – Upcoming Events
Accessapalooza! An Accessibility Toolkit Showcase
October 9th, 11 AM – Noon
As part of Let’s Break to Educate, this virtual event features Dan Lewis, Director of Digital Accessibility, Walker Massey, IT Accessibility Specialist, Rachel Roback, Accessibility Coordinator, and Michelle Tuten, Accessibility Coordinator presenting: Accessapalooza! An Accessibility Toolkit Showcase. This presentation will explore accessibility tools available to Clemson students and employees – from assistive technology to accessibility checkers.
Register here for Accessapalooza!
Canvas Accessibility Checkers
October 14th, 11 AM – Noon
As part of Let’s Break to Educate, this virtual event features James Butler, Senior Digital Learning Specialist, presenting: Canvas Accessibility Checkers. Participants will see a demonstrated overview of the two accessibility checkers in Canvas: the checker embedded in each page and the course scanner. By the end of the demonstration, participants will be able to run both checkers, identify which accessibility issues they can and cannot address, and explain how to apply these checkers together to check for accessibility concerns in Canvas.
Register here for Canvas Accessibility Checkers!
Office of Digital Learning and Technology – Where Tech and Teaching Meet
