Canvas site design has an impact on student access and learning. Below are several strategies for designing and using Canvas to enhance student learning experiences. 

• Consider the layout of the left-hand navigation column.
• To modify the layout of your Canvas site, click on Settings, then navigation within the desired course site.
• Position regularly accessed Tools closer to the top.
• When adding Tools remember that the default location may not be at the top of the tools list. To adjust the order, click on manage tools and move accordingly.

Communication with Canvas

• Canvas serves as a central hub for course information and provides students a consistent location for access.
• Consider using Announcements for course updates and reminders.
  • Adding an Announcement will add it to the Overview landing page for the course site, providing an easy and consistent location for student access to class updates and information. 
  • Feedback from students indicates that reliance upon email-only course updates can cause information loss due to the volume of email communication being received. As a result, centralizing updates within Canvas can be a preventative measure.

Online Meetings (Zoom)

• Scheduling Online Meetings (Zoom) within Canvas will allow direct access to the meetings and sessions recordings for all course participants.
• UVA Zoom recording guidance.
• The UVA Zoom license does not allow for PHI to be used/shared at any time.

Files

• Create folders for organizing and sharing documents, and other types of files.
• There is a limit to file size so some resources such as videos may be too large to add.
• If a video file is too large, you can use Media Gallery/My media for the file upload.
• If a non-video file is too large, you can attempt to compress the file, save it in a lower quality, or use an alternative file-sharing tool such as Box, Google Drive, or OneDrive.
• Both folders and individual files can be hidden from students.
• Note: if you have hidden a file or folder and link to it, users will receive an error message until it is unhidden.
• Files can be uploaded directly to Canvas by dragging and dropping

Modules

• The Modules tool provides a means to create theme/weekly-based sections of content for ease of access and reference.
• Modules can be divided into subpages containing text, links, embedded videos, etc.
• Consider using the Modules tool to create an organized structure for student reference and content guidance.
• Subpages can be used to further structure and scaffold the course content. An example from Advanced Health Assessment would be creating a Module subpage for each body system rather than bunching them all into one extended page.

Media Gallery

• The Media Gallery tool provides a location for instructors to upload both audio and audio/video files.
  • Note: the Media Gallery does not include embedding videos such as YouTube and Vimeo. These would need to be linked within Modules.
• Uploaded files can be added to user-created playlists.
• Quizzes can be built into uploaded videos for active student engagement and feedback.
  • It is best to use these as formative assessment checks only.
  • Options include forced response before the video continues to play.