Modules
Best Practices for Modules
Modules are used to organize course content by weeks, units, or a different organizational structure. Modules essentially create a one-directional linear flow of what students should do in a course. Use modules to organize pages, files, discussions, assignments, quizzes, and other learning materials.
Modules will look different for a face-to-face course and an online course. Online courses require more details and structure for students. However, the same structure and details can benefit face-to-face students, and it is worth the extra effort to develop a full-featured Canvas course for face-to-face courses also.
You should include all assignments within modules.
Module Length
We recommend keeping modules short. Each module should only focus on a few learning objectives. Avoid over-complicating module structure.
Most students prefer week-long modules, labeled by topic and week.
Module Structure
Introduction Page
Each module should include a module guide or introduction page. This page should include
Unit-level learning objectives for the module
A brief summary of the module (as a kind of "preview" for students)
OPTIONAL: Pacing Guide
Pacing Guides
Some teachers include pacing guides as part of their module guide. This can be a very helpful resource for students. However, keep in mind if you include a pacing guide you may need to edit each one of these pages every time a course is taught.
We recommend instead of creating very detailed pacing guides, instructors educate their students how to use Canvas' built-in tools to find their weekly assignments and due dates. Instead of detailed pacing guides with dates, we recommend utilizing Canvas announcements to remind students of large assignments or assignments they may find especially challenging.
Content
We recommend simply ordering content in your modules in the order that you wish students to encounter it in. So, if students should read an article before completing a quiz, place the article before the quiz in the module.
Students will navigate through their courses in a number of ways, and will not always move through modules chronologically. However, placing items in modules in chronological order is logical and simple for students.
Naming Conventions
Items in modules should be named so that they are easily identifiable by students. For example, if you upload a pdf file to a module and then file name is "Filexyz.pdf," you should rename it to something more descriptive.
Links to websites should also be clearly named. Do not use the URL itself as the title of the link in the module.
Indenting
If you choose to indent content in modules, be consistent across all modules. For example:
Major assignments are indented twice
Readings are Indented once
Text-Headers are not indented
Text Headers
Text headers can be used in Canvas modules to signify divisions or to group similar content together. For example, a module may be organized so that all the readings are separated from the assignments, such as:
Module Introduction & Learning Objectives
READINGS
Reading 1
Reading 2
ASSIGNMENTS
Quiz
Project
The "readings" and "assignments" text-headers are used in our example to group similar content together and build a structure in Canvas that is easy to navigate.
Example Modules
Example 1
In the first example, our instructor has organized content into a module about early film history. To the instructor, it made sense to create one module for all the film history, since the next unit is about cinematography, a completely different topic.
It will take students three weeks to complete this module.
A student must scroll through a lot of content to get through the entire module.
When modules are too lengthy, students must scroll through the module to find what they are looking for. Often modules can be broken up into smaller chunks.
Instead, the instructor could break the module into week-long "chunks." So, there would now be three separate modules:
Module 1 - The History of Cinema: Early Cinematic Devices
Module 2 - The History of Cinema: The Cinematographe and the Lumière Brothers
Module 3 - The History of Cinema: Thomas Edison, Edwin S. Porter and the Black Maria
Followed by the unit on Cinematography:
Module 4 - Cinematography
Example 2
Week-long modules are easier for students to navigate.
Example 3
Shorter modules also direct students' attention to 1-2 learning objectives at a time, instead of many. This helps reduce cognitive overload. Text-headers are also used to group content in the modules
Example 4
In this example, the instructor simply organized content in the best order for students to encounter it in.
In this example, a student will view a video and then complete an assignment related to the video. They then build on their learning with a discussion, prior to moving on to camera shot types and angles.