In Canvas, course materials are placed in Modules, and Modules allow you to organize content and control the flow of the course. You can organize course content by topic, by week, or by the type of course requirements such as reading assignments, lab reports, case analysis, etc.. You will name each module accordingly.
Although students can click on any item in a module, once they open an item, they are likely to utilize the Previous and Next button built-in by Canvas to move through the current and the next module linearly. Therefore, it is important to organize the items in a module in a thoughtful order.
At the course level, modules should be placed in the order that is easiest for students to navigate through. Modules that are too early for students to view should be kept unpublished.
The video below further explains what modules are and how to use them in your course.
The video below demonstrates how to move content around in a module by drag-n-drop, how to add items to a module, and how to publish items so students can view them.
There are two approaches to organize course material using modules:
- You can create course content (assignments, quizzes, uploading files, discussions, etc.) ahead of time and then add selected items into a module in the order of your choice. For instance, you can click on Assignments and create all of the course assignments there. Later, you will go into modules and add them to the respective modules, or
- You can create course content at the same time you create a new module. First, create a module by clicking on the + Module button and follow the prompts. Then in this module (to the right of the title), click the + button to add an assignment (or a quiz, a discussion, etc.). This will create a shell of that assignment right then and there. Once the assignment shell is added, you can edit the item to choose the settings particular to that assignment. To edit the assignment, just click on the title, then Edit.
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To avoid confusion, some of the items in the course navigation panel, such as Files, Pages, Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes should be disabled so that students can only access relevant items through published modules. To disable the navigation links, go to the Settings of your course, click on the Navigation tab and drag those items from the top box to the bottom portion of the page.
