As we wrap up the fall term and prepare to begin intersession, we would like to wish you all a wonderful winter break. We are thankful for all you do to make UIS a great place to learn and work!
Happy winter break!
The COLRS Team: Michele, Carrie, Taylor, Scott, and Emily
There is no place like home (pages) for the holidays!
Your Canvas home page is the first impression a student has of your course. When strategically designed, home pages can guide students to the most effective actions that encourage learning and success in your course.
- A. Visually identify your course to help students confirm that they are in the right location. Creating distinctive home pages for each section can also support instructors who teach multiple sections of the same course.
- B. Improve navigation and usability. If students new to Canvas collapse the course menu by clicking on the hamburger button, they sometimes think that they have lost access to your course. By providing links to the most important Canvas areas, students are never “stuck.”
- C. Using tabs or buttons to reduce scrolling and distractions. The sample home page below shows links to each module in the course with an option display of the content for the current module. Buttons or links that take students to the module for the week is another great option to help focus student attention on the current topic.
- D. Guide your students by telling them where to begin. A start here section with an optional course video tour can help you to set expectations quickly.
- E. Set the tone for your communication and interaction style. A message on the home page can convey your teaching style and start building a learning community right away.
BONUS! The Canvas Student App displays home pages beautifully. Most of our students regularly access Canvas through a mobile device.
The COLRS team is here to help you customize the colors, images, and design of your home pages and Canvas courses. We can also teach you to use the new Design Plus toolbar, the tool we used to create the home pages, to make customizations on your own.
Contact the COLRS team or drop by our 10 a.m. office hours to add and customize a Canvas home page today!
COLRS Hours for Winter Break
COLRS is closed for the university holidays on December 25 and January 1.
The COLRS team will be working remotely and rotating coverage to provide support for faculty during Winter Intersession on December 22, 26, 27, 28, and 29. Please join office hours or send us an email for assistance.
Home Page Resources
- The Impact of Design and Aesthetics on Usability, Credibility, and Learning in an Online Environment by Alicia David and Peyton Glore in Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration Volume 13, Issue 4 (2010)
- COLRS Resources on Canvas Commons
This page includes screen captures of home pages we’ve designed with Design Plus and shared through Canvas Commons for easy customization by UIS faculty and staff. - What is Canvas Commons?
Canvas Commons is a place where UIS instructors can share Canvas materials with one another. COLRS has developed a number of Canvas Commons resources for UIS faculty and staff to import into their Canvas courses. You can also choose to publish materials from your course(s) to Canvas and share them with other UIS instructors. - How do I set a home page in a Canvas course?