Canvas Baseline Practices: 1. Structure and navigation
Canvas courses should follow a simple, predictable structure to help students focus on learning rather than navigation.
What this practice involves
- Use Modules as the primary way to organise course content.
- Create one module per teaching week or topic.
- Give each module a short, clear title that reflects its content.
- Place the most important content (e.g., weekly overview, readings, assessments) at the top of each module.
- Ensure all pages and files have meaningful, descriptive names. Avoid generic file names like “Week1.pdf” or “Lecture2.pptx”.
- Hide any unused Canvas navigation items (e.g., Pages, Files, Outcomes) from the course menu to reduce clutter.
- Ensure all links and embedded resources work as expected and are up to date.
Why it matters
A clear and consistent course layout helps students find what they need, reduces confusion, and supports better engagement—especially for those accessing content on mobile devices or using assistive technologies.
Students consistently report frustration when courses are hard to navigate. For some, including those with cognitive impairments or using assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers), inconsistent structure can be a barrier to learning. Good structure benefits everyone and improves mobile usability too.
This practice aligns with Universal Design for Learning by supporting ‘multiple means of engagement’ and reducing cognitive load.
Implementation
1.1 Course home/front page
The course home/front page provides clear and consistent wayfinding to help students navigate the course. It:
- Signals clearly what course is
- Gives a brief description/introduction
- Provides brief information on how to get started
- Provides quick and easy navigation to key content
1. The banner image is purely aesthetic, therefore, alt text (alternative text) is unnecessary. Set it as decorative in Canvas’ Rich Content Editor so that screen readers ignore it. 2. Include a brief welcome to help orientate students to the course. 3. Links with key course information are provided. 4. An overview describes how to navigate the course and where to find important information. Links are applied to meaningful text.
1.2 Course modules
- Content is organised into manageable pieces and logically segmented (e.g., organised by units, chapters, topics, or weeks).
- Modules and text headers are consistent and follow a clear naming convention to help guide the navigation.
- There are appropriate visual cues to organise information and demonstrate hierarchy.
1. Use module headers to organise the components of the course by week or topics. Use meaningful headings that provide context. 2. Adding numbering in page headings provides a hierarchical structure to modules. 3. Use indentation to indicate a visual hierarchy for the structure of the module. 4. Text headers separate subsections within the module. In this example, assessments are clearly separated from course content.
1.3 Course pages
Pages in Canvas provides a central place for course content, enabling teachers to create a hierarchical course structure through embedding them within modules.
Using pages provides a narrative/context for course content.
- Learning materials are given context—explanations/instructions are provided for videos, images, links to files and external websites.
- Activities and resources are presented inline where possible.
- Links to pages can be easily shared with students to review the course material when questions arise about a subject.
1.4 Headings/text styles
Headings and text styles are used effectively to structure and organise content.
Rather than simply making the text larger, bold, or underlined, headings enable those who rely on screen readers to navigate to specific sections and to understand how the page is organised.
- Use appropriate module numbering, heading levels and sub-sections.
- Heading levels should not be skipped e.g., (H1, H2, H3) not (H1, H3, H2).
- Topic relationships are conveyed through presentation.
1. The page heading is a heading 1 (H1). The size of the text makes it clear that it is the page title. H1 also indicates the start of the information hierarchy for screen readers. 2. Subsequent headings are H2, indicating that these are the main discussion points. Students can quickly scan through these larger headings and those using screen readers can skip via keyboard shortcuts. 3. Sub-sections are set to H3, indicating that there are three stages to the learning activity.
Instructor guide: How do I add a text header as a module item?
1.5 Course navigation menu
Ensure that:
- The course navigation menu is functional and consistent between courses.
- Unused items are hidden from the students’ view.
- ‘Files’ menu is hidden.
Note: The Files section of Canvas is often a cluttered repository of decontextualised course assets. Therefore, links to documents are better positioned (and contextualised) within pages.
1. Upon entering a course, the home page is active. You can nominate what to display as the home page. 2. The student view button allows you to identify which course menu items are visible to students. 3. To reduce clutter and help students understand what they should focus on, only menu items that are used should be visible to them. Non-essential items should be hidden. 4. Menu items that are hidden from students have a crossed out eye icon. Ensure that Files is hidden. 5. Some menu items don’t have the crossed out eye icon yet are still not visible to students, e.g., Settings.
1.6 Naming conventions
- Name a module “Week 1: The Role of the Lawyer”, not just “Week 1”.
- Prepend lecture recording names with associated information, e.g., “Week 3, Lecture 6 – AI and Legal Practice”.
Tips and tools
- Use Canvas “Design Blocks” tool to visually organise information on pages.
- Preview your course using the Student View to test how the navigation ‘feels’.
- Avoid nesting too many layers of content. Keep it flat, logical, and focused.
- For users on mobile devices, keep text and file names short and clear.
- If your programme has a shared template, follow it for consistency.
Page updated 27/06/2025 (content refresh)