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Setting up your Canvas course: Modules v. Pages


Before diving too deeply down the rabbit hole that is the Canvas Instructor Guide, you can get your course set up started with this overview.

If you previously taught your course using BlackBoard, you should find that the course has already been migrated to Canvas. (You access Canvas through canvas.pitt.edu).

Canvas has two main ways to organize your course material: Modules and Pages. Both of these can be found by clicking on the “Courses” tab on the blue margin on the left side.

Modules provide a framework

You can think of Modules as templates that help to organize your course materials. They are especially helpful when you are first starting out with this learning management system. Using modules provides a “flow” to your course.

You can organize your Modules in any logical order: by topic, week, or unit, for instance. If your course was migrated to Canvas by the Pitt Instructional Technology staff, then your Modules should be prepopulated by the Course Content Areas from BlackBoard. You can rearrange the order of the Modules by dragging and dropping them using the dots on the left of the grey Module bar.

Using modules allows you to control the access to course content, too, as there is an easy way to hide or unhide content with only a click. Organizing your course sequentially in Modules also allows you to and view your student’s progress by clicking on the button in the top left of the Modules landing page.  

Pages help you personalize

Pages, on the other hand, are for providing personalization to your course content. They can act as a course homepage; hence, their name! Pages has an editor that allows you to add text, media and links to other parts of the course. In other words, using Pages allows you to make your course content pop—you can change font sizes, post a video of yourself, or share a link to relevant sources.

Stay tuned for more helpful tricks on using Canvas throughout the summer! If you have found a cool feature and want to share, sign up for the Lunchtime Chat – Canvas on June 18, 12-1pm and/or email rehak@pitt.edu.



6/12/2020
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