Canvas templates at Oxford

Several bespoke templates have been created for use in Canvas courses at the University of Oxford. 
  • Using templates helps simplify course creation and streamline the student experience across the university, offering a standardised format that can be customised to suit the needs of individual departments and courses.
  • The templates have been designed by the Centre for Teaching and Learning, together with the Disability Advisory Service. They incorporate recommendations on accessibility and inclusive teaching, suggested teaching and learning activities, and prompts to Oxford policy and regulations.
  • Typically if you request a new course space then you may request the most appropriate course template for your purpose. If not, it is possible for you to apply a template yourself by following the steps on this page.

 

New: It is now possible to:
  • add Canvas templates to course spaces you are enrolled on as a teacher without contacting a learning technologist (see section 7 in the Index below)
  • apply an attractive Home Page, displaying a banner and Module Titles (see section 8 in the Index, and the separate guidance about the Page Enhancements tool)

In the Modules View, at the top of each template there is general information for staff (not to be published to students), including 'using Canvas for flexible and inclusive teaching and learning', 'accessibility and inclusivity', 'how to customise the template for your own purposes', and a 'Canvas launch checklist'. The teaching-level templates contain additional information for staff about preparing and sharing live and recorded teaching sessions.

Index

  1. Undergraduate Programme of Study Template
  2. Postgraduate Taught Programme of Study Template
  3. Postgraduate Research Programme of Study Template
  4. Paper or Module Template
  5. Tutorial Template
  6. Subject Template
  7. How to apply a template to a course you are enrolled on as a teacher
  8. How to apply a Home Page displaying a banner and Module Titles

1. Undergraduate Programme of Study Template

This template contains prompts for key information such as the course handbook and examiners’ reports. It has four Modules designed to house all programme-specific information related to an undergraduate programme of study: Welcome, Induction, Assessment and Feedback, Student Representation and Feedback. 

2. Postgraduate Taught Programme of Study Template

This template holds all programme-specific information for PGT programmes. Its Modules view features the same sections as the UG programme of study template: Welcome, Induction, Assessment and Feedback, Student Representation and Feedback. 

3. Postgraduate Research Programme of Study Template

This template features an additional Module relevant to PGR programmes of study: Researcher and development skills training, thus providing a space for research-specific information.   

4. Paper or Module Template

This template features a Modules view that is split by Week/ Topic, and contains various placeholders for Canvas items that can enhance teaching and learning activities for a  teaching course or paper, such as Discussions, Assignments and Quizzes. 

5. Tutorial Template

This template has been specifically tailored for tutorial use. The suggested Modules structure splits content into the following sections: Welcome, Assessment, vacation revision and consolidation, and Week/Topic. The Week/Topic module contains placeholders for tutorial-related activity such as reading, discussion and formative work. 

6. Subject Template

This template is intended for use when building content required by all students across an entire subject (e.g. History); or across a generic type of programme (e.g. Theology UG Information). It features subject-specific pointers, giving you a basis to build upon according to the needs of the students across a subject area. 

7. How to apply a template to a course you are enrolled on as a teacher

Prior to AY 21/22 it was only possible for a learning technologist from the Centre for Teaching and Learning to apply templates to courses. Now teachers and course administrators have the permissions to do so themselves.

  1. If you have 'created' a new course by rolling over an existing one (and you don't want the existing content), then use the Manage Courses tool to delete the new course and redo the rollover leaving the 'Include content' box unticked.
  2. From the home page of the new course, click the Import from Commons button on the right hand side.
    Screenshot showing location of the "Import from Commons" button
  3. The Canvas Commons interface will load. By default only the Oxford-approved templates and course building block resources will be shown. Click on the title of the resource that you would like to apply to your course.
    Screenshot highlighting the title area of the Commons resource that the user needs to click on
  4. A preview of the template will load showing all of the resources contained. You can click on individual resources or move to the Details and Version notes tabs to find out more information before committing to applying the template to your course.
  5. If you have decided you wish to proceed to apply the template, click the blue Import/Download button on the right of the screen. Note that you cannot choose to import only a portion of the template – all of the resources shown will be added to your course.
    Screenshot showing the Import/Download button
  6. A panel will slide out listing all of the courses that you are enrolled on as a teacher. If the required course is not shown it may be because you have the ability to edit the course through your overarching subaccount permissions but are not explicitly enrolled on the course as a teacher. You will need to first enrol yourself on the course as a teacher using the course's People page and then begin the process of adding the template again.
    Once you have identified the appropriate course, click the checkbox beside it and then the blue Import into course button.
    If there are multiple courses with identical names shown due to rollovers, be aware that the list is ordered chronologically with the newer courses towards the bottom.
  7. You will see a confirmation that the import process has begun. This process should take less than a minute. When you return to the course you should find that the template has been applied and you can begin editing.

8. How to apply a Home Page displaying a banner and Module Titles

If your course has been newly created, it will dispaly a default 'information' page as the Home Page (probably called Welcome Page). The Oxford templates each contain an alternative Home Page, which displays a suitable banner, and a tile layout of all the Modules Titles in the course. For example, this is what the Home Page looks like in the template for Tutorial sessions:

If you wish to display the more attractive Home Page, please follow these steps:

1. Click on Home on the course navigation menu. On the right hand panel of additional tools, select Choose Home Page:

2. You will be offered various alternatives to display as the course home page. Select the Pages option. If the displayed page name is not already Home Page, then click Change.

3. You will be taken to the Pages tool. Scroll to find the desired page to use as the home page. In the Canvas templates, it is called Home Page. Select the required page in the tick box, then click the three-dots menu alongside it.

Select Use as Front page. The alternative page will now be displayed as the Home Page in your course.

 

For more information on how to create such a Home Page, displaying a banner and Module Titles (in either Tile View or List View), please see the separate guidance about the Page Enhancements tool.