1. The features of Modules in Canvas
2. Best practices for designing your Course Content in Canvas Modules
3. Creating Modules to organize your Course Content for your students
4. Indenting Content Names for Items in Modules
5. Adding Files inside Pages of your Module
6. Adding Headers and links to readings directly into your Modules

Modules in Canvas are used to organize your instructional content across weeks and terms. Modules are containers where you will present your course content, such as: [1] assignments, [2] discussions, and [3] quizzes for students enrolled in your courses to interact with. All of the content you want your students to work through will be made available to them through Modules.

Since there will no longer be a start here area in your left hand menu as there was in Blackboard, consider beginning your Canvas Course with a START HERE Module which contains important pages to help students understand how to navigate your course, such as: [1] your syllabus and course schedule, [2] how to get in contact with you, and [3] how to succeed in the course.

You are likely working with your Blackboard migrated course content inside Canvas. Perhaps all of the documents and files you had nested inside sub-folders in the Blackboard course content area are now contained within one large Module inside Canvas. It is imperative to make your content accessible for students and build your course by unit, session meeting, or however you organize your course syllabus schedule pages. We can achieve a clearly organized course design by creating Modules that coincide with our course workflows. Let me show you how to build a module from scratch and insert and link content inside of it. We will start with the image of [1] Module 0 that appears at the beginning of this article for context.

Click the + Module button in the upper right hand corner of the Module area to create a module.

Name the Module inside the Module Name box that pops up.

Next, Click Add Module to create.

[1] Scroll to the bottom of your Modules area page to find your newly created module. From here we can click and hold the [2] dots icon to the right of the Module's name to drag it up to the top of our Modules area page.

Now, click the + icon on the far right in the Module bar to begin adding existing course content.

The Add pop-up window opens. The first item from my Module template above was a student info sheet, which is categorized as a Quiz in Canvas. So I will [1] select Quiz from the Add Drop down menu. To choose my item, I'll [2] scroll down and search for my [3] "student info sheet" click on it then click the red [4] Add Item button to add it into my Module.

This item is now added to my Module. The [1] current Module date range is set for the upcoming fall term. I'll have to [2] click into the Quiz and edit the quiz date to reflect the upcoming fall term and Module range.

Next I'll add my Pre-assignment #1, which is an Assignment in Canvas. Click the [1] + icon on the far right in the Module bar to continue adding existing course content. Then I'll choose [2] Assignment from the drop down menu, and [3] scroll down to find and [4] select Pre-assignment #1. I'll click the red [5] Add Item button to add it into my Module.

This Pre-assignment is now added to my Module.

Next I'll add my Video Lecture 1 - Chapter 1, which I have set up as a page in Canvas. Again I'll have to click the [1] + icon on the far right in the Module bar to continue adding existing course content to my Module. Then I'll choose [2] Page from the drop down menu, and [3] scroll down to find and [4] select Video Lecture 1 -Chapter 1. I'll click the red [5] Add Item button to add it into my Module.

This Video Lecture 1 is now added to my Module. If you have pages with video lectures or linked video content inside a page, click on the content to verify everything is linked properly and opening before publishing your course.

To replicate the 5 Levels of indentation shown in the image above for Video Lecture 1: Click the [1]three dot menu to the far right of the Video Lecture 1 page, then [2] click the Edit icon.

From the pop-up menu choose [4] Indent 3 Levels from the drop down menu, and click [5] Update to change your settings.

Next, click the [1]three dot menu to the far right of the Video Lecture 1 page, and click on [2] Increase Indent to indent to 4 Levels. Repeat this process one more time to Indent to the maximum of 5 levels.

I want to let my students know what readings are required before we meet for class and want to add a page with the Module 0 Readings accessible to them from the Module. First, I'll click the [1] + icon on the far right in the Module bar to continue adding existing course content to my Module. Then I'll choose [2] Page from the drop down menu, and [3] scroll down to find and [4] select Module 0 Readings. I'll click the red [5] Add Item button to add it into my Module.

The Mod 0 Readings page is now added to my Module. I have a link to the required reading embedded inside this page. So I will need to click on the content to verify the link working properly and opening before publishing my course.

Clicking into the Mod 0 Readings page, and clicking the [1] Edit icon in the upper right hand corner to view text inside the Rich Content Editor, I see [2] the reading is no longer linked to this page as is usually indicated by blue underlined text. To add the link to the file to the existing text in [2], first make sure your target text is selected with your cursor. Click the [3] Document icon in the Rich Content Editor. Next click [4] Course Documents to open a search panel on the right to choose the file.

A search Panel opens on the right hand side of your screen where you can type in the name of the file you are looking for in the [1] Search box, or search by [2] scrolling through your available files contained in the Canvas Files area for the course. [3] Click on the file that corresponds to your page's content and it will link to the text you highlighted. [4] Click the x in the upper right hand corner to exit the search Panel.

Click Save in the bottom right hand corner to update your page.

The link to my [1] Mod 0 Readings is now active.

If you want to scaffold your content inside your Module and allow students quicker access to your readings instead of having them click into a page to access your linked reading files, we can guide them with text headers to linked files that will open directly from Course File blocks we add to our Module.

Let's first add a Text Header to our Module 0 called "To Read Before Our First Class Meeting." Click the [1] + icon on the far right in the Module bar to open the Add pop-up window. Select [2] Text Header from the drop down menu. Type in your text in the [3] Header box and click [4] Add Item in the bottom right corner to save.

The Text Header appears in the module at the bottom.

Move the Text Header above the Readings page by [1] clicking on the 8 dots to the left of the title of the Text Header and [2] dragging it up above the Readings page.

Looking at the image below, we must now add a File for the reading directly beneath the Text Header we just created. To do this, click the [1] + icon on the far right in the Module bar to open the Add pop-up window. Select [2] File from the drop down menu. [3] Select the File you want to attach to the Module and click [4] Add Item in the bottom right corner to save.

The Reading File appears at the bottom of the Module.

Move the newly added Reading File above the Readings page and under the Text Header by [1] clicking on the 8 dots to the left of the title of the Text Header and [2] dragging it up above the Readings page.

Now we can unpublish the Mod 0 Readings page by [1] clicking the green check circle, or remove the page from the module by [2] clicking the three dot menu and [3] clicking on Remove.

We can find the Mod 0 Readings page we removed from the Module by, clicking [1] Pages.

Then, click [2] View All Pages in the upper left hand corner of the Page.

Finally, [3] scroll through all your Pages to find the Page you deleted from a Module. They are all listed in alphabetical order. [4] Click on the page's name to view its contents.