Course Building Best Practices

1.  Update your syllabus using Simple Syllabus.
2. Beginning Fall 2026, all syllabi in Simple Syllabus will automatically link to Howdy. For any prior terms, you can upload to Howdy directly.

1. Merge prior to the deadlines associated with each semester. 

2. Follow course merging guide or watch ORCA Demo Section Merging Feature (1:38) to create a merged course in ORCA.

This step is only necessary if material is imported from a development shell, previous institution, or content from another instructor.  

View the Copying Canvas Materials Between Courses chart to learn more about copying course content. This chart highlights important differences between course import and course copy.

To export or import course content, view Exporting and Importing Course Content for instructions. Texas A&M’s Canvas storage quota limits imports to 2 GB. Duplicate data can be minimized by using the Import Specific Content feature which allows manual selection of content. For assistance with course export files that are larger than 2 GB, contact LMS Support.

For additional guidance, watch Importing Course Content in Canvas (1:52).

1. Create Assignment Groups for weight-based courses. Assignment groups should follow what is outlined in the syllabus. Point-based courses may not need assignment groups. 

2. Create Assignment Rules such as dropping lowest or highest score(s) or choosing assignment(s) that will not be dropped. 

3. Edit Due Dates if content is imported or copied from another Canvas course. Due dates should be edited to ensure late policies are applied correctly. 

• Learning Objectives: Statements that define what learners will be able to demonstrate as a result of instruction.
• Module Overview / Introduction: Directions for stepping through the module that can be text, audio, or video-based content.
• Learning Materials: Readings, lecture content, etc. to support learning.
• Learning Activities: Assignments, discussions, projects, etc. to provide an opportunity to apply or practice learning.
• Assessments: Mechanisms to monitor and evaluate learning.

• Assignments: For file-based, video-based, or text-based submissions (e.g., Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, or typing content directly). 
• Discussions: For asynchronous interaction. Can also be ungraded. 
• Quizzes: For quizzes, tests, exams, and homework assignments in a quiz-like format. 
• Third Party Tools: Used to enhance student experience within Canvas. 

Set your Homepage: 

The Canvas template will automatically be applied to the new live shell. To reset the Home page to the previously customized Home page, view Set Your Course Homepage for instructions. 

Once all of your content has been finalized in your course, it is important to check your accessibility report. Both Ally and Panorama are our integrated digital accessibility tools, providing a score for your course. If the course needs improvement, they will provide guidance as to what needs to be fixed.

Contact us for more questions or information.

1. Publish active modules when the course is published by: 

• Locating the top line of the module. 
• Clicking on the circle with a line through it. 
• Once clicked, the circle will turn green with a white check mark inside. 

2. View a course as a student. 

• Click Home in the course navigation. 
• Select Student View in the upper right-hand corner. 
• Start at the homepage and navigate your course as a student. 
• Fix any issues encountered.
  
  Note: Course content delivered through LTIs (e.g. Google Assignments and Peerceptiv) cannot be previewed in student view.  

1. Publish a course by navigating to Home or Settings. 

2. Select Publish from the menu option on the right side of the screen.
   
   Note: Published course content will remain in a "read only" state for students until the first day of the semester. To learn more, watch the video tutorial on Publishing Course Content. 

• Announcements: Serve as the main source for students to receive updates for course due dates, deadlines, and other information. 
• Inbox: Send an email to students individually or in groups. 
• Gradebook messages: The Canvas Gradebook has a "message students who" feature which sends messages to groups of students based on their status in relation to a specific assignment. This feature sends simultaneous messages to students who fall into certain grade-related categories (i.e., Have Submitted, Have Not Submitted, etc.). 
• Calendar: The Canvas Calendar provides students with a to-do list in a calendar format, including Zoom class meetings, assignment due dates (if date is added in the assignment details), appointments, and more. 
• SpeedGrader: Can be used to add feedback in line with student submissions, or through comments on a rubric. 
• Utilize the Texas A&M template by linking the included weekly module buttons on the homepage to modules you previously created.  Watch Linking Homepage Buttons to Content (1:57) for additional guidance. 
• Place a welcome message on the homepage or send by announcement. Watch Adding a Course Trailer to a Canvas Course (3:31) for additional guidance. 
• Run the link validator to eliminate broken links in your course. Consult the Running the Link Validator video to learn more. 
• Run the accessibility report to address any accessibility issues flagged by Ally or Panorama.

1. Navigate to Canvas
2. Login using your TAMU NetID and password

• Four frequently used buttons designed to provide students with quick and efficient access to course information such as the Syllabus, Academic Resources, University Resources, and information about instructor Office Hours
• Links to Canvas, Academic, and University Resources for students
• Simple Syllabus contains Texas A&M Minimum Syllabus Requirements which can be modified to add your course-specific content
• Numbered module navigation buttons that allow students to access their learning materials directly from the homepage

• Simple Syllabus
• Modules
• Grades
• Course Evaluations
• Mediasite Collection

• Overview and To Do List: A Page that introduces the Module and to do list of all of the required materials and assessments.   
• Presentation/Lecture: A Page formatted to embed lectures and presentation with a sample Google Slide.
• Assignment: An Assignment with 0 points with sections for an overview, guidelines, and links to technical support.
• Wrap-up and Looking Ahead: A Page that closes the module to re-cap the content and preview the upcoming Module.

• Lock a module until a specific date and time to ensure that students access course content at the appropriate time.
• Prerequisites applied to entire modules ensure students complete each module in a specific order (e.g., students must complete Module 1 before they are able to access Module 2, etc.).
• Requirements within a module ensure students complete each module item in a specific order (e.g., students must view a lecture video before they can access a quiz assessing their understanding of that lecture video).

Before creating and managing assessments in Canvas, course instructors should first approach the complex topic of assessment with a plan that aligns with their instructional objectives and content. After you have decided what type of assessment you need to create, build them in Canvas using the resources provided below. 

Assessment Type Decision Tree

Use the decision tree below to choose which type of assessment to create based on your goals and learning objectives:

Add Graded Assessments

In Canvas, there are multiple ways to assess student learning:

• Assignments: For file-based or text-based submissions (e.g., Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, typing in content directly).
• Discussions: For asynchronous interaction to keep discussion of ideas and course concepts going beyond the classroom.
• Quizzes: For quizzes, tests, exams, and homework assignments in a quiz-like format.

Tip: Incorporate Rubrics and use the SpeedGrader to grade assignments, discussions, and quizzes.

Further Resources:
How to use SpeedGrader?
How to add a rubric?

Use the Communication Tools in Canvas

Communication is key to maintaining a strong connection to your students and ensuring your active presence in your online course. Canvas has many options available for communication. Instructors can personalize their messages by posting audio and video messages in Discussions, SpeedGrader, Inbox messages, and Announcements. Here is a list of the communication tools you can take advantage of in Canvas and a brief description of the uses for each:

• Announcements: Use Announcements to serve as the main communication source for students to receive updates for your course due dates, deadlines, and other just-in-time information.
• Inbox: Use the Canvas inbox feature to send an email to students individually or in groups.
• Gradebook messages: The Canvas Gradebook has a feature called "message students who" which allows you to message groups of students based on their status in relation to a specific assignment. This feature allows you to send simultaneous messages to all of the students who fall into certain grade-related categories for a specific assignment.
• Calendar: The Canvas Calendar tool provides students with a to-do list in a calendar format, including Zoom class meetings, assignment due dates, appointments, and more. Note: Be sure to add due dates to learning activities to ensure students can view them via the calendar.
• SpeedGrader: The SpeedGrader tool can be used to add feedback inline with student submissions, or through comments on a Rubric.

Tip: We recommend conducting all of your communication with students through Canvas to create efficiencies for you and a central hub where students know they can navigate to to communicate about course activities.

• Some external tool assignments, like Gradescope, Peerceptiv, and Perusall may need to have their links updated when exporting the course over. 
• Copying and pasting lists of file links from one course to another will break those links. A best practice to follow is to use the export/import tool to copy files from one course to your other course, instead of copying and pasting the link. 
• To adjust assignment due dates for holidays, or other days when there will be no class, use the bulk update due dates and availability dates feature in Canvas to update multiple assignments and assessments at one time.
• An exported quiz with questions linked to a question bank will not include an export of the question bank.If you want to import the quiz into another course along with question banks, you may prefer to import specific content and select Question Banks.
• Canvas exports do not include backups of student interactions and grades. Grades can be exported separately as a comma separated values (CSV) file.
• If you import a New Quizzes assessment and then re-import the same assessment, Canvas will revert to the original assessment. To import changes to a New Quizzes assessment, you must duplicate the assessment and then import it into your course.

You can export a Canvas course to give to someone in another Canvas account or to create a copy as a backup on your local computer. You can import an export file into Canvas at any time.
Exports are packaged as IMSCC zip files, which can only be opened by programs that support Common Cartridge files.

1. From the course that you would like to export, click Settings in the course navigation
2. Click the Export Course Content link located on the right-hand side.
3. In the Export Type heading, click the Course radio button. 
4. Click Create Export.
5. Note: If you have previously exported the course, Canvas will display prior exports under the Content Exports heading.
6. View the progress bar. Exporting a course in Canvas may take a few minutes, depending on its size. You will receive an email when the export is complete.
7. When your download is ready, click the New Export link.

When importing course content with the Course Import Tool, you can choose to Import all Content or Import specific content. We recommend using the Import specific content option if you would like to leverage the new template provided in your shells. 

Import All Content

1. From your new course, click Settings in the course navigation

2. Click the Import Course Content link located on the right-hand side

3. In the Content Type drop-down menu, choose the Canvas Course Export Package option

4. Locate the downloaded export and choose the .imscc file you want to import

5. Select All content 

6. Click Import 

The Current Jobs section displays the status of your import. Running reports display a progress bar indicating the time remaining to complete the import.

Import Specific Content (recommendation)

1. From your new course, click the Settings link in the course navigation

2. Click the Import Course Content link located on the right-hand side.

3. In the Content Type drop-down menu, choose the Canvas Course Export Package option

4. Find the Source file that was downloaded from the export and choose the .imscc file you want to import

5. In the Content section, click the Select specific contentradio button

6. Click the Import button

7. A progress indicator displays the upload status by percentage

8. In the Current Jobs section, click the Select Content button

   1. Content can be individual items or a content group. Content groups show the number of items within the group. To view content within a group, click the arrow to expand the content of the group.

   2. If you would like to leverage the new template provided within your course shell, review the following content groups to determine if you would like it migrated to the new course: 

      1. Modules

      2. Assignments 

      3. Quizzes

      4. Question banks (Note: Item banks will not migrate)

      5. Discussion topics (Note: only the topics will migrate, not student submissions) 

      6. Pages 

      7. Rubrics 

      8. Files

9. Click the Select Content button 

The report displays a menu bar with the time remaining to complete the import. View the content from any completed imports by accessing any link in Course Navigation.

When importing course content with the Course Import Tool, you can choose to Copy all Content or Select specific content. We recommend using the Import specific content option if you would like to leverage the new template provided in your course shell.

1. From your new course, click Settings in the course navigation
2. Click the Import Course Content link located on the right-hand side
3. In the Content Type drop-down menu, choose the Copy a Canvas Course option
4. Search for the course you would like to copy.
5. Select the Migration Content Type

1. Select All Content
2. Click Import

The Current Jobs section displays the status of your import. Running reports display a progress bar indicating the time remaining to complete the import.

Specific Content (recommendation)

1. In the Content section, click the Select specific content radio button
2. Click the Import button
3. A progress indicator displays the upload status by percentage
4. In the Current Jobs section, click the Select Content button

Content can be individual items or a content group. Content groups show the number of items within the group. To view content within a group, click the arrow to expand the content of the group.

If you would like to leverage the new template provided within your course shell, review the following content groups to determine if you would like it migrated to the new course: 

• Modules
• Assignments 
• Quizzes
• Question banks (Note: Item banks will not migrate)
• Discussion topics (Note: only the topics will migrate, not student submissions) 
• Pages 
• Rubrics 
• Files

• How do I export a Canvas course?
• How do I import a Canvas course export package?
• How do I select specific content as part of a course import?
• How do I export quiz content from a course?
• How do I import a question bank from one Canvas course to another?
• How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates?

After you have imported your course content, use the Link Validator to verify if all links are working in your course.

Below are the steps for how to run the Link Validator in your course: 

1. From the course navigation, click Settings

2. On the right side-bar, click Validate Links in Content

3. If this is your first time running the link validator, click Start Link Validation. If you have already run the link validator, click Restart Link Validation 

   • Tip: The Link Validator will need to be restarted every time you navigate to this page as it does not update after you have made changes in the course. 

4. View the links and make changes to the content within your course

5. To confirm all links are resolved, click Restart Link Validation to verify