The course home page is the first thing students will see when they enter your Canvas course. When students log in to your course for the first time they need to see something that orients them to where they are and explicitly communicates what they are to do in a friendly and welcoming manner. Some things you might consider adding to your home page are: your contact information, a picture related to course content, a quote or personal welcome, and instructions on how to navigate through the course.

Instructors can choose between five different home page layouts. Each course home page layout also includes specific items in the sidebar, in addition to the To Do list. You should choose a home page layout which best facilitates student interaction with course materials in your course.

For more information about choosing a course home page, view the video below.

Home Page Layouts

The following are the different types of home page layouts:

Modules

Modules organize course content in an outline format. Modules can be filled with different types of content.
Each module item also includes an icon with its type:

Page [1]: a page of content to read

Discussion [2]: a course discussion

Quiz [3]: a course quiz

Assignment [4]: a course assignment

Link or External Tool [5]: an external link or tool to view outside of the course

File [6]: a file to download or view

Pages Front Page

The Pages Front Page allows instructors to design the course home page and include links, images, or rich media. Students will be able to interact with the content added to this page.

The Front Page is also indicated on the Pages Index Page. Students can also view Pages in Course Navigation if the Pages link is shown in the course.

Additionally, all Course Home Page layouts can show recent announcements at the top of the page.

Syllabus

The syllabus home page is similar to the Pages Front Page, but also includes a list of upcoming assignment and events. The syllabus includes the syllabus description [1], the syllabus table [2], and the sidebar [3]. The syllabus description is where you can post your course description, a brief introduction, class guidelines, weekly reminders, and other important information. You can copy content from Word documents directly into the Rich Content Editor or create original content inside of the Rich Content Editor. The syllabus is automatically generated for the course and contains a list of assignments and events. Assignments are indicated by the Assignments icon [1], and events are indicated by the Calendar icon [2]. Non-graded items with a to-do date show the to-do date in the syllabus [3]. All assignments (unpublished and published) are listed in the syllabus for instructors, but students only see published assignments.

Assignments List

The Assignment List shows the list of assignments for the course with upcoming and recent assignments at the top of the page. Users can click the link of the assignment to view more details.

Course Activity Stream

The Course Activity Stream lets users see the most recent activity and interactions for this course. It is very similar to the recent activity stream in the Dashboard but only shows content for the specific course.

You can find more detailed instructions about using your chosen course home page by clicking its corresponding link below.

Modules

Pages

Syllabus

Course Activity Stream