Explore the Template

The Kent State Online Template for Canvas courses is designed to help you build a high-quality online learning experience quickly and efficiently. The template comes pre-loaded with a customizable KSU-branded home page, a standardized course navigation, and placeholders for course content.  

Import the Kent State Online Template into your Canvas Course and start exploring today! 

Screenshot of Canvas and Course Home Page

Course Home

Customize & Extend

The course Home page is the entry point to your online course. The Kent State Online template home page is pre-populated with the following placeholder content items: 

  • Kent State University photo 
  • Instructor Information content item 
  • Start Here information and links  
  • Course Modules link and description 
  • Course Learning Outcomes placeholder 
  • Help Guides around technology and academic success 

Start Here Folder

Essential Information for Students

The Start Here section of the home page contains the essential information your students need to get started in your course and succeed in the online environment.  

  • Syllabus: help create consistency for your students by including your syllabus and course schedule in this dedicated area of your Canvas course 

  • Announcements: use this tool to provide information to your students that is applicable to everyone in your class 

  • Getting Started in Online Learning: This website provides information and resources for online students including technology, hardware, software, policies, and academic support services.  

Screenshot of Canvas and Course Start Here Page

Canvas Navigation

Course Menu

Navigating the Course

The course navigation menu is a collection of links on the left side of the course that help you and your students find your way to different course areas. The Kent State Online Template includes a streamlined navigation that includes the options that are most commonly used in online courses. Depending on the tools you choose to use in your course, you may need to reorder or hide various course navigation links

Home is the first page that students see in your course and provides them with a welcome to the course and important information that they will need to be successful. 

Announcements allow instructors to share information with all members of a course. 

Syllabus is a dedicated section of your course where you can share your syllabus and course schedule documents and provide a list of assignments and due dates through the Course Summary. 

Modules are used to share course content, learning materials, and assessments with your students in an organized way. An in-depth explanation of the modules can be found below. 

Discussions allow users to interact around a given topic; students can participate in a discussion with their entire class or small groups. 

Grades allow instructors to measure performance, provide feedback, and track student progress in the course. 

Course Evaluations provides a direct link for students to participate in Flash Survey. 

Pages include text, video, links, files, and other course content and are usually shared with students through a relevant Module. 

Assignments provide a method for students to demonstrate their understanding of course learning materials in a variety of ways including online submission such as documents, images, text, and links. The Assignments link includes specific assignments as well as Discussions and Quizzes. Assignment Groups and Weighted Grading can also be set up from this link in the course navigation. 

People shows all of the users enrolled in your course including students, teachers, TAs, Designers, etc. From People, you can create and manage Groups and view user details to monitor course participation. 

Rubrics are used to measure grading criteria for students and can be added to assignments, quizzes, and graded discussions. 

Files houses course files, documents, syllabi, readings, images, etc. that are shared with students in all areas of the course including Modules, Assignments, and Pages. 

Outcomes track competency in a course or across a program and can be aligned to assignments, quizzes, and discussions. If you are interested in using Outcomes with your program, contact your dedicated online course support for more information. 

Quizzes are assessments, commonly referred to as tests or exams, that can be used to measure performance in a variety of ways. 

Collaborations allow multiple users to work together on the same document at the same time. 

Settings are where you can see and update various course settings and modify the navigation of your course. 

Instructions for basic customization of the Kent State Online Template course navigation can be found on the Build page


Learning Materials

The Core of Your Course
Canvas Modules screenshot
 

The Modules area of your Canvas course contains the core learning materials for your course. An example module is provided for you in the Kent State Online Template.  

Modules can be used for all modalities and are easily customized for your course whether you organize by week, topic, theme, or item type. 

The example module contains placeholder Pages that can be edited as needed. 

  • Introduction is a page where you can provide an overview of that module and relevant course or module learning outcomes.  

  • Presentation sets up an example of how you might present video content to your students including the name, description, and embed code or link. 

  • Required Readings would include a list of readings for a given module and include placeholders for a textbook, weblink, Ares Course Reserves. 

  • Summary provides a space to conclude the module, whether through text, audio, or video content. 

You will also find an example introductory activity in the example module. This can be customized for your students and is one way that they can begin making connections and building community online. 

Guides for using Modules and other ways to extend your course content can be found on the Build page