Secondary Style Guide

The Canvas Style Guide has been created to support teachers, students, and families in successfully navigating Canvas. This document provides a quick checklist for you to use when assessing your course and also lays out the expectations in more detail with links and other resources. Use this to help support you while building your Canvas course and in conversations with your Canvas support specialists and administration.

Keep in mind that Canvas is a platform that is used to facilitate outstanding pedagogy.

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In Provo City School District, Canvas is our chosen platform to share learning targets and success criteria, administer assessments, and provide feedback. It offers us the opportunity to further provide differentiation for each student's needs and to create flexible learning environments that help all students succeed.

Core Expectations:

Teachers and students should be comfortable using Canvas as a fundamental platform. Developing capacity for Canvas use in school early and regularly helps ensure that learning days are not lost in case of emergency.
Teachers should be prepared for an unexpected online learning day. Each teacher should prepare a few modules in advance that can serve as emergency sub plans or be used in case of a digital learning day.
Teachers are not required to put everything on Canvas. Canvas should be used as an extension of your physical classroom but does not have to represent everything that takes place in that classroom. Use it to facilitate a flexible learning environment in class and provide needed resources outside of class.
Teachers are expected to be proactive in seeking assistance. Support is available through the Innovative Learning Initiative and your school-based Canvas support specialists to help you meet expectations and develop your proficiency in Canvas. Please do not hesitate to ask for needed help.

Teacher Account Settings

Required

Profile picture
Contact information
Notification preferences

Optional

Other editable information

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Canvas Course

Required

Use a course created from the Canvas/PowerSchool sync
Publish course
If applicable, request cross-list of Canvas courses

Recommended

Add an image to the course card for each course

Note: If a course isn’t created through the sync (e.g., Special Education, Extracurriculars, etc.), submit the New Canvas Course request form.

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Course Navigation

Required

Home
Announcements
Modules
Grades
Canvas Support

Recommended

Syllabus (Disclosure must be available as a link on the homepage, in a Course Introduction module, or in the Syllabus section)
Google Drive
Appropriate district-approved curriculum

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Course Home Page

Required

Most recent announcement
Multimedia element
Course name and teacher name

Recommended

Modules list or current module
Links to commonly accessed websites

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Announcements

Required

Provide a welcome announcement at the beginning of the semester including
- A welcome message
- Instructions or video on how to navigate your Canvas course

Recommended

Use announcements as needed to share important information

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Modules

Required

Use the modules to organize course materials and assignments
Clearly and consistently label modules (e.g., label modules by date, unit, topic, etc.)
Use a consistent organizational structure
The first page of each module is a content page that describes the learning targets, success criteria, and a sequenced list of the module tasks and assignments.
Create a Course Introduction module including at least:
- Instructor Info
- Disclosure document
- Links to commonly accessed websites (if not on front page)
Prepare a few modules in advance as emergency sub plans or in case of an online learning day

Recommended

Modules may include the following content, as appropriate: content pages, assignments, discussions, files, external links, and quizzes
Include instructional materials used in class (e.g., Google Slides, guided notes, etc.) for students who were absent or may need to review, as appropriate.
If modules contain 10 or more items consider breaking it down into smaller pieces or use text headers to group content.
Unpublish modules not being used

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Assessments

Required

Clearly and consistently label assessments
Provide clear directions and success criteria
Provide due dates so assessments appear in the student's To Do list

Recommended

Use a variety of assessment types (assignments, discussions, quizzes, etc.)
Use rubrics
Grade using Speedgrader
Turn on "Hide totals in student grades summary" and "Hide grade distribution graphs from students" in Course Settings

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Recommended Design Elements

Use images that represent real people and diversity
Use consistent and appropriate fonts and colors
Use icons to represent specific learning tasks
Consider the length of content pages, and the amount of scrolling needed (less is more)
Embed content vs providing links that take students outside of Canvas, where possible
- Except YouTube videos, which should be linked
Monitor accessibility
- Provide alt text for images (including gifs)
- Provide closed captioning for videos
- Pay attention to contrast of text color and background color - be aware of color blindness

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Canvas Style Guide 2022-23 - Secondary