The Technology and Learning Program has provided a default home page "template" for all Fall 2024 Canvas courses.
- This template is meant to be a quick way for anyone to start teaching with Canvas.
- We understand that no template will meet the needs of everyone and welcome your input.
- Furthermore, if you want to use a custom home page, or set the Syllabus tool as the home page, you can do that too.
See Want your own Custom Home Page? below.
This article provides instructions for editing your Canvas Home page; specifically the home page that comes with the Chico State Canvas template.
Quick Links: | Use the Default Home Page | Use a Custom Home Page | Edit Quick Access Links | Enhance Visual Appeal
Editing the Default Template Home Page
Access your Fall 2024 course
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Access Canvas from the Chico State portal.
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From your Global Navigation menu, select Courses, then locate the course that says Fall 2023 for the Term.
Edit your instructor information and photo
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On your course’s home page, select Edit (upper right corner).
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Replace the class number and title at the top of the page.
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Replace the placeholder image with your own photo, and input your Instructor Information with your preferred contact (such as email or Canvas Inbox) as well as office hour days, times, and location.
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If you prefer that students message you with the Canvas Inbox, it is recommended that you do not include your email in the instructor information section as it may cause confusion. Instead, use this space to inform students that the preferred way to contact you is through the Canvas Inbox. By default, all Canvas Inbox messages will be forwarded to your Chico State email. You can reply directly through your email, and your students will receive the message in their Canvas Inbox.
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Edit the example Getting Started instructions with your own.
As suggested in Item 4 of the example, “Watch the How to Navigate Our Course video,” we encourage you to create a welcome and navigation video for your students. Please note that a welcome video is especially important for online classes as it shows the students there is a real person teaching the class and helps connect them.
At a later time, you might also consider adding a course navigation video to show your students how you’d like them to engage with your Canvas course. Or you might consider making an all-in-one introduction and course navigation video.
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When you’re finished with the above steps, don’t forget to delete the notes to the instructor that are highlighted in yellow and surrounded by either <angle brackets> or [square brackets]. Tip: Angle brackets typically represent a note to the instructor whereas the square brackets typically indicate a placeholder where something will be typed in.
Want your own Custom Home Page?
You can choose to set your homepage to be a custom page that you design, or go straight to Modules, or to the Syllabus tool, an activity stream, etc.
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From your current Canvas Home, select Choose Home Page on the right sidebar.
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Select what you’d like to display on the home page (Including the option to select the Syllabus page).
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Select Save. For a video tutorial, see Setting Your Canvas Home Page (1 min).
(If you want the Syllabus tool as your Home, select this option. The Syllabus tool enables a Course Summary at the bottom with all your due dates and events.)
Setting a Custom Page as your Home Page
In order to design a lovely Page, and make that page your Home page, you must first designate your lovely page as a "Front" page. That makes it eligible to be promoted to a Home page.
Editing the Quick Access Links
Many instructors edit the current quick links shown above banner image in the upper right to link to the most important places for that specific course or even external websites such as Perusall, WebAssign, etc. As you build your course, you might come back to this section to edit according to your course needs.
Enhancing Visual Appeal
You can customize your course graphics, including creating buttons for your Quick Access links, changing your banner at the top of the page, and changing your course card that shows for your course on the Dashboard. Adding Buttons/Photos Video (2 min)
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Important! Remember, any time you add any image to add Alt Text for that image so students using screen readers are able to access that information.
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If you are passionate about enhancing visual appeal, you might also consider adding icons to your pages. Make sure to mark icons in the Alt Text menu as “decorative image” if they convey no information and are purely for visual purposes. Adding Icons Video (3 min)