Canvas Best Practices
Canvas courses designed using best practices are easy for a student to navigate and easy for instructors to use, verify, and maintain.
Canvas courses designed using best practices are easy for a student to navigate and easy for instructors to use, verify, and maintain.
The overall goal of using the Canvas learning management system (LMS) at Samuel Merritt University is to provide students with an environment conducive to effective learning. Canvas courses designed using best practices are easy for a student to navigate and easy for instructors to use, verify, and maintain. When Canvas courses are well-designed and consistent within a program, students can quickly see how the courses are organized, know where to find learning materials and assignments, and the expectations for courses are clear.
The Office of Academic Affairs expects faculty to have implemented by the end of 2016 the LMS Use Policy requirements and additional course design best practices agreed upon by each program. The LMS Use Policy requirements, as detailed in the Faculty Handbook, are noted in the Canvas Best Practices Support Kit resources.
These five principles inform the best practices for a well-designed Canvas course:
This set of resources will guide you in implementing the Best Practices for Canvas Course Design and LMS Use Policy requirements.
There are many benefits of using best practices to design a Canvas course.
For students
For faculty
For SMU programs and the university overall