Overview
The home page of your Canvas course can be customized to fit your needs for course design. The home page can serve a number of purposes, from setting the tone for the course to conveying announcements and due dates, to getting students directly to the course materials in as few clicks as possible. Each subsection of this page describes an option for course home pages with ideas of how they can best be utilized to fit into your course's needs.
- To change your home page, select choose home page from the options menu on either the right-hand side or bottom of your current course home page.
Select your chosen home page option.
Pages Front Page
If you choose to use pages front page, make sure the you have designated the correct page as the pages front page.
Course Activity Stream
Course activity stream is the default home page option. It will display the latest announcements, discussion posts, assignment notifications, and peer reviews for the course. This is a good way to keep students up-to-date on what is happening in the course and can serve as a reminder of what they need to accomplish.
Pages Front Page
You can design a custom page in pages that serves as the course home page. This option gives you the most freedom to design a front page if none of the other options fit your needs. You can include visuals that are relevant to the course, links to other parts of the course (assignments, files, discussions, etc.), or important information like due dates, office hours, or finals schedules.
Course Modules
Putting course modules as your front page will direct students automatically to modules when they enter the course. If your course is organized so that all activity can be accessed from modules (all quizzes, assignments, files, and discussions are grouped in chronological or other order) this can be an efficient way to get students directly to the meat of the course.
Assignments List
Similar to modules, selecting assignments list as your front page will direct students automatically to assignments when they enter the course. If you use your Canvas course mostly as a home for online assignments, this can be a good way to direct students directly to those.
Syllabus
Putting your syllabus as the home page of your course allows you to convey important information about the course to students immediately when they enter the course. The syllabus page has the added benefit of displaying a list of assignments in the course, so students can direct themselves to those from the front page.