Course Navigation
Below is a breakdown of areas you will use in your online courses.
Home Page and Navigation
The Course Home Page includes Course Navigation (1), the content area (2), and the sidebar (3).
Help Guide: How do I use the Course Home Page as a student?
To view the Course Navigation: The Course Home Page is viewed from the Home Link (1).
The status of assignments and grades can be viewed from the Grades Link (2).
Other items chosen by your instructors will appear in this course tools menu as well. They will vary from class to class, depending upon the needs of each course and instructor.
To Expand the Course Navigation Menu, click the menu icon (1).
To Collapse the Course Navigation Menu, click the menu icon (2).
Beneath Help in the Global Navigation Menu are several resources (3):
- Student Quick Guide
- Technical Support
- Student Resources
Modules
Finally, most instructors organize their course content into Modules. This is similar to the way a book is divided into chapters. A module might be defined by a certain period of time, such as a week. Or it might be divided by topic or by the type of content. Take a look at how our OLRN mini-course is organized by clicking Modules.
Some instructors add a requirement below each module item to let the students know what to do: view, contribute to the page, mark as done, or submit. Canvas uses icons to let you know what you have completed or not completed. Here's an example. Can you tell what this student has done so far?
Plan to visit your online course modules every time you access the course. This is where the instruction takes place, just as it would in an on-campus classroom. If you work only from your To-Do list without accessing the course content in the modules, that's like doing the homework but never coming to class!
👉 The best online students are those who spend a good deal of time with the content in the course modules.
If you need more help using Canvas Modules:
- Guide: How do I view modules? Links to an external site.
- Chat: Click Help for live chat with Canvas Student Support
- Phone: Call the Canvas 24/7 Student Support Hotline at 210-485-0555, option 2
Are you starting to feel comfortable using Canvas? Great! Let's move on.