Setting Up Your Course

On this page you will find:

• Change Course Homepage
• Configuring your Course Menu
• Uploading Your Files
• Copying Content from a Past Course
• Setting Up Your Syllabus
• Creating Modules

Change Course Homepage

1. Navigate to your course.
2. Click on Change Home Page Layout in the home page.

3. Open the Home Page Layout drop-down menu.
4. Select the Home Page Layout that you prefer.
5. Click the Update Layout button to save the changes made to the Course Home Page.

Configuring your Course Menu

Before adding content to your Canvas course, configure the navigation links in the left menu.

1. Navigate to your course from the Courses dropdown in the Global Navigation menu.
2. Click Settings from the Course Navigation menu.
3. Select the Navigation tab.
4. Reorder the navigation links by dragging and dropping them. To hide links that you do not want to use in your course, drag them to the bottom of the page.
5. Click the Save button when you are finished reordering everything.

Uploading Your Files

The following instructions will walk you through the process of uploading entire folders or individual files, which can be used to post your syllabus, readings, assignments, etc.

NOTE: This process was previously done in Course Portal under Manage Site │ Content │Add/Manage Your Course Content.

Upload a Folder

1. Compress, or zip, the folder you wish to upload. Follow the appropriate link for instructions on compressing files on Mac or Windows.

2. Click the Files link on the left side of the page.
3. Click on the Import zip file button on the right side of the page.Click on image to enlarge
4. Select Choose File, navigate to the compressed folder with the .zip extension, and click Open.
5. After selecting the file, choose where you would like to upload the folder and click Upload File.

NOTE: This can be done more quickly in some web browsers (Firefox and Chrome) by dragging the .zip file directly from your computer into the Canvas file screen.

Upload Files

1. From your course’s Canvas homepage, first click the Files link on the left side of the page.
2. Click the Add Files button.
3. Navigate to the file you would like to upload and click Open.

NOTE: This can be done more quickly in some web browsers (Firefox and Chrome) by dragging the file(s) directly from your computer into the Canvas file screen.

For more information, visit the Canvas guides on Files
OR
Watch a video on Files

Copying Content from a Past Course

You can easily copy content from a previous Canvas course into a new course.

1. Open the new course in which you wish to import content.
2. Click the Settings link in the Sidebar.
3. Click the Import Content into this Course button on the right side of the window.
4. Click the Content Type dropdown menu and select Copy a Canvas Course.
5. Find the course you wish to import from by using the Select a course dropdown menu or by entering the course name in the search bar.
6. Check the box labelled Select migration content to choose the content you wish to import. NOTE: By default, all of the course content will be copied.
7. Click the Select content button.
8. Uncheck all of the boxes except for Files and manually select the content you wish to import. Click Select Content at the bottom of the window.
   

Setting Up Your Syllabus

At Penn Law, your course syllabus and documents are distributed through Canvas. We recommend uploading a PDF or DOC version of your syllabus for student access.

NOTE: This process was previously done in Course Portal under Manage Site │ Content │Add/Manage Your Course Content and the syllabus was added as a folder on the left side of the page.

Add a Link to Your Syllabus

Before editing the Syllabus page, we recommend uploading the syllabus file in the Files page. After uploading your syllabus, you need to create a link to the file on the Syllabus page.

1. Go to the Syllabus page by clicking the Syllabus link in the Sidebar of your Canvas course.
2. Click on the Edit Syllabus Description button on the right side of the page.
3. In the rich context editor, enter text that you would like to be the link to your syllabus, like “Download Syllabus”.
4. Highlight the text on the page and select the syllabus file under the Files tab of the Insert Content into the Page menu on the right side of the window.
5. When you are finished editing the syllabus, click Update Syllabus to save your changes.

Syllabus Table

The Syllabus Table below the text editor on the Syllabus page provides students with a single place to see the most important dates in your course. This is populated with dated events and assignments.

For more information, visit the Canvas guides on the Syllabus
OR
Watch a video on the Syllabus

Creating Modules

Modules allow you to organize your content to help control the flow of your course.

NOTE: The organizational concept of Modules was previously handled in Course Portal using folders or file links on the Sidebar.

1. Click the Modules link in the Sidebar.
2. Click the Create a Module button in the top right side of the window.
3. In the Add Module box, type a Module Name in the name field.

4. Modules and the content within each one can be reorganized by dragging and dropping each item with the arrow on the left side.Click on image to enlarge

For more information, visit the Canvas guides on Modules
OR
Watch a video on Modules