A well-organized, thoughtfully presented Canvas site will provide students with the structure and guidance they need to feel comfortable and confident in the online learning environment.

How do you put it all together? In the introductory video to this module, Matt Fajkus explains how important it is in both architecture and course design to make sure your individual modules fit together and connect to a larger goal.

In this module, you will explore these key issues:

How should I think about organizing my online course?
What are the best practices for building my online course?
How should I present my online course?

Tree in the Tree House

This is a part of the exterior of the Tree House by Austin architect and UT Associate Professor Matt Fajkus and his team. As you can see, the Tree House is a clearly defined and functional home, yet it also has many windows, doors and spaces designed to maximize interaction with the outside world. Like the Tree House, an online course can best be understood as a well-planned structure that is intended to allow new vantage points to emerge and new learning experiences between you and your students to take place.

What are the best practices for building my online course?

Be Consistent...and Varied: Have consistency in structure but variety in content, assessments, and interactions.
Be Mindful of Time: Think about the time it will take students to complete readings, assignments, and projects in each module and throughout the course. Also, think about the time it will take you to provide frequent feedback and complete grading. Think about how you can be effective and efficient.
Be Mindful of Students: Remember your students have different levels of knowledge of and comfort with technology. Some may need more support than others.
Be Clear: Give students clear guidelines, supportive structure, frequent feedback, and easily navigable pathways. Empower students to learn to help themselves and each other by providing resources and social spaces for FAQs. The more detailed you can be in your explanations, the less e-mails you will receive!
Be Creative: The many Snapshots we've provided in the DDIG use different approaches and tools. Have a spirit of experimentation!

How should I think about organizing my online course?

The way you put everything together in an online context communicates a lot about you. For many instructors, the primary mode of online course organization is through modules. Modules can help you decide how you are going to chunk your course:

How many modules will you have? Some people like to create one module per week, while others may have only three modules for the entire semester. It all depends on how your course's content naturally "chunks."
What is the topic of each module? Many instructors organize modules by key concepts or themes in the course. For example, in their online course, Classroom Strategies for Inquiry-Based Learning, Shelly Rodriguez and Kelli Allen (UTeach) organized their course around the five learning cycle stages that are the focus of the course: Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation.

Engagement in online courses Exploration in online courses Explanation in online courses Elaboration in online courses Evaluation in online courses

However you choose to organize your Canvas modules, ensure that they are roughly the same length in time and content. Modules may contain all the course materials a student needs to complete a module such as Pages, Files, Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions. As you build your modules, think about a module title, module overview (including learning outcomes), content, assessment, feedback, interaction between students and content, students and the instructor, and students and their peers..

Image of good module design