{"id":1242,"date":"2026-04-21T14:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/?page_id=1242"},"modified":"2026-10-12T04:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:08:09","slug":"designing-your-course-in-canvas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/facultyresources\/designing-your-course-in-canvas\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing Your Course in Canvas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><nav style=\"--separator: &quot;\/&quot;\" class=\"wp-block-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumbs\"><ol><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/\">Home<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/facultyresources\/\">Faculty Resources<\/a><\/li><li><span aria-current=\"page\">Designing Your Course in Canvas<\/span><\/li><\/ol><\/nav>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-gray-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-gray-background-color has-background is-style-wide\" \/>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Learn more about designing your course using the tools within Canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-expandable-block accordion expandable-group expandable-group-lightblock\" id=\"newExpandable\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-expandable-item accordion-item expandable-heading expandable-heading-lightblock\"><h2 class=\"accordion-header\" id=\"headingcourse-design-considerations\"><button class=\"accordion-button collapsed\" type=\"button\" data-bs-toggle=\"collapse\" data-bs-target=\"#collapsenewExpandablecourse-design-considerations\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapsenewExpandablecourse-design-considerations\">Course Design Considerations<\/button><\/h2><div id=\"collapsenewExpandablecourse-design-considerations\" class=\"accordion-collapse collapse expandable-content expandable-content-lightblock\" aria-labelledby=\"headingcourse-design-considerations\" data-bs-parent=\"#newExpandable\"><div class=\"accordion-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you go through designing your course, you will want to keep some things in mind about design and accessibility. The following checklists, provided by Canvas, are a great starting point to begin and to use to re-design courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Begin by addressing the one star items and then move to the more advanced items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list is-style-compact-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/community.instructure.com\/en\/discussion\/574446\/course-evaluation-checklist-v3-0\/p1\">Course Evaluation Checklist<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/community.instructure.com\/en\/discussion\/650334\/canvas-course-accessibility-checklist?utm_source=community-search&amp;utm_medium=organic-search&amp;utm_term=course+accessibility+checklist\">Course Accessibility Checklist<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">View more&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/facultyresources\/#accessibility\">accessibility resources in Canvas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-expandable-item accordion-item expandable-heading expandable-heading-lightblock\"><h2 class=\"accordion-header\" id=\"headingd2l-to-canvas-tool-comparison\"><button class=\"accordion-button collapsed\" type=\"button\" data-bs-toggle=\"collapse\" data-bs-target=\"#collapsenewExpandabled2l-to-canvas-tool-comparison\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapsenewExpandabled2l-to-canvas-tool-comparison\">D2L to Canvas Tool Comparison<\/button><\/h2><div id=\"collapsenewExpandabled2l-to-canvas-tool-comparison\" class=\"accordion-collapse collapse expandable-content expandable-content-lightblock\" aria-labelledby=\"headingd2l-to-canvas-tool-comparison\" data-bs-parent=\"#newExpandable\"><div class=\"accordion-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>D2L Brightspace<\/strong> and <strong>Canvas<\/strong> offer similar core features for creating courses, delivering content, assessing students, grading, and communicating, though with some different names and workflows. Knowing the direct equivalents makes transitioning from D2L to Canvas much easier. Here&#8217;s a concise tool comparison based on common mappings from university migration guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/d2l-to-canvas-tool-comparison\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"817\">D2L to Canvas Tool Comparison<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-image-buttons image-landing-bucket\" style=\"text-align:center\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-image-button image-bucket\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/course-home-navigation\/\" target=\"\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2026\/06\/CourseSettings2.jpeg)\"><div class=\"content\"><h2>Course Home &amp; Navigation<\/h2><\/div><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-image-button image-bucket\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/creating-and-linking-to-course-content\/\" target=\"\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2026\/06\/CourseContent2-scaled.jpeg)\"><div class=\"content\"><h2>Course<br>Content<\/h2><\/div><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-image-button image-bucket\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/assessment-tools-in-canvas\/\" target=\"\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2026\/06\/Assessment1-scaled.jpeg)\"><div class=\"content\"><h2>Assessment<br>Tools<\/h2><\/div><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-image-buttons image-landing-bucket\" style=\"text-align:center\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-image-button image-bucket\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/communication-tools-in-canvas\/\" target=\"\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2026\/06\/CourseCommunication1-scaled.jpeg)\"><div class=\"content\"><h2>Communication<br>Tools<\/h2><\/div><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-image-button image-bucket\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/grading-tools-in-canvas\/\" target=\"\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2026\/06\/Grading1b-scaled.jpg)\"><div class=\"content\"><h2>Grading<\/h2><\/div><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mtsu-blocks-image-button image-bucket\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/course-management\/\" target=\"\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/167\/2026\/06\/CourseMgmt2b-scaled.jpg)\"><div class=\"content\"><h2>Course<br>Management<\/h2><\/div><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn more about designing your course using the tools within Canvas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":313,"featured_media":0,"parent":1211,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1242","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1928,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1242\/revisions\/1928"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/canvas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}