Modules: An Overview

Why use Modules to organize content in Canvas?

MODULES help keep course content organized not only for you, but for your students.
Managing course content is not unlike managing everything you store in your office. Papers, journals, books, schedules, reports, and mail plus gadgets, desk toys and personal items  reside in your work space. If left unorganized, course content can clutter a student's learning space. 

MODULES allow you to define content delivery.
In your course outline you detail what will happen in your course.  Some faculty group the information by week while others group content by topic. MODULES can be used to deliver your course materials int he same way. For example, you may set up a module for each week or for each topic. Those modules would contain related information, such as an introduction; a reading; a web resource or video; an assignment; a quiz or survey.

MODULES help student navigate the course content.
Modules in Canvas are the only tool that provides a forward and back button. These buttons can be helpful for students to view content for the first time or for quick review. Modules provide an area where the teacher can deliver content using an instructional scaffolding approach to help students understand core concepts prior to attempting to complete an assignment or quiz.

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Modules are a way to organize your course by weeks, units, chapters, topics or whatever organizational structure works for your course. With modules, you create a one-directional linear flow of what you would like your students to do.  Modules can be accessed by clicking the Modules button in the Course Tools Menu along the left side of any course.  You may also choose to have the Modules page display as your course Home page.

Each module can contain files, discussions, assignments, quizzes, and any other learning materials that you would like to use. You can easily add items to a module that you have already created in the course. You can also create new items on the fly within the module. This allows you to create the structure of the course while developing new learning materials.

Modules can easily be reordered to fit the flow of the course by simply dragging and dropping.  Elements within the modules can also be reorganized by dragging and dropping.

Modules can be released on specific dates. You can also create release conditions (e.g. a module cannot be accessed until a previous module has been completed). All modules appear on the Module page. At this time, you cannot hide modules. You can collapse modules so that only module headings display; however, any user can expand a module to display contents in his/her account. If a module is set to release on a specific date, students will be able to see a list of module contents, but the list will be grayed out and items will remain inaccessible until the release date.

Module Options

• When organizing your content in modules, consider using Text Headers. When you "Add item to Module", choose "Text Header" from the drop-down menu and type in the title of your header.
• Do you want students to move through your content sequentially? Consider setting requirements 

► For more information on Modules, view the Canvas Guides Links to an external site..