Inheriting a Course

Access or request your Canvas shell

Check your Canvas dashboard to verify that the course you have inherited is listed. If you cannot see the course:

Select the Courses icon in the left-hand global navigation bar and scroll down to view All Courses.
- Need support? Read the Canvas guide to viewing your courses.
Still not seeing the course? Contact your department for further assistance.

For more information on course requests, view our Canvas Enrollment System (CES) resources:

If you are new to Canvas, check out our Intro to Canvas. This is a self-paced modular course designed to help instructors request, construct, and deploy Canvas courses. Learn to create Canvas pages, assignments, quizzes, discussions, and more.

The Academic Technologies Knowledge Base also contains a comprehensive list of quick resources: Canvas for Instructors Home Page.

Take inventory of your course

Before diving into editing your inherited course, it’s best to evaluate the content and design of the course. Consider the following:

Familiarize yourself with the course content

Review the syllabus: Start by reading through the syllabus to understand the prior course objectives, structure, and assessments. This will give you a big-picture view of what the course is meant to achieve.
Go through each module: Navigate through the modules to see how the content is organized. Pay attention to the flow of topics, readings, assignments, and assessments.
Check for alignment: Ensure that the learning objectives, activities, and assessments are aligned. Each module should build logically toward achieving the course goals.

Identify Areas for Improvement

Assess Accessibility: Consider accessibility scores from the Canvas accessibility checker. Are the PDFs legible? Do the images have alt text?
Content Relevance: Look for any outdated materials, broken links, or content that might need updating and address them accordingly.
Engagement Opportunities: Identify areas where you could incorporate more interactive or engaging elements, like discussions, multimedia, or active learning activities.
Student Support: Check if there are clear instructions, rubrics, and resources to help students succeed. Consider adding more support if needed.

Once you’ve evaluated the existing content, you can decide what to keep, edit, and remove. Depending on the time you’ve been provided, it’s okay if you don’t have time for a complete overhaul—focus on making small, manageable improvements. Be realistic and reasonable with your changes. Remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel; use what you can and adapt what you need.

Map out your course

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the existing course, it’s time to map out what you want your course to look like. Consider creating a course outline using pen and paper or your favorite document creation tool. Some great online tools for mapping out your course virtually are Miro or Microsoft Visio. It allows you to create interactive boards where you can visually organize your course structure, add sticky notes and flowcharts, and even collaborate with others in real-time. Check the pricing details for similar tools, as some offer free versions.

Read our Designing a Course Pathway for more information on Course Design including:

Knowing your students
Implementing Learning Design Models
Choosing a course structure
Drafting your Syllabus

You can also visit our Revising a Course Pathway to learn more about course revision through topics such as:

Reasons to revise a course
Gathering and applying feedback

Edit your course

Now that your course is fully mapped out, you can go into your course and begin editing it to fully fit your vision.

Optional: Request a Development Shell

You may choose to build your course in a DEV shell, or development shell, which is a blank Canvas course that only you and those you choose to add can access. It provides a clean slate to work on the course you’ve inherited, allowing you to make changes, add new items like assignments or quizzes, and edit existing content such as learning objectives, assignment instructions, or lectures.

You can copy the entire course you inherited, or copy select pieces of the course depending on what you would like to work on in the development shell. You can edit any of the items in the development shell at any time. DEV shells do not expire, so you’ll have access to the DEV course to make edits at any time before, during, and after the semester. Any changes you make can be copied into your live course.

Delete current course content

If you find that you do not want to include current course materials, you have different options depending on what you would prefer:

Unpublish the content in either the module or the content area (page, assignment, quiz, etc.)
- Unpublishing the content means that students can no longer view or access it unless it is republished.
Remove the content from the module.
- If you remove content from a module, it won’t be deleted entirely—it will still be accessible through the relevant section in the left-hand menu. For example, if you delete an assignment from a module, you can still find it in the "Assignments" area.
Delete the content item from the content area.
- If you delete an item from the content area, it will be permanently removed from the entire course and won’t be available if you need it later.

Arrange the content

If you are using a module system, check to see if your Canvas course has existing modules. If it has existing modules, you can edit the modules to reflect the proper naming convention you are following.

If the course does not contain pre-existing modules, you can create new modules based on the needs of the course.

If you created your modules from scratch, you can easily add existing course content and rearrange it within the module as needed.

Add and edit content as needed

You can edit any content to match your voice, style, etc. In this case, consider:

Depending on what was previously in the course, you may need to add additional content into your Canvas course. Additional content can include:

How to add Pages - Learn how to create and add content-rich pages in Canvas to share information, resources, or instructions with your students.
How to add Assignments - Discover how to create assignments in Canvas, allowing students to submit their work online and receive feedback.
How to add Discussion Boards - Explore how to set up discussion boards in Canvas to foster class interaction and collaborative learning.
How to add Quizzes- Learn how to create and add quizzes in Canvas to assess student knowledge and track learning progress.
How to add Files - Discover how to upload and organize files in Canvas, making course materials easily accessible to students.

Each content type can be added either directly through the module in Canvas, or can be added through the individual navigation item.

When adding content into a module, intentionally consider not just what to add, but also how and when to present it. Ensure the content aligns with your learning objectives and supports students in demonstrating mastery of new knowledge, skills, or attitudes. Think about the timing and method of delivery—what value does it offer, and how does it contribute to their learning journey?

Verify due dates in course materials

When managing and developing your course materials, setting due dates for assignments and quizzes is essential. Canvas allows you to add due dates individually when creating assignments or quizzes, or you can take advantage of its bulk edit feature to shift due dates across all your course activities simultaneously. By adding due dates, these items will automatically appear on both your and your students’ Canvas calendars. This feature enhances organization and helps students stay on top of their responsibilities, promoting a more structured and manageable learning experience.

Edit course navigation items

The links on the left-hand side of your Canvas course, known as Course Navigation Links, guide students through your course content. While these links are helpful, displaying too many can make navigation confusing for students. To enhance clarity and ensure students engage with your course as you’ve intended, it's recommended to limit the number of visible navigation links. Instead, encourage students to access course materials primarily through the Modules tab, which organizes content according to your course design.

You can easily manage your course navigation links and show students only what you want them to see. As the course progresses, you can choose to allow access to additional course navigation links as needed.

Update the course syllabus

Your syllabus serves as a roadmap and living agreement between you and your students. To create an effective syllabus, align the main components of your course—learning objectives, assessments, and instructional strategies. Faculty should check with their academic unit, as many have school or program-specific templates for syllabi.

After making changes to your course, it's important to update the syllabus accordingly. Consider including the following:

Learning Objectives, Assessments, & Course Description
Course Policies and Statements
Course Materials
Course Schedule
Class meeting details

Syllabus Resources

The Office of the University Provost (OUP) and University Registrar Services (URS) have several resources to inform your syllabus. Please check with your academic unit for specific language requirements.

Syllabus Guidelines
Definitions and Glossary related to courses and curriculum
Grading Policies
Semester Schedule
Academic Integrity
Final Exam Schedule

Accessibility Checks

Running accessibility checks is a crucial final step in the course design process to ensure that all students, regardless of their abilities, can access and benefit from the content. Arizona State University offers tools like Ally and the Canvas Accessibility Checker to support this effort.

Ally

Ally is an integrated tool in many learning management systems that automatically checks for accessibility issues within course content. It provides feedback not just on what issues may exist, but also gives detailed guidance on how to fix them. For instance, it can identify images that lack alternative text, documents that are not screen reader friendly, or multimedia content without captions. Ally then offers step-by-step instructions to rectify these issues, helping to ensure that all learning materials meet accessibility standards.

Canvas Accessibility Checker

Canvas also includes a built-in accessibility checker that is particularly useful for reviewing content directly within the rich content editor. This tool scans the course materials that you edit or create in Canvas, such as pages, assignment instructions, and discussion posts. It highlights issues like poor color contrast, missing headers for structured content, and lack of descriptive links. The Canvas checker is user-friendly, providing real-time feedback and suggestions for corrections to enhance accessibility.

Comprehensive Accessibility Review

It’s important to conduct a thorough accessibility check using both tools:

In the Rich Content Editor: As you finalize each piece of content in Canvas, use the Canvas accessibility checker to ensure that any text, images, tables, or other elements you’ve added or modified are compliant.
Across the Course: Ally should be used to scan the entire course to capture a broader range of accessibility issues, including those in uploaded files like PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, and other resources.

These tools highlight necessary improvements and explain their importance, deepening your understanding of accessibility principles. Implementing these changes enhances course usability, ensuring inclusivity and accessibility for all students. This proactive approach goes beyond compliance, enriching the learning experience for everyone.

Final Course Check

Once your course looks the way you want, it’s time to perform a final check to verify that the course is accessible, easy to navigate, and looks exactly the way you had planned. Canvas allows you to use Student View to view your course and all of the items it contains (that are published) as a student would. Also, review the Canvas Course Evaluation Checklist.

Also, use the Canvas Link Validation Tool. This will ensure that all links are working and highlight any issues. This step should be done on the development shell and again on the shell that is going live as issues often occur during transfer/copying.

We also recommend making sure the Course Summary in the syllabus is correct. This is a step that is often missed and causes confusion for students.

Once the final course check is complete, you are ready to begin teaching the course!