Modules

MODULE 1: Overview

Title of Module Here (Using Heading Level 2) 

Course templates are useful when working with minimum time and resources. Course templates are designed with consideration to learning theories, educational technologies, faculty, institute, program-level requirements, and a student-centered approach that can help to make learning design consistent, scalable, and more engaging.

This sample "module" demonstrates how to chunk and organize the course content to make it more "digestible" for online. Some instructors choose to organize by "weeks" or "units". Using the term "module" makes things less confusing for students as that is the term hard-coded in the Canvas LMS. 

You can use this MODULE: Overview sample page to provide a 1-2 paragraph written overview of the main ideas covered in a module. Some instructors find including an overview in the form of a short intro video to be effective especially for online courses.

Many students appreciate a shortlist of learning objectives to help them focus on the learning. Example as follows.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module you will be able to:

• Verb First > Context of action
• Is the connection between the module learning objectives to the course level objectives clear?
• Are the learning objectives well-worded?

Another approach you can use instead of learning objectives or to complement learning objectives is to highlight a few guiding questions. 

Learning Activities

The learning activities for the module can include:

• a comprehensive list of required readings
• links to required video or other content students are required to read/view
• Quizzes, Discussions, Assignments, and other learning activities
• Zoom sessions

MODULE 1: Material (Option 1)

Presenting the learning content at a topic level helps to "chunk" the learning. You can begin with a description of primary ideas. This page is a sample of how these topic content pages can be used to present content and learning activities to students.

Organizing Modules and Topics

Most courses start with foundational knowledge and build on that learning. It's useful for students to understand how and why you've organized your topics, and explain the connections between them to the overarching goals of the course.  

Use a Variety of Media 

An online course that is all text-based or all video-based is not the best way to maintain student engagement. A course that includes content presented in a variety of ways and includes diverse learning activities contributes to student success in an online environment in a number of areas:

Engagement

Including interactive and multimedia materials in online courses helps attract students' attention and sustain engagement as well as appeal to diverse learners and learning preferences. You can use images, links, PDF articles (remember to add them to LOCR), embed visuals, and include media on the pages. There is more information about this on the upcoming pages.

Learner-Centred

Educational learning technologies can improve the quality, diversity, and accessibility of courses and programs for online students. Shifting to a learner-centered course design improves student experiences and outcomes. Instructors are able to also transfer the blended/online pedagogical strategies into their face-to-face teaching practice. Student-centered strategies, such as incorporating "warmer" language, have been shown to improve student outcomes in online courses.

Digital Literacies

Media-rich and interactive learning design help students develop digital literacy skills useful for the real world and workplaces. Keep this in mind as you design learning activities and assessments.

Proximity of Information

Be sure to sequence the information in a way that makes sense (for example, simple to complex) and provide related information closer to relevant information. The upcoming pages will provide more information on information hierarchy in learning design.

If you want to include topic-specific optional or supplementary materials, you can include them at the bottom of the topic page, clearly identified as optional. Another suggestion is to include formative assessments so that students are able to identify gaps in their learning before accessing the optional readings and resources you are providing. Being selective and limiting the resources you include will make this area more valuable to the student and make it obvious that those materials are not required. See the example below.

Optional Readings and Resources

The following materials are not mandatory and have been included if you would like to learn more about this topic:

• Visoi, Marie-Anne. (2019). Blended Course Design and Implementation: Best Practices for Quality Learning Links to an external site.. From:  Blended and Online Teaching in the Humanities: Pedagogical Tools for Design and Implementation.
• Kantrowitz, Jonathan (2019). Reviewers Rate Most Online Supplemental Materials as “Mediocre” or “Probably Not Worth Using Links to an external site..”

MODULE 1: Material (Option 2) 

Topic/Title

<PLACEHOLDER Here you can list any relevant sources students should engage with (e.g., academic articles, websites, etc.) before they read your written materials using the heading 'Readings & Resources'. Optionally this can be presented at the end of this page, which will set up a different experience for how learners engage with the materials.>

Learner Engagement with Content

Include all required readings, audio recordings, or videos that are essential for student learning in this module.

Learner-Centered Activities, Events, Tasks

Include an outline of all learning activities, events, and tasks students should complete in this module. How are students building knowledge; engaging with content and with/for each other.

MODULE 1: Wrap-up

Title of Module Here (Using Heading Level 2) 

Using the Module Overview and Wrap-up pages is a good way to "sandwich" the module content. Remember to repeat the module title on the Overview and Wrap-up pages to re-enforce the context of the learning and make up for the fact that Canvas does not use breadcrumbs. 

Module Summary

You can use this area to re-iterate the main learning points, either in paragraph form, a short summary video, or even a bulleted list. The summary section helps to pull the theme content together and could be used:

• to re-enforce key points, with a simple summary of bulleted points
• as an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning by reminding them about the objectives or guiding questions,
• to highlight the accomplishments related to the learning objectives or guiding questions,
• to help students make connections to previous topics/modules and if applicable,
• and to scaffold content into subsequent modules.

The most common feature requested by online students is a checklist. While there is no easy way per se to set up a clickable checklist on individual Canvas pages, you can use Modules to track student progress Links to an external site. based on prerequisites Links to an external site. and/or requirements Links to an external site. you set up. This is a good way for instructors to track how individual students are progressing and for students to track their own progress.

Learning online typically requires students to put in more time, and it's often overwhelming. One way to help students focus on the module completion requirements is to list them on the Module Wrap-up pages. The checklist below is a good example because it doesn't list every single learning activity or reading in the module, but it filters to show only the graded or required items. 

Checklist

As you conclude this module, use this checklist to ensure that you have completed the required components.

Linking to the course assignments, discussions or pages helps students get to those areas quickly, allowing them to focus on activities and learning content.