Introduction

How do you organize your course? How do you present your course content to students? The basic building blocks of a Canvas course are Pages, Files, and Modules, and this page will give you a brief introduction to all three.

On This Page:

Learn about modules, pages, and files
Review design recommendations
Mastery Paths

Learn about modules, pages, and files

In Canvas, files are any documents, videos, images, or other files you upload to your course. Pages are individual content pages created by you; they can include any combination of text, images, and files (documents, videos, etc.). Modules allow you to organize pages, files, and all other course items (including assignments and quizzes) within a logical structure.

Image showing relationships between modules pages and files

Figure 1: The relationship between modules, pages, and files in Canvas.

See a comparison of pages vs. modules in the following tutorial:

Canvas Pages vs. Canvas Modules (External resource)

Review each of the following brief tutorials for an introduction to pages, files, and modules in Canvas:

What are Pages for instructors? (External resource)
What are Files for instructors? (External resource)
What are Modules for instructors? (External resource)

Review design recommendations

Review recommendations and guidelines for course design and organization from Penn State's LMS Interface Task Force:

Course Design Recommendations (PSU resource)

Mastery Paths

Mastery Paths is a tool in your course that will allow you to differentiate your course content, ideally having each student follow their own learning path based on the instructor’s pre-requisite scores. You will need to organize your course content for students to complete based on their skill level, as well as provide additional support where needed. For additional resources on Canvas Mastery Paths, please visit our Advanced Learning Path.

Important Consideration:

Mastery Paths is a tool within Canvas to develop and implement differentiated learning experiences for students. This resource is intended to instruct users how to use this feature. We recommend researching the equitable use of differentiated learning strategies and contacting your College or Department for guidance before implementing Mastery Paths in your course.