A Welcoming Canvas Home Page

Welcome! For many students, the Canvas home page forms their first impression of a course and instructor. The home page can contribute to a welcoming student-centered learning experience. A well-designed welcome page can help students navigate your course with ease by reducing the cognitive load when trying to figure out what to do next.

This topic relates to two areas in Part II of the MiraCosta Online Class Quality Guidelines:

Design & Organization: (A) Organize your course so that it is easy to understand and navigate. (F) Provide clear class information.
Instructor Interaction: (F) Provide opportunities for interaction and communication between student and instructor. (G) Provide opportunities for students to contact the faculty for support. (H) Establish a clear and humanized sense of instructor presence in the class.

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

Plan the content of your home page
Organize your home page into sections by using headings
Create a course banner
Add your picture to your page
Add descriptive links to your page
Check your page for accessibility requirements
Create a draft of your home page which includes the elements listed above
Set your welcome page as your Canvas home

Meet Your Lead

Hola! I'm Angela Beltran-Aguilar (she/her/ella), and I am a math instructor, mom, and crazy plant lady. As a peer faculty online mentor, I have the opportunity to share some of what I know with my colleagues. In 2020, I earned an Advanced Online Teaching Principles certificate from the Online Network of Educators. Every semester, I continue to learn how to be a better instructor to my face-to-face, Zoom, and asynchronous online students.
If and when you have have any questions about this topic, please email me at abeltran-aguilar@miracosta.edu or email Nadia Khan at nkhan@ nkhan@miracosta.edu.

What You Need to Get Started

A short welcome paragraph for your students
Your contact information
Zoom link or location for your office hours
A picture of yourself to share with students
A free Canva account. You can also create a free Canva for education account to access more features.
Optional but helpful: a Canvas sandbox course (contact Karin Turpin kturpin@miracosta.edu)

→ Select Next to start the challenge