In Canvas, the Course Home Page is the first page students see when they open your course. You can customize the Home Page to create a specific workflow for your students by choosing one of four layout options: the Course Activity Stream, Pages Front Page, Course Modules, or the Assignments List.
If you see a Course Home Page with a formalized design already set up in your course, it is likely that this has been standardized by your Program. If this is the case, you can edit the page to add additional content as permitted.
Changing your Course Home Page
To change your course home page, click Home on the course menu, and then select Choose Home Page from the home page menu.
From the window that appears, you can select one of the following:
Course Activity Stream
The course activity stream shows students the most recent activities from the course, including announcements, assignments, grades, and messages.
Pages Front Page
To set a Page as the Front Page for your course, you first need to mark one of your course Pages as the Front Page, otherwise this option will be greyed out:
Once you have set a Page as the Front Page, you will be able to select this option and the Page you have created will be the first one that students see when they login. This can be a page with additional course information, an overview of the module that is being covered that week, or anything else that you think would be most useful to the students to see upon logging in.
Course Modules
All of your course content is contained within the Course Modules. If you set your course to open to this area, students will have the ability to access any Published course content when they enter the course.
Assignments List
Setting the Assignments List as your Home Page will take the students to the Assignments area upon entering the course. There they will be able to see all graded assignments that have been Published, their associated due dates (if set), points possible, and the weighting of each assignment category (if set).
EP Course Home Template
If you decide to create a Page to use as the Front Page for your course, we have provided a template that you can use to get you started. You can choose to just update it to include your specific course or faculty information, or make additional adjustments to highlight important information that you think will be relevant to students when they login to your course. To use this template in your course, create a new Page, and copy the following code to paste in to the Canvas text editor, using HTML view.
<h2 style="color: #002d72;"><span>Welcome</span></h2>
<p>Welcome to the course! If you have any questions, please contact your instructor(s). Additionally, you can refer to the <strong>Help</strong> area on the global menu, for a listing of student services and support available to you.</p>
<hr />
<h2 style="color: #002d72;">Getting Started</h2>
<p>Please begin by reviewing the <strong>Course Syllabus</strong> and learning more about your instructor(s). After you have acquainted yourself with the course and instructor information, navigate to <strong>Modules</strong> to access the course content.</p>
<hr />
<p>I am your instructor, <strong>[Instructor name with link to Bio page in course]</strong>. If you have any questions while going through this course you may post them in the Q&A Discussion board, or email me directly. </p>
<p><img src="https://support.cmts.jhu.edu/hc//hc/article_attachments/8301649751821/110-1100707_person-avatar-placeholder.jpg" alt="Image placeholder" width="210" height="166" /></p>
<hr />
<h2 style="color: #002d72;">Technical Support</h2>
<p>If you experience technical issues in your course this semester, please contact us at <strong><a href="mailto:cmtshelp@jhu.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cmtshelp@jhu.edu</a></strong> for assistance.</p>
<p>For more information on navigating Canvas, watch the following video and review the <a class="inline_disabled" href="https://jhu.instructure.com/courses/271" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canvas Training for Students</a>. Additional guides can be found in <strong>Help</strong> on the global menu.</p>
<p><iframe width="560px" height="320px" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay *" title="200 - Canvas Overview for Students" src="https://community.instructuremedia.com/embed/4cd5e9eb-7f2a-4e75-81b4-fc671dc6fd61" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>Multiple Instructor Images
If there are multiple instructors teaching a course, you may want to display their images and names side-by-side.
To do so, use the following code to replace the image code in the EP Course Home Template code.
Note: In addition to replacing the placeholder images, you will need to replace the urls in the <a href=""> code to match each instructor's EP Faculty Directory page.
<div>
<div class="content-box">
<div class="grid-row" style="text-align: center;">
<p style="text-align: center;"><a style="height: 300px; width: 300px; display: inline-block; padding: 55px;" href="https://ep.jhu.edu/faculty/"><img src="https://support.cmts.jhu.edu/hc//hc/article_attachments/8301649751821/110-1100707_person-avatar-placeholder.jpg" alt="Image placeholder" width="300" height="279"/>Instructor 1</a>
<a style="height: 300px; width: 300px; display: inline-block; padding: 55px;"><img src="https://support.cmts.jhu.edu/hc//hc/article_attachments/8301649751821/110-1100707_person-avatar-placeholder.jpg" alt="Image placeholder" width="300" height="279"/>Instructor 2</a></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>