Developing Modules

Modules are the fundamental Canvas container used to organize course content by weeks, units, or whatever organizational structure works for your course. The template we've provided comes with a sequence of modules for you to edit, so you might not immediately need to create any modules yourself, but you must know how to because with modules, you are essentially creating both your course's main content and the sequence in which students are expected to navigate that content, or the flow of your course.

Once you create a module (or sequence of them), you can add all the content types you need within them (pages, quizzes, discussion boards, links to other sites, and links to files...all in the sequence you choose)  and, optionally, add requirements to access them.

Watch the following video to learn about creating and managing modules in Canvas:

Modules Overview Links to an external site. from Instructure Canvas Community Links to an external site.. View transcript Links to an external site..

For more information, see this Canvas guide on creating and managing Canvas modules Links to an external site..

Publishing Your Module

NOTE: Your students will not be able to see anything inside a module, even if those items themselves are published, until you publish the module itself. This allows you to create all of your module's content before you "turn it on." But don't forget to click that publish button () to make the module available. 

Because students can see some items in your modules using other pages in your course, it is best practice to also publish all pages and other module items when you are ready to publish the module itself.

See this Canvas guide on publishing and un-publishing modules Links to an external site. for more guidance.