What Is the Elon Canvas Course Template?
Courses created for the Fall 2026 semester include the Elon University Canvas template. This template provides a structured set of pages and modules with placeholders for commonly used course content, allowing instructors to focus more on course content than course design.
The idea is to:
- Support instructors in organizing course content effectively.
- Reduce the time and effort required to build a course from scratch.
- Provide students with a consistent navigation experience across Canvas.
Additionally, the template has been pre-reviewed for ADA compliance and aligned with Elon University branding guidelines.
Customizing the Template
Use of the template is encouraged but not required. The goal of the template is to save you the time but, not all classes are the same so focus in a design and organization that helps your learners:
- Keep the elements that work for your course.
- Delete components that are not useful for your teaching needs.
- Rearrange content, pages, and modules as desired.
- Copy and paste template elements to different locations within the course.
- Choose not to use the template at all.
When should you not use a Template?
You may choose not to use the template when:
- When you are facilitating professional learning experiences
- When the design of the page or module is important for conveying the instructional content
- If you are feeling creative, but keep in mind how to still incorporate elements of the template to retain
If you decide to build a custom course, consider incorporating some template elements to maintain consistency and support student navigation.