LMS Policy Guide
Required Navigation Elements
The menu items below delineate the Required Navigation Elements for Canvas
- Home
- Announcements
- Syllabus
- Modules (contains all quizzes, assignments, discussions, content, & resources, etc.)
- Grades
- YC Student Support (Links to resources page maintained by TeLS)
The rationale for having all Canvas shells at YC include a common set of navigation buttons is to provide our students a more efficient experience navigating Canvas therefore allowing them to utilize more of their time for course content. The challenges our students have with navigating Canvas are: 1) Too many buttons on the nav menu causes confusion about where to locate information 2) The students have difficulty locating basic information about their courses in Canvas which includes locating instructor contact information, assignments, assessments, and content-related information.
Dual enrollment instructors may be expected to use the LMS at their respective high school and/or YC Canvas shell. In the essence of the policy, instructors should keep the navigational challenges facing students in mind.
The navigation elements will help our Advising, TeLS, ITS helpdesk and other support departments efficiently help students address navigation-related issues in Canvas.
Other course navigation buttons may be added to the menu as needed, however, buttons related to other Canvas functions (quizzes, assignments, discussions) should be eliminated whenever possible in order to maintain a clear and simple course navigation menu.
Home
The Front Page (Canvas file lingo) is the Home Page for every course. The Front Page is where you can include a welcome video, a “start here” button, a welcome letter, etc. View the video that describes how to set your Front Page. Contact TeLS if you need assistance designing your Front Page and would like to see examples.
Announcements
All announcements made in Canvas will automatically be forwarded to a student’s YC scholar email account. Unlike the email tool in Canvas, you can prepare announcements that include formatted text, hyperlinked text, pictures, etc. using the editor in Announcements.
Unless a student takes the steps necessary to disable them, all announcements made in Canvas will automatically be forwarded to a student's YC scholar email account.
The Announcements section will either be used for class communication or an announcement will be posted detailing class communication procedures.
This is to address student complaints that they don't know how to find or miss seeing class information. Implementing this means that any person advising any student in any class can say "Check the announcement link in your class' Canvas site. You'll find that information there."
Syllabus
Per policy 3.42, use the YC syllabus template to prepare your syllabus.
This is to address student complaints that they can't find the assignments or when they are due. Implementing this means that any person advising any student in any class can say "Check the syllabus link in your class' Canvas site. You'll find that information there."
Modules
Modules section will include course material or have information about where course material can be found (as in third-party software). Here is a video that describes how to use modules in Canvas.
This is to address student complaints that they can't find the course materials. Implementing this means that any person advising any student in any class can say "Check the module link in your class' Canvas site. You'll find that information there."
Grades
LMS use policy requires that all students use the grade book function of Canvas for all classes, so all students can find their grades in the course.
YC Student Support
This links to a page for quick access to many different YC student resources.