UWL Canvas Template

Why Use a Template?

Posted 11:14 a.m. Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Benefits Instructors & Students

by Marjorie Bazluki, Senior Instructional Designer

Designing an online course takes significant time and planning—even short learning activities can require months of development. Course templates streamline this process by saving time, ensuring consistency, and embedding best practices in instructional design, accessibility, and usability.

Using a template provides a strong foundation for course development while still allowing flexibility for individual teaching styles. A consistent course structure helps students easily find materials, navigate content, and stay focused on learning—reducing cognitive load and improving the overall experience.

CATL’s Canvas course template can be imported into any course and used as an organizational framework. It includes key components like a Start Here module, weekly content structure, and placeholders for learning outcomes, assessments, and engagement activities. These elements are aligned with accessibility standards and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and can be customized to fit course goals.

Overall, templates help instructors save time, support student engagement, and create a more consistent and effective learning experience.

The top three benefits of using a course template

Benefits for Instructors

Saves time: Templates provide a consistent, ready-to-use structure that simplifies updates and eliminates the need to rebuild courses from scratch.
Supports content focus: Instructors can focus on teaching, content development, and student engagement rather than course layout and technical setup—leading to a more cohesive learning experience.
Applies best practices: Templates are designed with usability and instructional design principles in mind, helping organize content in ways that prevent overload and support effective learning.

Benefits for Students

Reduces cognitive load: Predictable layouts, clear navigation, and consistent structure allow students to focus on learning instead of figuring out how to navigate the course.
Improves time management: Well-organized modules help students identify tasks, track deadlines, and plan their work more effectively.
Enhances readability and clarity: Clear organization helps students quickly locate information, understand expectations, and stay focused on relevant learning tasks.

Learn more

What exactly is the Canvas template?

A Canvas template is a Canvas course shell that is pre-formatted and pre-populated with items such as modules, assignments, and pages. You can import a template into your Canvas course and then add your course content to those pre-built items.

This template includes directions and placeholders for an introductory module as well as modules for a 15-week course, with customizable activities for each module. The template is designed to assist you in organizing your Canvas course for student ease of use and accessibility. Using this template is not required.

You can easily delete items from modules if you don't use them for your courses.

Here's more specifics about what's in each module.

The template is for a full 15-week course. The basic components of this template are:

Introductory Module
Explicitly establishing who you are both as an instructor and as a person is one of the most important parts of establishing your online presence. In addition, orienting students to the course through discussions of expectations, your different grading policies and other information you want to highlight for the students is an important aspect of the introductory module. The module included in the template can be adjusted to suite your introductory module needs but a sample is designed and included.

Content Modules
There are many different ways to organize modules, but the one presented here is broken up into a series of informational pages and potential activities for students to demonstrate learning. There are also many different ideas on what would constitute a module, but in general there are key components to a module which are included in the template.

An overview: text to help students organize their time, shares the learning objectives for the module, and gives students a checklist or chart that outlines the assignments and due dates for the module
Content pages: created to deliver multiple resources, including short pre-recorded content, in fewer action steps for students
Activities: these are formative learning activities that students do to showcase learning progress and engagement with content. Examples include discussions, quizzes, and quick checks
Assessments: these are summative learning activities such as quizzes, papers, projects, and exams that are part of a module

Any recommended Canvas settings that can be set and transferred with the import have been set. Actual content and some settings need adjusting for your use of the template.

Again, this is all editable/able to be deleted if you don't use some of these items.

Can I see the template in Canvas before I use it?

Sure! Enroll to the template course as a student to check it out. If you want to use some or all of the template, read through the documentation about how to import and customize it.

I like it! How do I get the template into my course?

Simply fill out this quick form and a CATL staff member will import the template into your course(s) for you. Complete the form for each course you want the template loaded into. It's best to load the template into a blank course and then add your course content. You can then customize the course as needed for your class structure and activities. As always, you can reach out to CATL if you need help or assistance.

Now that have the template, how do I customize it?

We've create a checklist to help you work through the steps of customizing this template for your course.

Download a copy of this detailed documentation and complete the various items to ensure the template is used correctly for your course.

This is IMPORTANT! There are many steps to use the template so please be sure to follow along and reach out to CATL if you need help or have any questions.

Can I just use part of the template?

Yes, you can use any or all of the template. Directions for customization are located in the template. If you need help with anything, contact CATL.

Can I just use the syllabus section?

CATL can load the standard syllabus headings and language into your Canvas course. Fill out this quick form to let CATL know which courses to add it to.

Who do I contact with comments or questions about the template?

Contact CATL with any questions or comments about the UWL Canvas template course.

How do I know I used the template correctly?

Test your course in Student View

Take a step back and view your course as your students will or add a fellow instructor in the "teacher" role so they can check out your course in Student View.

This student perspective allows you to see the flow of your course and test your assignments/quizzes.

OR Simply ask CATL and we'll take a look!