Add Links to Web pages
YouTube videos
Other web pages
Text Headers
0:00
Let's add some more content to our modules. From the home page we'll click week 1 "plate tectonics". So far we have a week 1 overview, and every week really should have an overview. In it you'll explain what you're studying for the week and you'll tell your students what SLO s are being covered. This will also help you when you are making the assignments for the week to make sure that they're aligned with your SLOs.
Add a Text Header
0:25
We need, in addition to an overview, we need some learning resources and we need the assignments for the week. Most weeks are an overview, learning resources, and an assignment. I'm going to click the plus sign here for the week 1 module and I'm going to add a Text Header. The Text Header is going to be "Learning Resources". And I add the item. Of course it goes to the bottom.
0:53
And I'm going to add another text header called "Assignments". Now you might be inclined to call it "assessments" because it can be it can be quizzes or discussions or all sorts of things. But canvas calls them Assignments, so we're going to stick with the words that canvas uses. Right here it uses of "assignments."
1:17
Now I have two text headers "learning resources" and "assignments" and I'll be putting resources like videos and webpages underneath "learning resources" and I'll be putting quizzes and discussions underneath "Assignments".
Add a YouTube video inside a Content Page
1:29
So the first thing I want to put in is a video from YouTube on plate tectonics. I can, if I click "Plus"... I could pick "External URL" (URL means web address) I could pick an external URL and put in the YouTube video URL right here, and give it a name. But that's almost certainly not the best way to go for a URL.
1:55
The best thing to do is to add a Content Page. That's a new page and this is going to be called video on plate tectonics and I'll add it. Of course it goes to the bottom and it's hidden. I grab these dots and drag it up where I want it to go.
2:13
And maybe even I click here and I tell it that I want to increase the indent. I want this indented a little bit. Let's make all of these published and therefore visible to our students. Now I'm going to click. This is a page, right? This is still a page, it's not a video yet.
2:27
I'm going to click on it so that I can edit this page. And click Edit. Now what I need is the URL of the YouTube video. here's the YouTube video and I can just grab this URL right up here at the top, copy it, come back to my course and and paste it in. Paste it in and then just press ENTER and watch what happens.
2:52
Paste and Enter ... The canvas editor knows what a YouTube video is and it will prepare it for you. Up here I need to introduce this video. Tell your students what you want them to see from this video. In a face-to-face course you wouldn't just show a video. You'd tell the students about it. You'd tell them what you expect them to learn and what to space pay special attention to. Do the same here inside of your online course. Now I'll click Save.
3:21
And here I have my nice introduction followed by the YouTube video. The student can play it by clicking here and playing it directly inside of canvas, or the student can click up there and jump over to YouTube to watch it.
Add a link to a web page
3:35
Now I'm going to go back to home and back to the week 1 module because I want to add something else. I want to add a link to this page, this page on the San Andreas fault. I want it to be right here underneath the video on plate tectonics. Again I could just put a link to this page but probably the better solution...
The bad way: add a link with no explanation
3:56
I'll do it the bad way first. I'll copy this and I will just put the link directly in. I'll click the plus sign and I'll tell it that I want an External URL and just paste that web address, and then indicate what it is. "San Andreas info". And almost certainly when it's an external URL you want to load it into a new tab. Click Add. Of course it goes to the bottom and it's hidden. We'll make it visible and drag it up where we want it to be. Probably we want to indent it a little bit since we're using the header called "Learning Resources" we want the learning resources clearly underneath there.
4:34
But this is probably not the best approach. Again you want to introduce, you want to tell the students why you're sending them to the San Andreas info. So probably you would, instead of this, you would have made a page. Let's do it.
The good way: add a link inside a Content Page with explanation.
4:46
We're going to make an external page ... I mean a Content page. It's a new page. It's going to be called San Andreas and we'll click add. Of course it goes to the bottom. We'll make it visible. We'll drag it up and we'll indent it to make it match.
5:03
Now I'm going to click the page and then click edit so that I can edit this page. And here I'm going to introduce the page. I explain to the students what I expect them to get from this page what I want them to read and I'll come over to the page grab the URL, copy the URL, and then come back here. Don't just do this... don't paste in the page. That's not accessible.
5:37
But do it this way. Select all those words that you want to be the link and then click link and paste that URL from the web page in like that. If you really need to leave the web page address, you can do it like this, but don't make it a link. It's bad for screen readers. Again visually impaired students are going to have a tough time if this is a real link. Make the link English, make it a meaningful hyperlink. And then you choose Save.
6:11
When the students come to this page they'll click it. It will open up in a brand new tab. If they close the tab they'll be right back in the San Andreas page. I'm going to go back to home. I'm going to go back to week one.
How the student peruses the week
6:23
Let's watch now what our students might do when they get to week one. They'll see from this overview, this module look at the course, that they've got an overview, they have some resources.
6:34
They click the overview read what it says, and then click the "Next" button that's provided by the module. The "Next" button bring them to the first video which they'll watch.
6:44
And then they'll click the "Next" button which will bring them to that San Andreas link. Remember this is not very good because it doesn't explain why you want then to go to the link. Better, would be to use a page where you've introduced the topic and then you send them off to the San Andreas page.
And that's how you add links and text headers to modules in Canvas.