Course Design Online Training: UDesign in Canvas

A well-designed course does many things: it sets the tone for your teaching, highlights your expertise, and establishes credibility. Most importantly, it serves as an invitation to learn. 

UDesign is our self-paced, one-stop resource that helps you build confidence in course design and apply best practices to create accessible, engaging, and intuitive Canvas courses. 

Level: Beginner — Intermediate
Duration: 3–4 hours total
Format: Online, self-paced
Enroll

On the enrollment page, click Enroll in Course on the right.
This course is only available to UMass Amherst faculty and staff. 

a laptop and a notebook on a desk, with a mug which has almost the UMass wordmark, but only part of it. The laptop has sticky notes placed directly on the screen, which say "Accessibility?" "Course navigation?" and "Multimedia?" - the image is captioned "Image generated using ChatGPT with Dall-E, based on a custom prompt created by the IDEAS team.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Apply clear layouts, consistent naming conventions, and page design strategies to intuitively guide learners through course content.
  • Use visual hierarchy, color contrast, and instructional design principles to improve readability and reduce cognitive load.
  • Communicate with plain language, provide alternative (alt) text and captions, and embed purposeful links to support all learners.
  • Design quizzes, discussions, and assignments that are clear, equitable, and engaging.
  • Implement proactive review strategies to ensure your course stays current, functional, and learner-centered.
     

Course Features:

  • Side-by-side examples illustrating effective vs. ineffective design.
  • Practical lessons with checklists and action steps.
  • Interactive knowledge checks, discussion prompts, and reflection activities.
  • Downloadable templates and resources for immediate use.
  • Ready-to-use HTML code you can copy and paste into your Canvas course.

Grow Your Skills In:

Instructional Design | Canvas Course Design | Universal Design for Learning (UDL) | User Experience (UX)  | Multimedia Integration | Assessment Design | Online Teaching | E-Learning

Who Should Take This Course?

This training is designed for instructors, instructional designers, teaching assistants, and staff members involved in course design and delivery. Whether you teach online, hybrid, or face-to-face classes, this course is for you.

Impact on Student Success

When instructors apply instructional design best practices:

  • Students navigate course content with confidence, spending less time scrolling and more time learning.
  • Instructions and expectations are clearer, helping all students succeed—especially multilingual learners and students with disabilities.
  • Assessments are more effective and align more closely with learning goals.
  • Engagement increases, as students feel supported and part of a learning community.

Small design decisions add up and have a big impact on student success.

Questions? 

For more information, contact our team.