Import Canvas Course Templates

Owned by Rob Caldwell, created
Last updated: Dec 01, 2021
3 min read

This guide explains how to find and import Canvas course templates. There are templates for:

  • Residential Courses

  • Online Courses

  • NCSSM Connect Courses

  • assignments

  • discussion forums

  • pacing guides

  • teacher guides

  • unit introductions

Instructions

  1. Open Canvas Commons by clicking the “commons” button in the Canvas main navigation menu.

     

  2. The NCSSM templates are featured first in the commons. Select the content you wish to import into your course.

     

  3. After selecting the template content, press the Import/Download button.

     

  4. You can then select the course you with to import the template content into.

     

  5. If you wish to use a template multiple times in a course (as in an assignment or discussion forum template), use the duplicate function to make copies you can edit.

    To duplicate something in Canvas, click the “more options” icon next to the item and then select Duplicate.

     

About the Course Templates

We regularly add entire course templates to the commons. These templates can be especially useful when designing a brand new course. The template can also be very useful for existing courses, since these templates feature Quality Matters standards.

Editing the Syllabus

Each course template includes a syllabus template that can be edited. Sections can be edited by changing the text of the section header. Sections can be removed by deleting all content including the section header.

 

To add a new section to your syllabus, use the Header feature in the Canvas rich text editor toolbar and choose heading 3 for the title of the section.

IMPORTANT - DO NOT OVERWRITE YOUR OWN SYLLABUS

When you import a course template from the commons, it will overwrite your existing syllabus with the blank template syllabus. If you are importing a course template into an existing course, and you plan to use the existing syllabus, be sure to follow the directions below.

Import a Course Template without the syllabus template

  1. Locate the course template you wish to use in Canvas Commons.

     

  2. Choose to download the template.

     

  3. Locate the course you wish to import the template into and go to course settings. Then choose to Import Course Content.

     

  4. Use the “Content Type” pull-down menu to select Canvas Course Export Package.

     

  5. Use the Choose File button to locate the file you downloaded from the commons. Then choose select specific content.

     

  6. Once the file uploads, use the Select Content button.

     

  7. Then, select everything except syllabus body and import the content.