What is DesignTools and DesignPLUS?
DesignTools is a tool that contains a suite of HTML/CSS and Javascript tools that makes implementing and editing design elements into Canvas easier. DesignPlus is the newer version of DesignTools.
What is the “Template Update”?
Support for the old DesignTools ended on December 31, 2025. Thus we are working at updating the DesignTools elements to the new DesignPlus standards. The overall look will change slightly, but in many ways the changes will impact your course layout minimally. That said, with the new update there are some new features that will be introduced into our courses, as well as some changes that will make editing courses to be accessible easier.
Home Page
The Home Page is the first page where you will notice some changes. The biggest functional change is the reintroduction of buttons on the Home Page. The buttons highlight the parts instructors found important for students to navigate to which includes: the Announcements page, the Syllabus, the Instructor Information page (where students can get contact information about their instructor) and the Course Resources page.
Note: In instances where the Course Resource page is not being used, the button may be omitted during the update. If you think such a page would be useful in your design, please reach out to our team so we can reintroduce the button link and a new page.
The Modules List will look different with the button layout and colored highlighting. That said, it still functions in the same manner as previous courses with the link going to the first item in the module (which should be the module over page) and the current module shown below.
Module Overview
The Module Overview is meant to be the landing page for the module. Here students are given a brief overview of the purpose, learning outcomes and resources for the module. The biggest change you will see is that the Resources block has been split into two different blocks: Required Resources and Recommended Resources.
Note: some courses that never had recommended resources will not have that block added. If you want recommended resource blocks added to your course overviews, please reach out to ATD for assistance.
This change was implemented to better divide the types of resources with headings which aligns better with best accessibility practices. (For more information, check out our tutorial Headings and Accessibility) This layout allows for more sub-levels of headings to further categorize types of resources in each block. In the previous template: you would need to use heading level 5 (that is would need to be added with HTML or buried deep in the Rich Content Editor “Format” menu) if you wanted to separate “Required” resources by “Textbook”, “Document”, “Video”, “Link”, etc. Because of this limitation, module overview designs were using formatted bolded text paragraph rather than headings to create categorizations which is against accessibility best practices.
This new configuration now allows for resource-type categorization as heading level 4. This would also allow for further sub categorizations at the suggested maximum heading level 5 if needed.
Activity Description Design
We simplified the design of activity (assignment, discussion, and quizzes) descriptions so they no longer use icons. This was done so that it would be easier to create more h2 block sections for more flexibility structuring instructions for activities.
Start Here Page
The Start Here page is meant to be a landing page to provide starting resources for students, such as links for first time online learners and checklist of items students should focus on when they begin their online course. The page is placed in the first module of the Modules page. This page was only linked to the first module and not to the homepage because it is believed the page would only be seen as useful to students at the beginning of the course. As such, resources that are relevant to the entire course should be placed in the Course Resources page that does have a link on the home page.
The default page contains the “Where to Start Checklist” and “How to Succeed as an Online Learner” content blocks. Reach out to ATD if you want assistance with adding additional content blocks sections.
Submit Your Student Rating of Teaching (SRT) Page
In all courses there would typically be a text header reminder on the Modules page for students to submit their Student Rating of Teaching (SRT). While this has worked, we felt that a page acting as a reminder was better for one reason: adding a to-do date to the page shows up on “To-do” and “Coming Up” lists on the student’s Canvas dashboard and the home page of their course. From usability testing on how students use Canvas, we saw that students focused the most on tasks with a due or to-do date attached to them that show up on the “To-do” and “Coming Up” lists. Making the reminder as a page makes it more prominent as a reminder for students across Canvas rather than just a text header reminder on the Modules page. Thus we are replacing the old reminder with the Submit Your Student Rating of Teaching (SRT) page.
Removal of the Help & Resources for Instructors Page
The purpose of the Help & Resources for Instructors page was to direct instructors to the CCAPS-ATD Learning Management Assistance form as well as a place to store links to development documents and resources for instructors. The page was often not utilized and in many cases removed by instructors. To simplify the layout of online courses, the page and its reference at the bottom of every module has been removed. But don’t worry: you will still be able to reach out for questions or assistance to ATD using the same form link to create a ticket.
