Retroactive application of a Ready Made Template

[MaddyPopkin]

Can you apply a ready-made-template to courses that have already been built? I want to start building my courses now and just learned that a ready-made-template will take some time to arrive in my instance. Any advice on this is appreciated!

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi there, @MaddyPopkin ...

How are your templates currently available to you?  Do you happen to have DesignPLUS from Cidi Labs?  I ask because you can apply design elements to existing content that hasn't had any DesignPLUS styling applied to it to make your pages really shine.  Here are a couple examples of past webinars I've found on the Cidi Labs website that might be of interest to you:

• Design Matters Live! Templates to the Rescue! - Elevate Course Design and Simplify Accessibility in ...
• Design Matters Webinar October 18th, 2023 - Elevate Course Design and Simplify Accessibility in Canv... -- For this webinar, check out the section starting at 37:29 (Content Page Discussion and Examples).  In particular, around the 39:45 mark, Kenneth starts to show how he transforms a pretty basic page into something that uses DesignPLUS elements.

If you do not have DesignPLUS, you could make template pages in your course, but it would be harder to retroactively apply those templates to existing content.

Looking forward to hearing back from you on what your current setup looks like.

[MaddyPopkin]

Hi Chris! Thanks for the quick reply. No, we're new to Canvas and working with the basics to switch over from Populi LMS. Our plan comes with one Ready Made Template. 

That's the only template I'd be applying after creating courses. I'm also talking about under 10 courses, so it's not a huge undertaking. 

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi @MaddyPopkin ...

Thanks for sharing that link.  Unfortunately, I do not have experience with that particular template that was built.  However, my assumption is that it is a set of Canvas content pages/discussion topics/assignments that have been created as "templates".  You could then make copies of those template pages, re-name each copy of the page for your needs within the course, and then make additional edits to those pages (again, as needed).  I don't think there would be a way to retroactively apply those pre-made templates to existing content that you've already got in your course.  Like you said, you're just working with around 10 courses, and it might not be a huge undertaking.

If you are using the pre-made template pages in some way, I would suggest that if you have similar pages within a course, change those template pages to exactly what you want them to look like...then make as many copies of those template pages as you need for your course, and you'll be able to quickly make edits without having to re-create the wheel each time you make a new page.

I'm not sure if I did a stellar job of explaining this (I can see the whole process in my head ... LOL!), but I hope this will be of some help to you!  Good luck!