Canvas Microcredentials Toolkit
This toolkit supports module convenors in delivering microcredential modules, offering practical guidance, adaptable Canvas templates and digital tools to create a consistent and engaging learning experience for both in-person and remote students.
You will find guidance on accessing, importing and using the Canvas Microcredentials Templates available via Canvas Commons. The purpose of these templates is to provide a framework for the online delivery of modules on Canvas that are delivered to both in-person student cohorts and remotely as a Microcredential, ensuring a consistent pedagogical experience for both groups of students. These templates are based on the original VLE Minimum Standards templates co-designed with QUB students.
You will also find further guidance and advice on the delivery on Microcredentials, including Canvas settings and functionality to help you manage different cohorts of students, digital tools for collaboration, how to facilitate small groups, and recording videos and lectures within your course.
Explore the menu below to find the right guidance for you.
Contact
If you have any questions or need any assistance with this template, please contact elearning@qub.ac.uk
Canvas Microcredentials Template
Guidance for Delivering Microcredential Modules
Accessing and Importing the Template
The Microcredentials Template can be found on Canvas Commons, accessed via the global navigation menu on the left-hand side in Canvas. There are two main options when it comes to drawing on content from Microcredentials Template course in QUB Canvas Commons.
- Option 1 – Full Course: Import the whole course template into an empty Canvas course (ie. a course that does not contain any existing content)
- Option 2 – Individual Modules: Import individual sections (Canvas Modules) into an existing Canvas course (ie. a course that already contains content).
Please note that the template should be copied into your Module Development Area (labelled DEVELOP in Canvas) – this ensures you can build your course before copying the learning content to the live course and making it available to students.
Regardless of whether you are following Option 1 or Option 2, the process to copy content from Canvas Commons only takes a few minutes. Step-by-step instructions are outlined below to help you through the process. The Template Import Checklist also includes key steps to help you customise the template for your course.
- Locate the Microcredentials Template in Canvas Commons (located in the Global Navigation menu on the left of the screen).
- Search for QUB Microcredentials Template
The following symbol indicates a Module on Canvas Commons:
- Once you have located the correct content in Canvas, select the Import/Download button on the right hand side.
- Select your course from the list or use the search bar to locate your course, and scroll down to select Import into course. Before selecting "Import into Course", please ensure that only the required and intended course is selected.
- If your DEVELOP space (Module Development Area) already contains course content, import individual canvas modules from Canvas Commons -this will prevent your existing course content being overwritten.
- Locate the Microcredentials Template in Canvas Commons (located in the Global Navigation menu on the left of the screen).
- Search for one of the following Microcredentials Template module names:
- QUB Microcredentials Template: Course Overview
- QUB Microcredentials Template: Module Example 1
- QUB Microcredentials Template: Module Example 2
- QUB Microcredentials Template: Additional Template Pages
The following symbol indicates a Module on Canvas Commons:
- Once you have located the correct content in Canvas, select the Import/Download button on the right hand side.
- Select your course from the list or use the search bar to locate your course, and scroll down to select Import into course. Before selecting "Import into Course", please ensure that only the required and intended course is selected.
- Repeats steps 3-5 for each individual module.
The following is a checklist of initial steps to complete when importing the Microcredentials Template from Canvas Commons. Completing these steps will ensure the template is ready to use and course content can then be added.
- Change the Course Banner image on the Homepage (see videos below).
- Change the Course Card image (see video below). You can access templates for banners and course cards in the Microcredential Template Design Assets folder.
- Update the Learning Content button on the Homepage (this applies to Option 2 only). Please note that the html code needs to be updated to maintain the formatting of the button - if you would like help with this, please contact elearning@qub.ac.uk
- The Homepage should be set as the ‘Front Page’ of your course. Select the 3 dots on the top right-hand corner of the screen and set ‘Use as Front page’ (see video below). This will already be set if you have imported the template as a full course as per Option 1.
- If required, change the Course Navigation Menu - go to Settings > Navigation, and re-order as required (see video below).
- Once you have imported the template and completed the steps above, click Edit in the top right corner of any page to begin editing and adding content.
- Explore the guidance in Using the Template Pages below for more information on the template content and how to start adding your course content.
The following videos provide demonstrations of some of the steps above. Click on the Playlist Icon 
to view or minimise the playlist menu.
Using the Template: Modules and Pages
This section provides a breakdown and description of the modules and pages included in the template, as well as further instructions where required.
A ‘module’ in Canvas refers to a unit of learning (for example, a week, theme or topic). The template modules provide examples of how you can structure the learning content within your course – you can follow the structure of the example modules or combine different example pages from the template to create your own modules.
Read the following guidance to understand how the template modules and pages can help shape your course.
Design Assets for the Microcredential Templates
The following folder contains design assets (including Course Banners and PowerPoint templates) that can be used to support the creation of courses using the Microcredential Canvas template:
Designing your Course: Toolkit and Accessibility
The Canvas Course Design Toolkit was designed to support the application of VLE Minimum Standards which have been co-designed by QUB Students to ensure all Canvas courses offer a good and consistent digital pedagogic baseline across programmes of study.
These Minimum Standards are the basis for the Microcredentials template, and the following toolkit provides an overview of the importance of each standard, as well as step-by-step instructions and examples of how each standard can be applied in your Canvas course.
In addition, you can access additional training videos that offer guidance on how to make your courses and learning content on Canvas as accessible as possible for all you students, and provide an overview of the Canvas Accessibility Checker and the Blackboard Ally Accessibility Report.
Click on the Playlist Icon to view or minimise the playlist menu.
Recommendations for Hybrid Micro-credential Canvas Courses
When delivering a Canvas course to multiple cohorts—including degree and Microcredential students—consider relevant settings and organisational needs. For example, use Announcements for cohort-specific communication, differentiated Assignment due dates, and Requirements to monitor progress and engagement.
Canvas Sections can identify and manage different enrolment groups, including Microcredential students (see below). The following guidance outlines Canvas features and recommendations for creating a clear, accessible and consistent experience for all students, regardless of enrolment type.
Sections in Canvas are administrative sub-groups that indicate how students are enrolled on a course. It allows module convenors to identify different groups of students (for example, tutorial groups) and use this information to communicate with different cohorts, set differentiated due dates for assignments, and more.
In the case of combined modules, for example, Sections indicate if the student enrolled is a student who began their studies in January (Known as a ‘January Intake’ student or in September (Known as a ‘September intake’ student). January intake students will be enrolled in the section JN01 and September intake students will be enrolled in the section SP01. Students taking the course as a Microcredential will be indicated by the Section code MC01.
Sections can be found by clicking People in the course navigation menu, which will display a table containing the names students and staff registered on your course, their Section(s), and their role (Student, Teacher etc.).
Depending on your module delivery, some Microcredential students may study remotely while others attend on-site. Use Sections to distinguish between these cohorts and restrict access to online lectures to distance learners only. In this case, live lectures should be delivered using Microsoft Teams; step-by-step guidance is available in the 'Live Lectures in Teams' section of this toolkit.
See below for more examples of how Sections can be utilised to communicate with students and organise your course.
Announcements are a useful way of sharing important information with students taking your course.
You can send an Announcement to all students, or to different cohorts (Sections) of students, including students taking your course as a Microcredential.
- Select Announcements in the Course Navigation Menu.
- Click Add Announcement.
- Add your title, content, and any attachments or additional settings as required.
- In the Post to option, you can choose to post your announcements to All Sections (all students enrolled to your course), or a specific Section (for example MC01 for students taking your course as a Microcredential).
Depending the nature of your course, you may wish to make some content available to different cohorts of students. This can be done by assigning access to different modules or pages.
Assign access to a Page:
- Click Edit on the relevant Page.
- Under Assign Access, select Everyone or select a specific Section from the drop-down menu.
- You can also set start and end dates and times to control when the content becomes available and when access closes.
Assign access to a Module:
- Select Modules in the Course Navigation Menu.
- Find the relevant module - click the ellipsis menu and select Assign to...
- Set Visibility of the module of Everyone, or select Assign to for specific Section from the drop-down menu.
Depending the nature of your course, you may wish to assign different assignments and quizzes to different cohorts of students, or to set differentiated due dates. This can be done via the Assign access option when setting up assignments or quizzes.
Assign Access in Assignments and Quizzes:
- Click Edit in the relevant Assignment or Quiz.
- Under Assign Access, you can assign the assignment or quiz to Everyone (all students enrolled in your course), or to a specific Section via the drop-down menu.
- Set additional settings such as due date and time, available from (date and time), and available until (date and time). You can set differentiated due dates for the same assignment or quiz by clicking the + Assign to button.
For more detailed information on setting up assignments and quizzes, explore the Canvas Training video catalogue:
You may wish to set up your Canvas course so that you can track how much of the course each student has completed. This can be achieved by adding Requirements to each Canvas module. Requirements allow you to specify actions that students must complete, such as viewing a page, marking a page as done, or completing another activity. If necessary, learning content can be locked until certain actions are completed. Once requirements are set, you will be able to track students’ progress through the course via the View Progress button (see below).
Setting Requirements
- Go to the Modules section of course. Select a module, click the ellipsis on the right hand side, and click Edit.
- Click the + Requirement button. (Prerequisites can also be set if required).
- You can decide if the student has to Complete all of the requirements you set, or to Complete one. You can also decide whether or not the Students must move through requirements in sequential order.
- One requirement can be set for each content item within your module. Select the Page, Quiz, Discussion or Assignment from the first drop-down menu. Then select the requirement from the second drop-down menu.
- Different options will be available, depending on the learning content you select. For example, the options for Page are: 'View this item', 'Mark as done', or 'Contribute to the page', and the options for Quiz are: 'View the item', 'Submit the assignment', or 'Score at least...'
- Click the + Requirement button again to set additional requirements. Click Save when you are done.
Viewing Student Progress
Once requirements are set up, you can view the progress of students by clicking the View Progress button at the top of the Modules page. A list of students will appear on the right hand side - select the student you wish to view.
For additional insight into how students are interacting with your Canvas course, you can access Course Analytics. This provides data on page views, participation, assignment submissions, and other metrics that may help you assess student engagement and identify where additional support may be needed.
While Course Analytics can offer useful insights, it may not provide the full context, so it is important to consider other factors and gather additional information to develop a more complete understanding of students’ participation in your course.
Watch the following video for an overview of the data available in Course Analytics.
Creating Videos and Live Lecture Recordings
This section provides practical guidance on creating, delivering and sharing effective video-based teaching for your Microcredential module, including pre-recorded educational videos and live lectures for both in-person and remote cohorts.
Using Microsoft Teams for live lectures provides an option for delivering video lectures for students taking your module remotely as a Microcredential, while simultaneously teaching other students on-site.
You will also find guidance on copyright, attribution and citation to help ensure that recorded teaching materials are created and shared appropriately.
As some Microcredential students may be taking your module remotely, there may be a need to deliver lectures online while simultaneously teaching the remaining cohort of students on-site. It is recommended that online delivery of live lectures in this instance is done using Microsoft Teams. This ensures that the online live lecture can only be accessed by those taking your module as a Microcredential.
The steps below outline how to facilitate online delivery for Microcredential students only.
- Within Microsoft Teams, navigate to Calendar and schedule the class at the appropriate date and time. Add a title for the meeting. Do not add any attendees in the Invite required attendees field. Enable the Teams meeting option. Once all details have been added to the meeting, select Save.
Note: it is crucial that this is done using your personal calendar rather than using the ‘Schedule a meeting’ option within the ‘Team’ for the class. This will prevent the on-site students from accessing the link to the meeting.
- . Once the meeting has been created, Copy the Teams Meeting link.
- Navigate to Canvas and select the module that the meeting is created for. Navigate to Modules and then select + Module and add a module. Give the module an appropriate name and then add a module item using the + icon. Select the External URL option and then paste the link copied in Step 2 into the URL field. Add an appropriate Page name and then select Add item.
- Select the ellipsis icon beside the Module section and select Assign To. From the Edit Module Settings pop-up window, select Assign To and then select the relevant module section that you wish to have access (in the case of Microcredentials students, this will normally be ‘MC01’). Once selected, select Save.
Recorded teaching can involve content created by others, such as images, diagrams, quotations, articles, video clips and other published materials. These are often protected by copyright. As outlined in the QUB Recording of Teaching Policy, staff presenting third-party content within a recording must ensure they do not infringe copyright and provide appropriate citations where required. This supports the University’s obligations under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
🔗 For more on this area, the Copyright, Attribution and Citation in Recorded Teaching Guidance outlines key considerations when using third-party content in recorded teaching and provides practical advice on attribution and citation.
Digital Tools for Collaboration
Digital collaboration can help Microcredential learners feel connected, participate actively and learn from one another, wherever they are studying.
The following resources introduce practical ways to use Canvas tools for group work, discussion, peer feedback and shared activities, alongside Vevox for live polling, knowledge checks and inclusive participation.
Small Group Facilitation
Small group teaching (via tutorials and seminars) helps students develop understanding through discussion and collaboration. Effective facilitation of these sessions creates the conditions for meaningful participation and productive discussion.
Explore the Infographic below to discover how you can enhance teaching in small groups within your course.