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Getting Started with the QuickStart Wizard in Canvas

The DesignPLUS QuickStart Wizard provides beautifully designed templates for Canvas.

In this article

Overview of the DesignPLUS QuickStart Wizard

User-friendly and visually appealing design can make your online course materials in Canvas more welcoming and engaging for your learners.

Additionally, consistent design allows learners to more smoothly navigate between content, lowering the cognitive load associated with orienting themselves to different layouts in the course.

The QuickStart Wizard tool in Canvas makes it easy to provide both beautifully and accessibly designed content, and create consistency across your course.

LearnTech YouTube Video Tutorials

Visual Guide of the QuickStart Wizard at NC State

For a visual guide of the QuickStart Wizard at NC State, view this screenshot-based guide to accessing the Wizard’s templates.

Quick Start Wizard User Guide from DesignPLUS

The QuickStart Wizard information in the DesignPLUS User Guide has a nice video on the Overview page as well as much more helpful information (screenshot of User Guide below).

The QuickStart Wizard overview in the DesignPLUS User Guide.

Accessing the DesignPLUS QuickStart Wizard

When you use the Rich Content Editor in Canvas to create new content, you’ll see the QuickStart Wizard button to the right of the title field at the top of the page. Note: you will also see a button to access the wizard when you are creating new content, not when you are editing existing content.

Screenshot of a title field and the QuickStart Wizard button

Click on the QuickStart Wizard button to open the Wizard.

Available Templates and Blocks

When you open the QuickStart Wizard, you’ll be able to select either a template (a full page layout) or create your own layout using stylized blocks.

Templates

Templates tab in the DesignPLUS QuickStart Wizard

The “Templates” tab (shown at left) is selected by default when you open the Wizard. The top category of templates in the Wizard are NC State Branded templates (category expanded in the screenshot).

These NC State Branded templates are full-page layouts designed with NC State’s branding and best practices applied, and each is appropriate for a higher education setting.

Other template categories (Assignment, Discussion, General, Page and Syllabus) offer additional templates provided by the tool vendor.

At the bottom of the Template tab is the option to select an already created and saved course page to use as a template.

Blocks

Blocks tab of the QuickStart Wizard

Clicking on the “Blocks” tab (shown at left) allows you to access building blocks for pages, should you want to create your own layout.

NC State Blocks, the top category expanded in the screenshot, includes each of the blocks that you might find in the NC State Branded templates.

The other available block categories (callout, cards, content, header, instructional and layout) provide more options.

When you create content using Blocks, the NC State branded visual theme will automatically be applied to the content of your page, assignment or discussion.

Selecting and modifying a template

Step 1: Preview templates and blocks

Hover over the name of any template or block to get a glimpse of what the item will look like in a published page.

Step 2: Select a template or block

Click on the name of the template or block you want to use to load it into the “Content Preview” window of the editor.

Step 3: Modify your content while in Content Preview

Once your have selected content and added it to the Content Preview, you can rearrange and delete blocks, or add more using the Blocks tab. When you hover over an area in a template, the block of content is highlighted and three buttons appear at the top right, allowing you to move the highlighted content up or down or delete the block.

Screenshot of block in content preview window
Hovering over a block in the content preview window allows you to move or delete the block.

Step 4: Add your template to the editor

When you are ready to begin using your template content, click the “Add to Editor” button at the bottom of the QuickStart Wizard. This will close the wizard and take you to Canvas’s Rich Content Editor, where you can begin filling out your page, assignment or discussion.

Step 5: If necessary, move and remove content blocks once in the editor

Once you have brought a template into your editor, you can still move and remove content blocks if you need to. For instructions, view the video, “Moving and Removing Content Blocks once in the Canvas Editor”

More resources:

Removing Editor Only Notes

Once you have finished gleaning any relevant information from the editor-only notes, you can remove them. For a video on how to do this both in the content preview pane as well as once in the editor, watch Removing Editor Only Notes from QuickStart Wizard Templates (1 min 49 sec).

Removing Editor Only Notes when in Content Preview

  1. Hover over the Editor Only Note you want to remove.
  2. Find the blue dashed line that appears
  3. Ensure that the Editor Only Note is the only thing that is contained in the block delineated by a blue dashed line.
    1. If it is the only thing in the block, use the “Remove” button in the upper right-hand corner of the block to remove the note.
    2. If there is other content in the block, wait to remove the Editor Only Note once you’ve added the content to the Canvas Editor.

Removing Editor Only Notes in the Canvas Editor

In the Canvas editor, you can do this by clicking on the green “Open Action Items” button (a green checklist icon) at the bottom right of your screen (screenshot below).

Screenshot as described
Opening the “Open Action Items” button at the bottom right of the screen.

Support and resources

  • QuickStart Wizard User Guide from Cidi Labs DesignPLUS
  • DesignPLUS Sidebar Introduction is a good starting point for more advanced design work in DesignPLUS. Recommended if you are comfortable with / interested in more in-depth design work.
  • Check out the Upcoming Training from CidiLabs (the DesignPLUS vendor). Be sure to select DesignPLUS training as Cidilabs’s training emcompasses other tools that NC State does not have.
  • Use the on-demand resources at the CidiLabs Training Video Hub. The most relevant ones for NC State instructors are
    • DesignPLUS Training Series (start with the Sidebar introduction)
    • DesignPLUS Summer School
    • DesignPLUS Video Tutorials (not as easy an entry point as the training series, but good for reference).