Updating your Canvas Welcome Module

Why Should You Update Your Welcome Module?

As of January 2026, the Welcome: Start Here module has been updated. The original version of this module was included in the FSU Course Template when Canvas was adopted in 2021. If you have been course-copying for several years, the information in your Welcome Module is likely out of date. The following pages in the template module have been updated:

• FSU Resources and Support Page - several broken links updated
• Canvas: Getting Started Page - deprecated embedded videos removed
• Canvas: Additional Support Page - deprecated embedded videos removed

For brand-new courses, just import the up-to-date module. For courses that already have the old version of the module, there are two methods for updating it, described below.

Direct Replacement of the Entire Module: 

This method will automatically swap the entire module for the new updated one. Warning: Possible Data Loss: this will likely also replace the "Course Overview and Syllabus" and "About Your Instructor" page (which includes your content) with the blank templates.

1. Navigate into Canvas Commons (C+arrow icon in Canvas Global Navigation Menu)
2. Click "Updates" from the top menu and you will see the Welcome Module listed, along with every course it is currently included in.
3. For each new course, click "Update".

Replace Updated Pages Only

In this method you will import a new version of each of the three pages that have been updated (FSU Resources and Support, Canvas: Getting Started and Canvas: Additional Support) and manually swap them into the Welcome Module. Unfortunately, this method will NOT automatically replace the existing page in your course with the updated version. Therefore, it is recommended that you delete the old versions of these pages from your Canvas courses before attempting to import the updated versions (See: How do I delete pages in a course? for more information).

1. Navigate into Canvas Commons, and you will find the following pages listed at the very top of the initial search results: [Welcome Module] FSU Resources and Support Page, [Welcome Module] Canvas: Getting Started Page, and [Welcome Module] Canvas: Additional Support Page. If you don't see them, search for these pages in the search bar and adjust search filters if necessary.
2. For each page, click on the title to open it. Then, click "Import/Download".
3. In the flyout window, select all courses for which you would like to add the updated page, then click "Import into Course."
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for the remaining pages
5. In your Canvas courses, find your Welcome Modules and add these updated pages to the module. (See How do I add course content as module items? for instructions). Please note that if you had not already deleted the outdated versions of the pages, it may be difficult to determine which is correct version of the Page to add. Please double-check.

Video demonstrating replacing a single page using Canvas Commons (1 min) - Note that this video shows an earlier version of the page, but the version currently on Commons is the most up to date.