3. Set up a new module

In this part of the tutorial, we will use the CLT toolkit to add a new module to our course.

3.1. Add a module

Change into the CLT101 directory; then type this command and press enter:

$ clt addmod Week_01

You will now be asked a series of questions:

> Enter module title:

The name of the module as it will appear in Canvas. Type Example module and press enter.

> Enter module position:

This is the position among the modules on Canvas. Let’s assume that we want to keep an information module at the top of our list of modules. Week_01 will, therefore, be our second module. Type 2 and press enter.

> Enter module prefix:

The CLT addmod tool automatically prefixes the title of each item in the module (page, quiz, discussion) with a number. This is our first content module, so type 1 and press enter.

> Enter quiz date:

The CLT addmod tool automatically creates a quiz. Enter the quiz date in the format YYYY-MM-DD. For example, type 2025-05-01 and press enter.

The CLT addmod tool will now create a new directory, Week_01, and several files in it.

3.2. File structure

Let’s explore the files set up in CLT101/modules/Week_01:

CLT101/
    _conf/
    modules/
        Week_01/
            _conf.yaml
            disc.md
            intro.md
            quiz.yaml

The CLT addmod tool wrote module settings to _conf.yaml. Refer to the guide to module settings to learn how to customize these settings.

The CLT addmod tool also prepared three files for our module content in the following default order:

  1. intro.md: an introduction page

  2. quiz.yaml: a quiz

  3. disc.md: a discussion board

We will edit these files in the next tutorial.

3.3. Next steps

Now that we have files in our module, we can learn how to add content in the next tutorial. For additional details about how to customize a module, refer to the guide to module settings.