Semester Checklist

Canvas Tutorials Semester Checklist

Instructor Course Management Module

How to Use the Checklist

Use checklist below as guide to wrap up current semester courses and prepare for upcoming semester courses.  If you have questions or concerns, please contact the helpdesk. 

 Rich Content Editor Changes Coming Soon

Starting with the January 18, 2020 Canvas release Links to an external site. the new rich content editor will be available as course level feature option. Instructors can choose to turn on the new editor. Please note this change will affect student view as well.

Starting on May 15, 2020 ALL courses will have the new rich content editor enabled!

All of the external tool options (Studio, YouTube, Films on Demand etc) will be in a different location in the new editor toolbar. See Rich Content Editor Update (Coming Soon). 

Important Canvas Update Information!

If you have not updated your course resources lately, please review this section carefully! This checklist contains latest important updates to Canvas or college processes. Click an item to view or use the expand all option to see all items in the list. 

Canvas Updates

Software updates occur monthly (every third Saturday) so be sure to review the updates to understand how they may affect your work flows in Canvas. See the latest Canvas Release Notes. 

Starting on December 16, 2019 the new analytics tool will be enabled for ALL courses. Additionally, the user Account will also receive an upgrade on the same date. Review the following pages for details. 

Update Help Desk Support Information

Please update technical help desk information in your courses! You can find the most current contact information on Getting Help with Canvas page in this tutorial site. Please link to this page and remove any references to the Center for Technology and Professional Development in your course. This department no longer exists and this information will confuse your students. Please make sure your students have the most accurate information so they can receive help as quickly as possible. You can use Design Tools to quickly add this information to your course. See the guide below for details. 

Important Proctoring Information

If you are teaching an online course that requires proctoring, please update any CTPD links to the Testing and Tutoring page on the Lake Land College website. 

Let the Testing and Tutoring department if you plan to use proctoring so your courses can be added to the proctoring scheduler in IRIS. This allows students to schedule appointments to take your exam in the proctoring lab. 

Course Removal Process

Please note at the conclusion of the spring semester (Spring 2020), the spring 2018 semester courses will be removed from Canvas. This is done to keep instructors' course lists from getting too long. If you have content in spring 2018 courses that you wish to preserve, please create an export of the course Links to an external site. that you can download for safekeeping. See Course Creation Process  page for details. 

End of Semester Course Checklist

This list includes suggested tasks that are recommended to complete at the end of a semester in Canvas. Click an item to view or use the expand all option to see all items in the list. 

Students with Incompletes

If you have students with documented incompletes in your course, you NEED to let Information Systems and Services know ASAP so your incomplete students will have access to your Canvas course after the semester is over.

Update Gradebook

Make sure students are seeing an accurate representation of their total score in your course. In the gradebook, instructors can set late and missing policies that will update cells automatically for missing assignments and when late assignments are graded. Also, make sure all assignment columns have grades posted that students can view. If you see an eyeball icon in your total column, it means that some grades have not been posted and students are not seeing an accurate grade. Please review the guides listed below. 

Download Gradebook Data

In the gradebook menu, Actions,  select the export option to export the gradebook to CSV format for safekeeping.

Archive Old Messages in the Inbox

Be sure to archive old messages so you have a clean inbox for the new semester. 

Backup Course Content

Be sure to export and download your course content for safekeeping. If you want to share your content with other instructors, you can save course content to Canvas Commons Links to an external site.. This will allow other instructors to import the content into their own courses. 

Start of Semester Course Checklist

This list includes suggested tasks you may want to complete before a semester starts in Canvas. Click an item to view or use the expand all option to see all items in the list. 

Customize the Course List and Dashboard

New semester course shells are available at mid-term of the current semester. As soon as they are created and pushed to Canvas, they will be marked as favorites on your global dashboard and in your course list. After the November 16, 2019 Links to an external site.update, you can click the options menu in course card to unmark a course as favorite. 

You can also  customize your course list from courses menu. Select All Courses to view your entire course list. From this page you can choose which courses will marked as favorites. On the all course list page, upcoming semester courses will be listed under future enrollments. Click the star next to the course title to mark it as favorite. The star option is toggle and a yellow-orange star start will appear next to favorite courses.  All favorite courses will display on your dashboard.  On the global dashboard, the course cards can be rearranged in a desired order as well. Please note any past courses currently marked as favorites will still display on your dashboard but once you unmark a course as a favorite, it cannot be marked as favorite again. 

Important Notes about student access & global navigation: Students will not have access to semester courses until the start date of the course. They will also have similar options for course access with the global dashboard. Students will have an additional option to make the To Do List their global dashboard. Items will display by date for all courses. All course assignment content will display in the students' To Do list as well as course calendar events and announcements. Instructors can also add a date to page or non-graded discussion so it also displays in the students' To Do Lists. 

Import Course Content

Content can be copied from one Canvas course to another from the import screen. In a blank Canvas course click Add existing content to display the import screen. On the import screen you can select the desired course with the content you wish to copy and set a date range to move assignment due date and event dates. The import screen can also be accessed by clicking Settings in the course menu and selecting the Import Course Content button in right sidebar menu on the course settings page. Important Note: Starting with the April 20, 2019 Links to an external site. release instructors must check the box next to Include completed courses to see past semester courses in the course drop down menu. 

Important Note about late policies and course copy! When you copy a course from the previous semester, the late policies do not stick. Once you copy the content, you will need to setup the late policies in the gradebook. 

Tip: If starting a course from scratch, use Design Tools multi-tool and starter course to speed up the course development process.  

Set Your Course Home

Modules are the default course home. Once you copy content into your course, your course home will be set to what ever you had it set to in the course you copied content from in the import process. You are not required to use the default course home; however, faculty are strongly encouraged to use one of the following options as the course home:  Module, Canvas Page, or Syllabus. All three of these options allow instructors more flexibility in directing students to important information in the course. 

Customize the Course Menu

You may wish to enable the Design Tools multi tool or hide some menu items in the course menu. Please note when you hide the assignment or discussion page in the course menu, students will have limited options for the search features to locate content. This can negatively affect students who need to use alternative browsers to view your content. Important Note: When New Analytics is enabled in a course, the new analytics menu option will be enabled in the course menu. Students will see the new analytics option in the course menu and on the home page. This will allow them to see their own data.

Integrate Textbook Publisher Content

Some textbook content can be integrated with Canvas modules or assignments. Check with your textbook publisher or lead instructor to see what is available. If you are copying content from one semester to the next, please note you must also create a course on publisher side so your students will have access to the content. If your textbook content is only available online, please give students any necessary directions for accessing the content and the print options that are available. For courses with Cengage content, please view this video tutorial Links to an external site.. 

(Optional) Enable Lockdown Browser

If you plan on using Lockdown Browser for proctored exams, you must request Canvas access each semester. 

Review Course Settings

Be sure all course settings are set to your preferences before the semester begins.

Check Content Accessibility

All content in Canvas courses must be accessible! In Word and PowerPoint use the Accessibility Checker from the File tab. In Canvas use the rich content editor accessibility checker when you are editing pages.  All image content must have alternative text and all multimedia content must have captions. 

Update Syllabus Content

Make any adjustments to the syllabus as necessary. If you are using a Word document, download the document from the file section of your course. Be sure to not change the file name and make your changes. Upload the file to the File section of the course. This will display a prompt and you can choose to overwrite the existing file and this will update the file where ever the file is linked in the course. You can also use Design Tools to customize your syllabus. 

Important Note: The syllabus assignment and event list will display all assignments and events associated with the course. Instructors will see all assignments regardless of publish status. Students will only see published assignments. If you choose to not use the syllabus page in Canvas, be sure the link to your syllabus is prominent on your course home page.  If the syllabus link is disabled in the course menu and you link to syllabus page in another area of the course, when students click the link they will be redirected to course home. 

Update Calendar Events

View the syllabus list to be sure the calendar events associated with the course are updated. Go to your calendar to edit, delete, or update the calendar events for all your courses. 

Make Sure All Desired Content is Published

Review the draft state settings of all content to make sure all content that should be published is published. Make sure your modules, pages, and assignments are published. Please note any unpublished content in the course cannot be seen by students even if you link to that content!

Review File Content

In the file section of your course make sure content is organized in folders and that each folder have the desired restrictions set. Please note the file section of the course is open to students unless you set your desired file restrictions.  

Adjust Assignment Due Dates

Make adjustments to the assignment due dates on the assignment list page. Starting in fall 2018 instructors can use the Design Tools due date modifier to adjust all assignment due dates from one page. 

Review Gradebook and Assignment Settings

The gradebook has had many updates over the summer. Be sure you are familiar with the updates before the semester begins. Make sure the gradebook settings are configured as desired and match what you state in your syllabus. 

Important Note about late policies and course copy! When you copy a course from the previous semester, the late policies do not stick. You will need to setup the late policies in the gradebook in new semester courses. 

Update Announcements

Announcements from the previous course will be copied when you copy a course. If you wish to set new delay posting options on your announcements, be sure to edit them and set new dates when the announcements should appear to students. Remove any outdated announcements. 

New! You can now use the Design Tools multi-tool new Announcement Delay Date Modifier to adjust the delay dates for announcements on one page. You can also bulk delete announcements as well. 

Review Module Settings

If you plan to lock modules by a given date or use requirements and prerequisites, be sure adjust settings accordingly. Review any other modules settings if necessary.

Use the Link Validator

Run the link validator and update any bad links in your course. Note: If you link to pages in the Canvas tutorial site, these links will display in the link validator report. You can safely ignore the message as the Canvas tutorial site is open course so anyone with a link can view it. 

View Course in Student View

Take a look at your course in student view to make sure all content is working as designed. 

Publish Your Course

Make sure your Canvas course is published by semester start date! Students will not have access to any courses until the semester start date; however, if your course is still not published after semester start date, students will not be able to access your course. On the course home in the right sidebar the course status click Publish to make the course available to students. Note: When your course is published, the publish button will turn green and state the word "published". 

Compare Canvas People with Your IRIS Course Roster

After the semester starts be sure to compare the people tab in your Canvas course to your IRIS course roster. Let the Information Systems & Services know if you see missing students in the Canvas people tab as soon as possible.

Have a great semester! 

If you have questions or concerns, please contact the helpdesk.