Canvas Management - Start of Semester, Ongoing, and End of Semester

General Canvas Management 

• Manage your Dashboard
  • In Courses > All Courses, click the Star to "Favorite" those courses you want to appear in your Dashboard
  • https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-customize-my-Courses-list-as-an-instructor/ta-p/800
• Review the SLU Canvas Resources for Faculty site … especially the Workshop Recordings
  • Available on the Help Menu
• Add or Update your Profile Picture
  • Account > Profile
  • https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-add-a-profile-picture-in-my-user-account-as-a-student/ta-p/518
• Check your Notification Settings
  • Account > Notifications
  • https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-manage-my-Canvas-notification-settings-as-an-instructor/ta-p/1222

Course Management at Beginning of Semester 

• Copy the content from a previous Canvas course into your new course.  You can copy all content or pick and choose what to copy
  • https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-copy-content-from-another-Canvas-course-using-the/ta-p/1012
• Migrate Sakai course content or submit a Service Request if assistance needed
• Edit you HomePage / Welcome message to introduce your students for the current semester
• Publish your course when it is ready for student access
  • Let students know if you will not be using Canvas or if it will not be available on the first day of class
• Review your course content, access settings, due dates, etc
• Ensure Modules and content you want visible to Students are Published
  • Use the Student View to ensure all is as you intend
• Use the Course Link Validator to check for broken links
  • Settings > Validate Links in Content (right sidebar)
• Check content for ADA Accessibility Compliance
  • When adding or editing content in the Rich Content Editor (RCE), the Accessibility Checker will be available at the bottom of the RCE window
• “Hide totals in student grades summary” and “Hide grade distribution graphs from students” if interested
  • Settings > More Options (available at the bottom of the Settings screen)
• Add Library Films (if desired)
  • Faculty now add films to Canvas Modules themselves, refer to: How to Add a Film to Canvas

Ongoing Course Management 

• If students add your course, realize there may be a 1-3 day delay before their registration is passed to Canvas.  If they need access to your Canvas course sooner, you can add them manually using their email address
  • People > +People
• NOTE: if students have been added to your course through the automatic feed from APR to Canvas, you, as a Teacher, cannot remove remove students who have dropped the course from your Canvas course.  Once that Drop is processed by the Registrar, the automatic feed to Canvas will remove them from your Canvas course

Course Management at End of Semester 

• Note that students will by default maintain read access to your Canvas course after the term ends (a couple of weeks after the end of Finals)
  • If you care to change this, you can in Settings, under Participation, by checking "Restrict students from viewing course after term end date"
• If a student will need additional time to submit materials to a Canvas course to satisfy an Incomplete, this article covers how to set that up:
  • Providing Students Access to a Canvas Course to Satisfy an Incomplete
• Manage your Dashboard
  • In Courses > All Courses, click the Star to "Unfavorite" those courses you no longer want to appear in your Dashboard
  • https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-customize-my-Courses-list-as-an-instructor/ta-p/800

Instructure provides Start and End of Semester Checklists that go into a bit more depth than what is above:

• https://stlawu.instructure.com/courses/217