Introduction
Please use this check-list to review your course and update as needed 3 business weeks prior to the start date.
Index
- Student View
- Review and Update All Course Dates
- Announcements
- Syllabus
- Modules
- Assignments
- Discussion Board
- Validate Links
- Copy Content
- Remove Old Calendar Events
- Verify your Zoom Pro account is active
- Gradebook column order
Student View
Perhaps the best thing you can do is to review your course is to use the Student View mode to see your course as a student would see it.
How do I view a course as a test student using Student View
Review and Update All Course Dates
When Online Learning imports the previous course into your upcoming offering we utilize the Canvas Course Events and Date Shift feature. Please be sure to double check programmed dates to ensure they are accurate. This includes, date availability settings, due dates and any textual mention of dates or previous quarters you may have added to course content or the syllabus. You can bulk update due dates and availability dates to identify and update dates from one central location or update individual content areas as described below.
How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates as an instructor
Announcements
Please take note! ALL Canvas announcements are automatically copied forward and scheduled to post on dates in your new section by adjusting date information Canvas has from your last section. Make sure you Copy to... and/or Delete announcements that have been copied into your new class but no longer apply.
For announcements that have been copied from a previous course, these will not automatically send a notification to students. You will have to follow the steps below to edit the announcement and then click Save (without editing the content if nothing needs to be changed) in order to send a new notification to your students.
Syllabus
Update your course syllabus to reflect the new quarter. Make sure all dates, section details, your contact information and communication policy are current.
Modules
You will want to make sure any Module content that you want the students to view has been published:
Review your content and/or recorded lectures and, if Online Learning posted your recordings, contact Online Learning of issues or media update requests at least 3 business weeks prior to the start date.
If you already or want to limit the availability of your content, please view the following.
How do I add prerequisites to a module
How do I add requirements to a module
Assignments
Review your assignments, quizzes, and discussion board links and update all due dates and date availability settings to reflect current quarter.
Please make sure your assignments are set up using the different assessment tools and contact Instructor Excellence if you need help with this.
Discussion Board
Review your Discussions area. Our course copy process removes ALL previous threads from both instructors and students. If you want to reuse your previous threads, you need to re-post them in your course. Do not forget each term to subscribe to the discussions you wish to receive notifications from.
How to reply to a discussion (be the first one to post to model an appropriate introduction; take this opportunity to share who you are)
Validate Links
The Canvas link validator can help catch a variety of common course issues such as broken links and inaccessible files. If you are linking to outside websites, resources or media (e.g., YouTube videos), please check these links to make sure the destination is still accurate.
How do I validate links in a course
How do I create hyperlinks to external URLs
Copy Content
If you have made edits to your previous course offering after we copied your new course offering, you now have the ability to copy that content from your previous course to another course or instructor. When content is imported from one course to another, you may see duplicate Assignment Groups which do not contain any assignments. You can delete these empty Assignment Groups.
How to copy content from another Canvas course
Remove Outdated Calendar Events
Calendar events are copied over during the course import process. If you use Zoom through Canvas, each time a course is offered the previously scheduled Zoom meetings need to be removed from the current course calendar to prevent student confusion. Previous Zoom meeting will contain the previous section ID within the event title making them easier to identify and then remove.
How to delete a Calendar Event
Verify your Zoom Pro Account is Active
Even if you have used Zoom Pro in the past, you will want to make sure your UCSD Pro license is still active prior to your first live Zoom meeting to avoid any disruptions.
How to verify your Zoom Pro account is active
Gradebook column order
Make sure your gradebook columns appear in the order you want by following the steps outlined in Why are the columns in my Gradebook out of order?