Check Your Canvas Course

Essential  ★                                            

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Practice

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Add Syllabus

Add the current syllabus to your course.

→ Trainer Tip: Create a "Syllabus and Resource" module and add the Syllabus to the module.

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Choose Home Page

The Home Page is the first impression of a course. At NEIT you have two Home Page options: Modules Links to an external site. or the Template Homepage Links to an external site..  

→ Trainer Tip: Include visuals to engage your students and incorporate important information about your course

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Check Template Home Page (If Applicable)

The #JustKeepTeaching template home page must be customized for each course. Verify that the following elements have been updated: Course name, Course overview, Communication plan, Expectations. Verify links to Modules and Get Help open in your course.

→ Trainer Tip: Look at the breadcrumbs bar to check the course number when checking links in your course.

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Verify Course Module set up

Your course content is organized into clearly labeled modules to aid students in finding the resource material, activities, and assignments for each week

Your course should have the following: a Syllabus (or Syllabus & Resource) module; 10 weekly modules.

The Syllabus module is published by Monday of Week 0. Weekly modules are unpublished or locked until the first day of the term.

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Set Up Grades

Verify the Gradebook is arranged Links to an external site. according to your grading policy and your syllabus.

→ Trainer Tip: You can move the “Total” column Links to an external site. from the far right position to the far left position next to the student list

→ Trainer Tip: You can change your Total column to display as Points, if needed

→ Trainer Tip: You can set Late Submission Links to an external site. or Missing Submission Links to an external site. policies

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Set Up Assignment Groups (If Applicable)

If you use weighted grading categories for your final grade calculations, you will want to add Assignment Groups Links to an external site. to the Assignments Index Page and assign weights Links to an external site. to each Group. Verify that the weights match your syllabus, add up to 100%,  and the assignments are in the correct groups.

→ Trainer Tip:  You have the ability to add drop rules to each Assignment Group

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Verify All  Dates in the Course

Check the Calendar Links to an external site. tool to verify Assignment due dates and Events scheduled for your course. Check availability dates Links to an external site. and times for assignments and quizzes (if used). Check module release Links to an external site. dates.

∗ Note: The Calendar displays graded/published Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions and Events with due dates

→ Trainer Tip: The Calendar tool allows for drag-and-drop options to easily manipulate and change due dates.

→ Trainer Tip: Imported assignment dates can be off by days, months or years! Check them carefully.

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Check Links

Check all links in the course to verify they work as intended.

→ Trainer Tip: Publish content and use Student View to check links.

→ Trainer Tip: If you get “Access Denied” in Student View the link was probably copied from another Canvas course. Relink to the page or activity in the current course.

→ Trainer Tip: You may want to select Validate Links Links to an external site. in your Course Settings to ensure there are no broken links

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Check Announcements

Review any announcements imported from a previous term and either delete or set a future availability date Links to an external site.. Post a welcome announcement.

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Review Course in Student View

Review your course content from Student View Links to an external site. to experience your course from a student perspective.

∗ Note: Some third party tools may not have student view functionality

→ Trainer Tip: Student View adds a test student to Grades. After participating in Student View, enter your Gradebook as a teacher to view any Test Student entries

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Publish Course and Content

Check visibility of individual items and Modules as a whole.

Before you publish, make sure all weekly modules are unpublished. The ONLY module(s) that can be published before Day 1 of the term is the “Syllabus/Resource” module. Students are not supposed to participate in the course before the first day of the term.  

All set? Then publish your course Links to an external site.. Don’t forget to publish your Week 1 module on the first day of the term!

→ Trainer Tip: You can unpublish any items you don't want students to see.

Recommended  ★★                                               

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Practice

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Select Favorite Courses

Customize which course cards are displayed on the Dashboard by “Favoriting Links to an external site.” courses based on preference, current term, quarter, semester, etc.

→ Trainer Tip: Once courses are displayed, you can also give the course a “Nickname Links to an external site.” visible only to you

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Set Up Account Notifications

To ensure you receive communication from Canvas, set up your Notification Preferences Links to an external site. and contact method in your Canvas Account.

→ Trainer Tip: Show students how to set their notification preferences

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Set a Profile Pic

Set a profile picture Links to an external site. that represents yourself in your Canvas Account. Students will be able to see the image displayed in the Inbox, Announcements, Discussions, and People tab.

→ Trainer Tip: You may want to choose a professional headshot to model appropriate photos for students

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Simplify Course Navigation

For optimum course experience, hide unnecessary course navigation Links to an external site. links.

→ Trainer Tip: The fewer the better

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Link to Help Guides

Help your students be successful with the technology. Provide links to help guides for any of the tools you use. Canvas student guides Links to an external site. are useful at the point of an assignment.

Any 3rd party tools that you use (Padlet, Linoit, Kahoot, Zoom, etc.) should have instructions on how students are supposed to use the tool and links to support pages for the product.