UM3D

Start of the Semester Basics

Use this checklist to ensure your courses are ready for the new semester.  Students cannot access any of their courses until midnight the first day of term, so you can work on your course weeks ahead of time, worry-free. Click links to view short, how-to videos on the subject or to access specific ticket requests.

Step 1: Set up the Course

First, copy your course material and then adjust base functionality.

• Copy Course Materials
• Adjust Course Navigation & Other Settings – the most crucial ones are:
  • Add other publisher content or resource tools (Perusall, etc) to your course navigation, if using.
  • Ensure Announcements display correctly, if using.
  • Add Banner Grade Exchange to your course navigation, if using.
  • Remove any navigation links you don’t need.
• Although your students don’t have access to Canvas before the start of the semester, you can email them, if you wish, via Banner. 

Step 2: Adjust Due Dates, Group Assignments & Gradebook

Next, make sure your materials work the way you intend and additional users can get in.

• Check Assignments and Gradebook
  • Divide students into groups, if using (assignments or discussions).
  • Verify your gradebook is arranged and reflects your grading policy.
    • Set Late Submission or Missing Submission policies.
  • Confirm Weighted Gradebook settings, if using.
  • Change all your assignment due dates the FAST way (“Batch Edit due dates”).
  • Check Publication Status - Check visibility of individual items and modules as a whole (look for the green check mark!).
  • Set assignment dates, lock modules or use prerequisites to control when students can access materials.
• Validate Publisher Tools – Click on your publisher tools (Perusall, McGrawHill, SmartBook, MyMathLab, etc) to ensure they function correctly. Be sure to tell your students how to use these tools, too. Each publisher will have student instructions you can add to your course. 

Step 3: Check Video & Accessibility

Then, ensure you are using video correctly and that your course is accessible.

• Pull video into Studio- ALL videos should be placed in Studio. Do not add .mp4s directly to your course. They will consume all your file space and may have accessibility issues. See Help! My course is out of space!
• Add YouTube videos to Studio, too. These will play without ads or suggestions for next viewing, and contain captions.
• Embed Video- once videos are in added to Studio, embed the video in pages.
• Use Accessibility Checker - Detect and fix common accessibility errors in Canvas.
• Limit the use of files and documents- create Canvas pages instead for better accessibility.

Step 4: Add Special Users

Now it’s time to use tickets to add certain types of instructors and graders assigned to your course. Students are automatically added.

• Add TA/GA ticket | Add Faculty Guest ticket | Add Course Coordinator ticket

Step 5: Final Review

Finally, view the course the way your students will.

• Review Course in Student View - Review your course content from Student View to experience your course from a student perspective. 
• See Help! My students can’t see their course.

Need help?

For technical problems, please place the appropriate ticket. Or contact UM3D.