“Under conditions of complexity, not only are checklists a help, they are required for success.”
― Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the start of the quarter, don’t worry–we can help! We have checklists, guides, and resources ready for you. Please use the list below to save time and effort when it comes to preparing for the upcoming term. If at any time you have questions, you can find our contact information at the bottom of this document.
| TASK | TIPS | DONE? |
|---|---|---|
| Request your Canvas Course. | Go to courses.uchicago.edu and click Create Your Course Site Now. Then follow the prompts to select the course for which you want to create a Canvas site. | |
| Request combined or split courses (if needed). | If you need multiple sections combined or a course split into multiple sections, please email canvas@uchicago.edu with your course titles, codes, and instructions. | |
| Update your syllabus. | Make sure your syllabus clearly lays out course expectations, including how you wish students to use your Canvas course site. | |
| Add your syllabus to Canvas. | For more information about the Canvas syllabus page and adding syllabi, see How do I use the Syllabus as an instructor? | |
| Import course content from previous quarters, if needed. | For step-by-step instructions on copying content from a previous course, see Course-to-Course Copying in Canvas: A Quick Guide. Note that you should only copy content once. | |
| Update and review due dates for accuracy. | When you import course content, dates for various activities can move. Be sure to review any dates you mentioned in the announcements! | |
| Check hyperlinks and fix broken links. | You can check links in your canvas course using the course link validator. For more information, please review the guide How do I validate links in a course? | |
| Check your Canvas Gradebook settings. | For a quick review of the various gradebook features and how to leverage them, please review these blog posts from ATS. | |
| Unarchive your Panopto videos, if necessary. | Panopto videos that have not been viewed in 13 months will be archived. You can un-archive them easily, but be sure to allow 48 hours for the process. | |
| Publish your course. | Try to make your course available a few days prior to the beginning of the term, so that students have adequate time to review and prepare for your class. For more information, see How do I publish a course? | |
| Test your site as a student using Student View. | With the Student View button, you can navigate your site as a student and ensure that information is visible and correctly organized. For more ways to leverage Student View, please review Canvas Student View as a Tool for Faculty. | |
| Send a welcome announcement. | You can create a Canvas Announcement to share important information either with all users within your course or with users in a particular section of a course. For more information, see How do I create an announcement in a course? |
If you want to brush up on other topics before the next quarter, we also have a variety of resources available for you as well. For more information and resources please see:
- Instructure Canvas 24/7 Support Hotline (844-334-6803)
- Instructure Canvas Live chat
- Academic Technology Solution Online documentation
- Academic Technology Solutions Office Hours or online workshops. Visit our Workshop Schedule page for the calendar and sign-up information.
For general inquiries, you can email Academic Technology Solutions at academictech@uchicago.edu. For Canvas-specific inquiries, you can email canvas@uchicago.edu.
