Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • copy a prior course
  • list steps to configure a course
  • set up affiliated tools, platforms, and environments
  • communicate with students

Overview

Summary of Activities

These activities generally need to be carried out, more or less in that order.

  1. Address any mistakes in assignments, quizzes, exams, discussions in the prior course that will act as the master for the course for the new term (new course or, simply, course). It is best to make any updates in the prior course before it is copied to multiple sections or for different instructors. Alternatively, import the course, update, and then disseminate to others.
  2. Request from ITS or ATS that multiple sections taught by the same instructor (or by a coordinated team) into a single, merged section.
  3. Import the prior course to the new course.
  4. Update the navigation bar order and other key settings under Settings.
  5. Update the course description under Settings (not automatically copied from old course).
  6. Update the content and then disseminate to other sections or instructors.
  7. Update the syllabus and mark the new term, changes to office hours, contact information, grading scheme, course content, academic integrity rules, and any other rules.
  8. Add the syllabus as a link under the “Syllabus” link on Canvas – or add the syllabus as a page directly in Canvas.
  9. Create a group on Teams with the name of course and the term, e.g., IS2000 Spring 2022 or IS2000 Sp22. Add the TAs to this team – the students will join with a code. Create the group as a PLC rather than a Class.
  10. Get the group join code from Teams.
  11. Set up a group for TA Staff with private channels for each course that you are teaching. Add the TAs to this group and each appropriate private channel.
  12. Post or update instructions on Canvas on how to join Teams, Zoom, and Piazza.
  13. Add TAs as Teaching Assistants to the Canvas course.
  14. Add backup instructor, observers, and others to Canvas.
  15. Set office hours for TAs and ensure that there are office hours every day by someone.
  16. Add information for office hours for instructor(s) and teaching assistants.
  17. Send an announcement to all students after the course is published on how to join Teams, key information for the start of the course, key contact information.
  18. Schedule live classes on Teams or Zoom (check academic calendar for holidays, recess, and start and end dates; careful of the differences between undergrad and grad calendars – and do not mistakenly consult CPS or Law School calendars which also differ).

Notes, Tips, and Comments on Activities

Importing/Copying a Canvas Course

Go to the new course and from the Home page, select “Import Existing Content” (from the navigation bar on the right side). Choose “Copy a Canvas Course” from the Content Type menu. Choose the course from which to copy content (you can do this process several times to copy content from different courses). Pick “All Content” from the Content selection. If your course structure and assignment structure does not change, then also check “Adjust events and due dates” which will adjust all due dates from the old course relative to the start of the new course. Be sure to review the due dates carefully afterwards. The copy process will run as a batch job and may take a few minutes to a couple of hours. You will receive an email when done; the status is also updated in the new course.

If you wish to copy select content, it is better to go into the old course and copy select pages, quizzes, or files from the old course to the new course.

Syllabus

Be sure to review the syllabus carefully before publishing to ensure that all policies (particularly those pertaining to grading and student evaluation) are correct and adjust or updated for the new term.

Tutorial

The demonstration shows key steps in the commissioning process.

Resources

TBD

Summary

Files & Resources

All Files for Lesson 999.103

References

None.

Errata

None collected yet. Let us know.