Top Hat Preparation Checklist
Below is a checklist to help you prepare for a successful Top Hat implementation. Review each item in the list carefully and follow through on items that require your attention. If you have questions, please contact Top Hat Support.
1) Create your courses and content in Top Hat. If this is your first time using Top Hat, before you create your Top Hat courses, create a professor account. For each course in which you'll be using Top Hat, set up a Top Hat course and create the content for at least the first few sessions so you'll be ready when the semester begins. To get started, see Creating a Course.
Note:
If you will be using Top Hat in a Canvas course with cross-listed sections, you'll need to decide whether to set up a single Top Hat course to which all sections will be matched or multiple courses in Top Hat. See LTI 1.3 (Canvas): Multi-Section Course Management.
Note:
Manual grade sync is now done in the Top Hat gradebook. This is the method by which you must sync grades for any gradebook column not associated to content (that is, course aggregate grade, attendance, and manual grades).
The default Canvas Gradebook integration creates a single column in the gradebook and sends a percentage value for each student. By default, attendance is not sent to the gradebook. For information about other grading options and instructions for changing the gradebook settings, see Professor: Gradebook Overview. If you would like to disaggregate scores and select which ones appear in the Canvas gradebook, you may make those adjustments when you click the sync icon.
Automatic Grade Sync is the process by which all deep linked content syncs to the Canvas gradebook. For information about grade sync, see LTI 1.3 (Canvas): Grade Sync.
3) Enable Top Hat in your Canvas course navigation. Be sure to add Top Hat to your Canvas course navigation. Students must use this button to be rostered into the associated Top Hat course. Additionally, unlike the previous version of Top Hat, instructors may now use this button to enter the Top Hat course. If students already have a Top Hat account, they will sign in using their OU or OUHSC username and password. Students without a Top Hat account will be prompted to create one. This step is required for a successful automatic roster sync between Canvas and Top Hat.
4) Send a message about Top Hat to your students shortly before or when the term begins. Your first few Top Hat sessions will go much more smoothly if your students have already set up Top Hat on their devices beforehand.
5) Sync your Canvas and Top Hat rosters. While the automatic roster sync occurs each night, you may also manually sync your Top Hat roster with Canvas if you prefer not to wait for the overnight sync.
Note:
It is extremely important that students new to Top Hat create their Top Hat accounts through Canvas rather than going directly to the Top Hat website to register. Registering through Canvas ensures that the student has matching identities in Top Hat and Canvas. Students who have account issues should contact Top Hat Support directly.
6) Practice presenting in Top Hat. Before you start using Top Hat in class, practice presenting, administering questions, and taking attendance so you are familiar with most of Top Hat's features. IU recommends creating a practice course in Top Hat for this purpose so your students won't see your practice sessions if they access your class. You can copy content from another Top Hat course into your practice course; for instructions, see Professor: Copying Content Within or Between Courses.