Overview

This article ensures your course is ready for student access at the start of a new course term at The University of Oklahoma!  If you are already familiar with Canvas, most of these should be routine, but it's always good to go through them to be sure your course is ready. To get started, log into Canvas at canvas.ou.edu with your OU credentials.

If you need help at any time with Canvas, click the HELP button in the global navigation bar inside Canvas and utilize one of the support options available, including signing up for a one-on-one consultation to get help with a specific tool or setting. For additional video training, review the Canvas Basics Training for Instructors playlist.

PERSONAL PROFILE & ACCOUNT BEST PRACTICES

Set Up Account Notifications

To ensure you receive communication from Canvas, set up your notification preferences and contact method in your Canvas Account. 

• You must have the Added to Conversation and Conversation Message options selected to ensure delivery of messages to your OU email where you can easily reply to the student.
• At the start of class, encourage students to check their course notifications to ensure they do not miss any communications.

Set a Profile Picture

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

• You may want to choose a professional headshot to model appropriate photos for students.

Add Your Personal Pronouns to Your Canvas Profile

You can update your Canvas profile to include your personal pronouns. Once you do, they will appear next to your name in a variety of locations throughout Canvas. 

Select Favorite Courses for your Dashboard

Customize which course cards appear on your Dashboard by favoriting courses or moving courses based on your preferences, term, or semester. Learn how to favorite courses or learn how to move courses.

• Once courses are displayed, you can also give the course a nickname visible only to you.
• If missing a course on your Dashboard, click Courses > All Courses to locate all the courses you’re assigned.  Favorite or unfavorite to add/remove from Dashboard.

Download the Canvas for Teacher Mobile App

Download the Canvas Teacher App for iOS or download the Canvas Teacher App for Android OS to manage course content and grade student submissions on the go. Syncs with SpeedGrader and the Gradebook. View Canvas Teacher mobile features by version and device.

 

COURSE ESSENTIAL BEST PRACTICES

Import Content From Other Canvas Courses

You can manually import course content from another Canvas course that you have access to.

• Make sure to check “include completed courses” to copy from previous terms.
• To avoid common import issues, import all course content.

Choose a Home Page

The Home Page is the first impression of a course. Select the Home Page option that best fits the needs of your course.

• It is recommended to select Modules. 

Adjust Course Navigation

It is best to adjust the course navigation to something simpler, removing tools that the students will not use OR should not access such as FILES and PAGES.

• Suggested navigation items and order: HOME, ANNOUNCEMENTS, MODULES, ASSIGNMENTS, LOCKDOWN BROWSER (instructor’s eyes only), GRADES, PEOPLE. 
• You will have access to all the other tools, but the students will not.  Place all course content into Modules and using the Assignment Index page instead of displaying Quizzes, Discussions as it is where the gradebook is built and is more easily organized.

Add your Course Syllabus and Content to Modules

Structure course content (e.g. syllabus as a PDF or word document, assignments, quizzes, and discussions) by day, week, unit, or topic. Modules help simplify student navigation through a course and ensure a sequential flow of content. 

• Tips for how to build a course using Modules from Canvas.
• Learn how to add a Module and learn how to add content to Modules.
• You can break up the components of your syllabus by creating a Page you can link in a module.

Create/Update Assignments

Creating assignments, creating discussions, and creating quizzes builds the gradebook in your Canvas course. Once the Assignments are built, link assignments in Modules. 

• Bulk update assignment due and availability dates for copied or new assignments. ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK!
• If you use weighted grading categories for your final grade calculations, you will want to add Assignment Groups to the Assignments page then assign weights to each Group.
• You can add drop rules to each Assignment Group.

Set up Respondus LockDown Browser

If you want to enable Respondus LockDown Browser/Monitor on quizzes, you will need to add the LockDown Browser tool to your course navigation to access the LockDown Browser dashboard.

• Learn an overview about LockDown Browser and learn best practices for Lockdown Browser.
• Reminder: just because a quiz contains the title “Lockdown Browser (+ Monitor) Required” that quiz may not set up for LDB. You will need to activate the quiz in the LDB Dashboard each time you copy it.  Also you should always review the LockDown Browser dashboard in case there are LDB errors on quizzes that need fixing.

Review Grades Set Up

• Set a course level grade posting policy or set an assignment level grade posting policy to release grades automatically or manually. If the policy is set to manual, remember to regularly post grades.
• You can move the “Total” column and move assignment columns.
• If needed, you can change your Total column to display as Points.
• Set a Late Submission policy or set a missing submission policy to automatically deduct a percentage based on the assignment due date.
• Encourage student participation by sending a message to students from the gradebook based on assignment status or point values.
• Important for submitting mid-term and final grades: For students to have the most accurate grade, you need to mark missing assignments with a zero or EX (for excused assignments) as Canvas does not count assignments without a grade against students.

Adjust Course Settings

Visit the course settings to check your Course Details and Sections.

• If you want students to have early access to your course, change the course's start date and publish the course. Be sure to set the course end date, so students do not have lingering access to the course.
• Important for submitting mid-term and final grades: Set a specific grading scheme to apply letter grades in the total column of the gradebook.
• Scroll to the bottom and select “More Options".
  • We recommend enabling the “show recent Announcements on homepage” option and “disable comments on announcements” options.
  • We recommend removing options that let Students edit, create, or organize your course.
• Teaching multiple sections of the same course or cross-listed sections? 
  • If your account has permission, you can cross-list (or combine) your own courses under the “Sections” tab.
  • If you do not have permission to cross-list/combine sections, then submit a ticket to the Learning Spaces team.
• Adding a course card image is a great visual cue for quickly identifying courses.

Verify Your Roster on the People Page 

• Visit the People page to verify your Canvas roster (teacher, student, TA, etc.) for accuracy.
• If your Canvas roster does not match your ONE roster, then request a course sync by submitting a Canvas ticket.
• All student enrollments including instructor of record assignments come from Banner for the Norman campus or PeopleSoft for the OKC and Tulsa campus. Instructors manually enrolling students is against policy and can disrupt student access or submitting student grades.

Review Course in Student View 

Review your course from student view to experience your course from a student perspective and see what they can and can not access.

• 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
• To identify and begin fixing broken links, select validate links in content in your Course Settings.

FINAL STEPS - PUBLISH CONTENT & COURSE

Add a Welcome Announcement

You can create a welcome announcement to orient your students about your course and reminds them of the materials they need to obtain prior to the first day of class. 

Publish Course and Content

Check the visibility of individual items and Modules as a whole. Don’t forget to publish your course and any course content within it.

• If a Module is not published but items inside are, students will not be able to see them. Module must be published as well as included items.

---

For more information, visit the Canvas Instructor Guide articles.