Semester Start Checklist

Organize your courses on your Canvas Dashboard

Organizing the courses on your Canvas Dashboard will help you locate them quickly once the semester begins. You are also able to edit the course cards for your classes if you want to. Please see the following guides:

Show or Hide Canvas course cards on your Dashboard

Edit Course Cards for your Students

Should you request to have your courses merged? 

If you are teaching multiple courses that are the exact same, are online, and are offered during the same start and end dates,  you may want to have your course merged into one. Doing this will enable you to set up one course vs several and is more efficient. Please fill out the Merge Course Request Survey to request to have your courses merged. 

The deadline for requesting courses to be merged is the Wednesday before the course's start date.

Note: If you have placed content into a course, or copied content into a course, that content will be deleted in the merge. Be sure to note that you are okay with the current information being deleted in the merge when you do your request. 

Check for Course Content

Check before you copy! It is vital that you check your course for content BEFORE copying content into it. In some cases, your department will have content pushed into your course for you. In others, you will be required to copy your own content from a previous semester or another course. Once you have verified (by checking under modules) that your course has no content, you can copy content from a former course. If your course does have content, please email ATST@spcollege.edu before you do your copy and the team can assist you.

Canvas Course Copy Instructions

Update Your Syllabus

All SPC courses are required to use the Simple Syllabus. Free free to check out the Simple Syllabus Page in the Faculty Support Titan Hub Group. This page includes links to trainings, guides and resources.

Getting Started Using Simple Syllabus

Simple Syllabus FAQ for Canvas

If you need assistance updating your syllabus in Canvas, please contact ATST@spcollege.edu.

Update Your Faculty Page

Faculty pages help students to get information on a course prior to registering. It is recommended that you upload your syllabus, update your office hours, and provide students with an overall description of what they can expect in your course.

How to Update your Faculty page

Check Your Content

Make sure links, especially those to external resources are working as expected. Canvas has a built-in Course Link Validator that will check all of your course's links. For more information on how to use this tool, see How do I validate links in a course? If you need assistance repairing broken links, please email ATST@spcollege.edu.

For any other technical assistance with Canvas, please email atst@spcollege.edu.

Set Your Course Content Dates

Add dates to your course content to help your students know when things are due. Dates will automatically appear on the Calendar as well. Not sure what dates to select? Check out the Difference between Dates for details.

MyCourses- 

1. Add Start and End Dates to a Quiz
2. Add Start and End Dates to a Discussion
3. Add Start and End Dates to a Dropbox

Canvas- 

1. The difference between assignment due dates and availability dates
2. How to bulk update due dates and availability dates

Set-Up Zoom Meetings

Zoom for Canvas: If you are teaching a section in the SPC Live Online modality, make sure to schedule your Zoom Meetings. With Zoom, you must integrate Zoom into your Canvas course via the modules, create a Zoom meeting, and then share the Zoom meeting link with your students. Zoom must be integrated into the modules, but we also recommend sharing the links with students via Calendar, Inbox, and Announcements. 

Using Zoom with Canvas: How to add Zoom module, create meeting, and share it with students

Teaching with Zoom: Zoom teaching best practices, Zoom features, and accessibility considerations

All other Zoom Knowledgebase Guides

Welcome Your Students to the Course

During the first week of the course, create an announcement to welcome students to the course. You might, for example, direct students to review the syllabus, purchase the textbook, or download any necessary software for the course. You may also consider sending the students a welcome message via Canvas Inbox. If you do send a welcome message before the course is available, students will have access to it in Canvas.

How to create an announcement

Sending a Message to All Students in your Canvas Course

Check out New Professional Development Opportunities

New online, on-demand workshops are added all the time. These workshops are developed by your Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Online Learning and Services teams to cover many of the most commonly asked questions and provide ongoing resources. Check out Steps to Register to learn more.

Remember that courses become available to students 3 days before the official start date (usually the Friday before the day that courses open).

Have Questions? Contact the Academic Technology Support Team

ATST@spcollege.edu 

 Phone at 727-341-3500 

(Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST).

After-hours or weekend assistance? Contact the Technical Support Center at 727-791-2795 or onlinehelp@spcollege.edu

Want to Schedule a One-on-One or Group Session on Canvas or other instructional technology issues or opportunities?

Schedule 1:1 Support Help with a Member of the Academic Technology Support Team