Before the start of the course in Canvas
When you have finished your course room, it is good to go through some important things before the start of the course.
A summary of the checklist
The following points are addressed on this page:
- Publish course and content.
- Review the course from student view.
- Check relevant dates.
- Check the links.
- Check your modules.
- Appearance on cell phone and similar devices.
- Verify students through the People tab.
Publish course and content
Don’t forget to publish all the content that you want the students to see. This also includes headings in modules. Check the visibility for individual parts and whole modules and ensure that they are published.
Published objects and modules have a green check mark on the right side, unpublished have a grey circle with a line through it. Remember to check that assignments and quizzes are published and visible to the students. Also don’t forget to publish the course!
You can unpublish content that you do not want the students to see. An unpublished module is hidden from the students even if the content in the module is published.
How do I publish my course? (community.canvaslms.com).
Review the course from student view
Review the course content with the help of the student view to see how the course looks from a student perspective. Student view adds a test student to the course room. After using the student view, go to “Grades” as a teacher to see any submissions you made as a test student. How to use student view (commnity.canvaslms.com) .
Check relevant dates
A simple way of getting an overview over submission dates in the course is by pressing the “Calendar” in the global navigation menu. Colour the course that you wish to check and the course submission dates will be shown.
If any assignments are locked until a specific submission time, you will find these in “Assignments” in the course menu.
Check the links
There is a function that can help you control the links in the course room so that they are not broken. Go to “Settings” in the course menu, click on “Validate links in Content” in the sidebar to the right. How do I validate links? (community.canvaslms.com) .
Check your modules
If you are using Modules in your course room, click on “Modules” in the course menu and go through your content. Consider, for example, the following:
- Is the course structured in a logical way with clear headings?
- Is everything you want in “Modules” added here?
Appearance on cell phone and similar devices
Check what your course looks like on a mobile phone. Many students will probably use their phone to some extent to follow the course. You can either check in your mobile, or on a computer using "Responsive Design Mode" in your web browser. Please follow a guide for your web browser on how to activate Responsive Design Mode, as it is done differently on different web browsers.
Verify students through the People tab
Go to “People” in the course menu to verify that the list of names for the course (teachers, students, TA, etc.) is correct. The “People” tab also shows the courses sections if any exists. Read more on How do I use People in a course in Canvas?
Wait to group the students until everyone is registered (shown as “Student” in Canvas and in the list of participants). If you divide them into groups before that (when they are “Admitted not registered student”), there is a risk that the students will disappear from the group once they are registered.