Spring 2025 courses should be available in Canvas before end of day on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.
Copying an Existing Course? Start here.
BEFORE a course copy:
- Combine your sections if applicable.
- 🆕 If you use the “Automatically apply grade for missing submissions” setting in the grade book, TURN IT OFF before you do the course copy. You can turn it back on in the new course after the copy is complete. Instructions for Copying Course Content.
- On the “Import Existing Content” tool page, copy all content or use the “Select specific content” option to only copy specific items. Recommended: Remove due dates before the copy; if you choose to adjust due dates, do so with caution and check the new dates closely.
AFTER a course copy:
- Update course assignment availability and due dates as needed.
- Make sure all content that’s ready for students to see has been published and publish the course when you’re ready for students to access it.
- Remember that you cannot email your class through the Canvas Inbox until the course has been published.
Teaching a New Course? Start here.
Consider using the CAS Canvas Template to make your course design more consistent. The template contains a sample first module that can be duplicated and includes icons, buttons, and customizable banner graphics.
For All Courses
- Utilize the link validation tool to check for broken links. ✅
- 🆕 Enable UDOIT Cloud in your course navigation (not visible to students). UDOIT will identify accessibility issues and suggest fixes within the platform.
- Confirm grade calculations on the course Assignments page. Learn more about Canvas Gradebook Math.
- Explore what you can do with OneDrive in Canvas.
- Generative AI: Would you like to learn about GenAI for your courses in a low-stakes environment? Consider attending a casual small group discussion at the Faculty Center and/or enroll in this Canvas training course: A Framework for AI Literacy. The course is designed for those new to generative AI who would like to learn on their own time with no pressure, due dates, or assignments to submit.
🆕 Canvas Updates Coming in JANUARY:
- AI Discussion Summaries
- Discussion Summarization uses a Generative AI model to provide instructors with summaries of key points, questions, and ideas in a discussion thread. You can prompt the tool to focus the summary on specific aspects, like identifying misconceptions. This feature is designed to save educators time and to allow discussions to be used effectively in large-format classes and other environments where they were previously infeasible.
- For more information, read this Instructure Feature Overview
- AI Smart Course Search
- Once enabled, add the Smart Search link to your course navigation. This allows students to search through course content easily.
- You can access the Instructure Smart Search FAQ here
- AI Translation
- AI translation controls for courses, currently limited to discussions and announcements.
- Multiple due dates for discussions 🎉
- At long last, instructors will be able set multiple due dates or checkpoints for graded discussions to manage stages like initial posts and replies.
- Watch this video to learn more.
