Start of Term Steps
To help you prepare your courses for the start of term in Canvas, here are some steps we’re recommending:
1. Get the Basics on Canvas
- Start thinking about your online course design in Canvas. Check out the other pages in the Sauder Teaching Playbook for more resources for online teaching.
- See our Top Things To Do and Know in your course.
- Schedule a one-on-one overview/course set up session with Learning Services at your convenience by emailing help@sauder.ubc.ca.
2. Confirm you can access your courses:
- Confirm you see all your courses on your Dashboard. If there are discrepancies, please contact your divisional chair/assistant or relevant program office for current status.
3. Request a Course Copy and/or Merge Sections
- Please email help@sauder.ubc.ca if you need any of the following services:
- Merge or cross-list your sections
- Reconnect a WordPress blog
- Copy course content over from a previous Canvas course
- For course copies/merges, include in your email:
- Source Course: Course Name, Term and Section you want us to copy material from (e.g. 2021W1, COMM101, Sec201)
- Destination Course: Course Name, Term and Section you want us to copy material into (e.g. 2022W1, COMM101, Sec201)
- If you want to use any learning tools in Canvas, including Publisher integrations, contact Learning Services for an overview and requirements
4. Launch your Course
- Please add your Syllabus in PDF format to the Syllabus link in your course. Go to Add Instructor Info & Syllabus page to view step-by-step instructions.
- Confirm your Grade Posting Policy is set to ‘Manual’. This will make all your grades hidden to student by default.
- Publish your course by clicking the “Publish” button on your Course home screen to make it visible to students on the term start date (Sept. 6).
- To open the course earlier to students, please see the screenshot directions at the bottom of the Publish Your Course page.
- If you are teaching a BCOM course, see the Publish Your Course page for instructions on how to publish your course.
- Even if your course is published earlier than the term start date, by default the course will release on Sept 6th at 12:00am if you do not customize the start date.
- If you are teaching an RHL Graduate course, the dates are set for you so you need only press the “Publish” button on your course home screen to make your course available to students.
- If you do not publish your course, students will not be able to access your course, but they will see it as listed in their future courses.
Getting Help
As usual, your Learning Services team is here to help you with this transition, and to make the most of UBC’s learning technology ecosystem to meet your pedagogical needs.
If you have any other questions about setting up your course in Canvas, here is what you can do:
- Send an email to help@sauder.ubc.ca to schedule a one-on-one meeting.
- Join our weekly office hours. No appointment necessary, just drop in.
Self-enroll into Canvas 101 – self-paced course designed to give you a basic overview of the features and functionality of Canvas.
Best Regards,