Canvas course readiness checklist

Is your Canvas course ready for the first day of classes?

Settings

• Check your course settings and pay attention to student options in the more options section
• Hide unused course navigation items so your students are clear about course requirements

Accessibility

Utilize the following available accessibility resources for guidance:

• Canvas Accessibility information
• General Accessibility Design Guidelines for Canvas
• Use UDOIT in Canvas to generate an accessibility report and address those accessibility barriers

Announcements

• Welcome announcement is posted
• Instructions for getting started in the class are posted
• Old announcements are updated with new dates (or removed)

Syllabus and Schedule

• Current syllabus is posted
• Syllabus includes accurate textbook and/or additional software requirements
• Schedule is updated with current dates
• Schedule includes due dates for all assignments, quizzes, discussions and readings

Faculty Bio

• Instructor bio is updated with current email, info and photo
• Office hours are posted
• Instructions for communication are posted

Course Content/Modules

• Set a course homepage
• Module structure matches the current schedule
• Content in Modules have been updated
  • Publish or Unpublish items in Modules, Discussions, Quizzes and Assignments to ensure your students can access, or not access, your content.
  • Delete any content from your modules, files and pages that you are no longer using. This makes it much easier for you to organize and use your content and frees up storage in your Canvas site.
  • Make sure to look at items in Module 0. Find the newest items and update them with current information. Delete the old items.
• Complete a UDOIT scan to ensure accessibility standards are met
• Load asynchronous or pre-recorded videos into Panopto
• Move any Panopto recordings you plan to reuse
• Ensure any embedded content is showing correctly
• Copy any VoiceThreads you plan to reuse and add them to your course site

Web Resources

• Check all course web links to ensure they still work
• Schedule Zoom sessions
• Links have been added for all online supplemental resources

Assessments

• Assessment instructions, settings and due dateshave been updated for current semester
  • You may want to adjust your assignment due dates. Find your academic calendar here (MU, UMKC, UMSL, MS&T)
• Old assignments have been unpublished or removed
• Quiz content has been edited
• Assessment names are intuitive

Discussion Board

• New forums have been created
• Forums have been linked to appropriate Weekly Units
• An introduction forum is open to students
• Adjust Discussion Board Settings

Grades

• Grade Center has been organized
• Assessments are in the proper assignment groups and weighted properly (if in use)
• Grading scheme reflects current assignments and department requirements

Next, review your course using the student view to ensure you've done everything correctly. Now you are ready to Publish your course site!