When creating a new course from scratch, we recommend that you build out your course in a Canvas development site. After all of the content has been added, the due dates set, and you have test driven it as a student, copy the development site into your live site and leave it unpublised until just before the start of the quarter.
- Request a Canvas Development site
- Add your syllabus
- Add Modules to control the flow of your course
Add all of the course materials to modules. You do not have to create the materials at this time, however, you can add placeholders for them to fill in later. Make sure all of the content is accessible.
You can add the following to the modules:
- Content pages to contain the week's goals and instructional materials
- Discussions
- Assignments
- Quizzes
- Add a home page where you can introduce your course and provide instructions on how to navigate through the course. Consider adding a short video to introduce yourself to your students.
- Hide course navigation links that are not used in your course. Hide the link to the People page to ensure student privacy.
- Confirm all dates by clicking on the 'Adjust All' link located in course navigation. Make sure to set the posting dates for each of the announcements!
- Check for broken links using Canvas' link validator.
- Click on course Settings
- Click on 'Validate Links in Content'
- Make sure the modules have been published. If each item in the module is published, but the module itself is not published, students will not be able to see the module and its contents. The screenshot shows a module that has not been published yet each item in the module is published. Click on the gray cloud to publish the module.
- Test drive your course as a student.
- Request a live site (if you have not already done so)
- Copy your development site into your live site.
- Publish your course just before the start of the quarter. Because students are added to your course as they enroll in it, make sure to publish it when you are ready to allow students to access your course.
- Discussions
- Modules
- Assignments, Tests & Surveys
The rest must be done manually. After you are certified to use Canvas, you are enrolled in the Migration course which walks you through the entire process. You can also sign up for the Migration workshop that is offered every month.
- Request a Canvas Development site
- Import content into your development site using the Content Migrations tool.
- Copy and paste the remaining components (resources, syllabus, announcements) of the Etudes course into your Canvas site.
- Review and revise your material as necessary:
- Be sure that you have removed any references to Etudes.
- Assignments, Tests & Surveys are imported into Canvas as quizzes by the migration tool, unless they are marked as offline. This means that you may have to copy some of the quizzes into Canvas assignments.
- Make sure all of the course material is accessible. This includes all Word, PowerPoint, and PDF documents.
- Consider re-imagining your course to take advantage of how Canvas works.
- Use modules as the road map through your course. Add weekly discussions, assignments, and quizzes to the modules.
- Hide the course navigation to assignments, quizzes, and other links that are not used in your course. This makes it much easier for students to navigate through your course.
- Confirm all dates by clicking on the 'Adjust All' link located in course navigation. Make sure to set the posting dates for each of the announcements!
- Check for broken links using Canvas' link validator.
- Click on course Settings
- Click on 'Validate Links in Content'
- Make sure the modules have been published. If each item in the module is published, but the module itself is not published, students will not be able to see the module and its contents. The screenshot shows a module that has not been published yet each item in the module is published. Click on the gray cloud to publish the module.
- Test drive your course as a student.
- Request a live site (if you have not already done so)
- Copy your development site into your live site.
- Publish your course just before the start of the quarter. Because students are added to your course as they enroll in it, make sure to publish it when you are ready to allow students to access your course.
NOTE: If your course is published and you import announcements where the 'delay posting' dates have NOT been set or are set to a time in the past, all of the announcements will be sent out at once!
- Copy from one Canvas course into another one
- Use the 'Adjust All' link in course navigation to set/confirm the due dates.
- Check for broken links using Canvas' link validator.
- Click on course Settings
- Click on 'Validate Links in Content'
- Make sure the modules have been published. If each item in the module is published, but the module itself is not published, students will not be able to see the module and its contents.
- Test drive your course as a student.
- Publish your course just before the start of the quarter. Because students are added to your course as they enroll in it, make sure to publish it when you are ready to allow students to access your course.