Instructional Design & Technology

Preparing your Canvas site: A start-of-semester checklist

1. Ensure that your course syllabus has been updated and posted in your site.

   • We advise sharing your syllabus in the Syllabus tool of your Canvas site so students can find it easily.
   • See How to upload a document to the Syllabus tool for a step-by-step guide of adding your syllabus document to this tool.

2. Content created/imported

   • If you are creating new content (assignments, discussions, pages, etc.) in your Canvas site and need some assistance, we would be happy to help! Please reach out to us at idt@camden.rutgers.edu or 856-225-6090 to speak with one of our staff.
   • There are several methods of transferring content from one Canvas site to another, depending on the circumstance. Please see How to copy course content for an in-depth guide.

3. Content published (or unpublished) 

   • Double-check that all content in your course is published or hidden as appropriate. A great way to check is by using Student View to evaluate your site from a student’s perspective.
   • If you need to publish/hide content (modules, assignments, files, etc.) you can change the visibility status by clicking on the icons below.  See here for a more detailed guide to publishing/unpublishing Canvas site material.

   

4. Course dates updated

   • Course start dates default to the first day of the semester. If you would like to make your site available early, please update the course start date under Course Settings before publishing to ensure full access to your course.
   • Please note that announcements sent before the official course start date will not trigger an email notification. Be sure to update the start date before sending any announcements!

5. RUcams recordings scheduled (if applicable)

   • Classrooms at Rutgers-Camden offer in-class recording function via our RUCams tool. If you would like to schedule your class sessions to be automatically recorded, please see this guide for instructions. You can opt to make these recordings available to students in your Canvas site.

6. Site published

   • Once you’ve reviewed the steps and processes above, you are ready to publish your site! Simply change the course status from Unpublished to Published from the course status option in the top right corner of your screen to open your site for the semester.  Best wishes for a great semester!