September 19, 2024

Canvas Tips: Prepping for Autumn Quarter

Hello CoE Huskies! 

We wanted to send a note because Autumn quarter is just around the corner! You’ll note Canvas sites are available to start working on in Canvas. You can locate them on your Canvas dashboard in the Unpublished Courses section at the bottom of the page.  

If you would like assistance with prepping your Canvas sites, now is the time to submit your request by sending us an email at edhelp@uw.edu.  

• For those that would like us to import your content into your Autumn course site, please make sure to include a link to the previous Canvas course you would like to have imported.  
• For those who would like us to adjust the due dates in your course site(s), please make sure to include your course schedule/syllabus for and we will make sure everything is appropriately in place with updated dates. 

For our DIYer’s we’ve included some helpful guides below to consider while setting up your course sites:  

• How do I copy content from another Canvas course using the Course Import tool? 

• • We recommend using the selective import option to bring over only the materials you need but excluding items you may not want to reuse such as Announcements.  

• How do I bulk update due dates and availability dates for assignments? 

• • If you are looking for something with a little more granular control, checkout the DesignPlus Multitool that includes a Due Date Modifier. 

• How do I manage Course Navigation links? 

• • We recommend only having the areas that are being actively used by students in the course showing on the course navigation menu bar. Typically, this would include Announcements; Syllabus; Modules; Assignments; Discussions; People; Grades; UW Libraries; UW Resources; & Ally Course Accessibility Report. 

• How do I publish or unpublish a module? 

• • When you add Modules in your course, they are unpublished by default. It’s important you remember to publish those modules when you want students to access them because even if the items within a module are published, if the module itself is unpublished, students won’t be able to access those items. 

• How do I lock a module? 

• • If you want to set a paced schedule of module availability during the quarter, you can set unlock dates on the modules that will release the content to students on a set date and time. Keep in mind that modules need to be published for the lock dates to auto-release the content at the set date and time.  

• How do I validate links in a course? 

• • This tool is super handy when checking for broken links throughout your course site!  
  • If this is the first time you’ve run the validator it will include any unpublished content. If everything in the course is updated with new dates, check the option to exclude unpublished content and re-run the validator. 
  • Also, important to note, if you use materials that are behind login portal or pay-wall, these items may be flagged as unreachable by the validator. If you click these links on the report and they function as normal than you are all set.  

• How do I publish a course? 

• • Remember that Canvas courses are automatically set to unpublished status. Once you have everything in place and you want to release it to students, make sure to publish the course so students can access it. 

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about your upcoming course sites, Canvas or how you can apply instructional design best practices to your course, please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask for help!