Every IUSO Canvas site should provide students with essential course information, including their current course grade. Outside of class sessions, Canvas is the primary means of communication between you and students. The timeline below provides guidance on what to do, and when, to ensure you and your students have a successful semester.

You’ll have access to the site 8-10 weeks prior to the start of the semester. If you’d like to start building in Canvas prior to the release of your site for the semester, you can work in a project Canvas course and then import that content into the official Canvas course once it becomes available.

2 months in advance

Your Canvas site is created for you approximately 8-10 weeks prior to the start of the term. The exact dates for each term can be located in the IU KnowledgeBase (KB).

1. Confirm instructors in the People tool: only instructors listed on the schedule of courses will be automatically added to the Canvas site. If you have additional instructors or AIs, you will need to add those individuals manually.
2. If you have a previous Canvas site, you may wish to import all or parts of it into this new site.
   • Guide on importing an entire course
   • Guide on importing selected content from a previous course
3. Begin syllabus and course schedule revisions. Update your Canvas site as needed to reflect these changes.

2 weeks in advance

1. Post your course syllabus in the Syllabus tool.
2. Ensure you are using the essential tools and features of Canvas appropriately. Visit the Canvas Essentials Checklist on the following page for complete details.
3. Publish your Canvas site to students. Details (including due dates) for low-stakes assignments can still be pending when the course site is Published. Canvas is students’ primary means of contact with you, their instructor, so timely publishing allows ease of necessary communication.
4. Check your grade posting policy in Grades. The default setting is “Manual”, meaning, you can enter scores via Grades or Speedgrader but students will not have access to the grade information until you “Post grades”.
   • Read further details on setting the course grading policy or changing the grade posting policy for specific assignments.
5. Post a welcome announcement encouraging students to review the syllabus and complete any other pre-semester tasks.

1 week in advance (if using Top Hat)

1. Add Top Hat to your Canvas course navigation. Go to: Settings > Navigation. Then enable Top Hat and scroll to the bottom to click Save.
2. Link your Top Hat course to your Canvas course. Note that this is a new process beginning Summer of 2023.
3. Post an announcement instructing students to complete registration in your Top Hat course by clicking the Top Hat link in your course navigation. They must do this for each IUSO course that uses Top Hat. You can add an assignment to encourage completion of this task. A pre-made assignment is available in Canvas Commons; search for “Top Hat” to import student directions into your course.

Week classes begin

1. Post an announcement prior to the first session with relevant details and expectations for the class.

During the semester

• Continue written communication with students:
  • Use Canvas Announcements to communicate updates to the entire class.
  • Use Canvas Inbox to send customized messages to specific students.
• Release scores and feedback via SpeedGrader on student performance as early as possible so that students can adjust their work and/or study habits appropriately.

At the end of the semester

• Ensure the final grade in Canvas matches the grade being submitted to the Registrar. For more guidance on final grades read the Submitting final course grades chapter.
• The Registrar requires that final grades for full-term classes be submitted by 8:00 p.m. on the fourth day following the last class meeting or final exam.