While implementing Canvas and delivering courses within it for the first time, there will be a unique term start preparation process. Courses will be mostly prepared in a Staging area where the content was originally migrated, and once confirmed ready, will be copied to the SP23 course shells for final updates. Read below for more information on that process and how to prepare for getting access to Canvas and your course content.
If your course has already run in Canvas in the most recent summer or fall semester, that content will be used to populate your SP23 course site with content unless you request otherwise by contacting us at CLDTsupport@jh.edu.
Important Note: We recommend thoroughly reviewing the Canvas Training for Faculty before you begin working on your course to update it for the semester. If you login to Canvas at https://canvas.jhu.edu and do not see the Orientation, please email us at CLDTsupport@jh.edu so we can provide you access.
October/November - Review your course in Staging
Once courses have been migrated and migration issues within them have been resolved, we will be emailing faculty from CLDTsupport@jh.edu to let them know their course is ready for review.
Courses will be prepared in a Staging area in late October and throughout November. Because this Staging area is not the site where the course will be delivered, some tasks will need to be completed after you have requested to have the course copied to the SP23 site. Those are covered in the next section.
When you gain access to your Staging course site, these are the tasks you will need to complete:
Required/Recommended
- Update any PDFs/Word files/related documents that reference Blackboard or submitting assignments through that interface
- Review course content and make adjustments as necessary
- Adjust dates and set date release
- Repair/replace quiz content and rebuild quizzes/exams
- Review Gradebook functionality and ensure grades will be calculated as intended
Optional/As desired
- Apply requirements/prerequisites to modules/items within modules
- Re-work Discussion assignments that used seed threads
- Re-name (and subsequently re-link) course files and organize your Files folder
The AEFIS Syllabus will not be connected to your Staging site, but can be updated when your SP23 course site becomes available in July. If you do not want to wait until July to update your syllabus, please email us and we will provide a direct link with instructions on how to update your course syllabus in AEFIS.
Once you have completed your review of the course in Staging, you will need to confirm this by emailing CLDTsupport@jh.edu, so that your assigned instructional technologist can copy the course from the Staging area to the SP23 course shell. Once copied over, you can complete the setup for your course for the term.
December/January - Copy course to SP23 site
Once your course has been prepared in the Staging site, you will need to email CLDTsupport@jh.edu so that your assigned instructional technologist can copy the course from Staging to the SP23 course shell. This is the site where your course will be delivered, and where you will see student enrollments. Now you will be able to finalize the setup of your course by completing the following actions:
- Update your AEFIS Course Syllabus via the Course Syllabus link found on the course menu
- Re-link 3rd party tools (VoiceThread, Respondus, zyBooks, Gradescope, etc.) and associate them with the appropriate assignments
- Set up groups and link them to assignments/discussions
- Make any final updates before granting access to students
Students will be granted access to SP23 course sites on the first day of term start, January 23.