Pepperdine Canvas New Term Checklist

Overview

As a new academic term begins, here are the Top 10 essential steps to get your Pepperdine Canvas class site ready.

Top 10 Faculty Checklist

Access Your Pepperdine Canvas Class: Log in to Pepperdine Canvas and select your class site from the Dashboard.
Publish Your Class Site: Select "Publish" on the Home page of your site so students can access it.
Import Content from a Previous Class Site: Use the "Import Existing Content" option to bring in materials from past terms.
Combine Sections (Cross-List Your Classes): If you are teaching cross-listed classes or want to combine multiple sections of the same class into one class site, use Cross-Listing. Be mindful of FERPA and other limitations/implications!
Add and Publish Your Syllabus: Use either the Canvas Syllabus Tool or the new Pepperdine Syllabus Tool to share your syllabus with students.
Customize Your Class Site Menu: Add, reorder, or hide tools to focus student attention through Settings and Navigation.
Set Up Your Class Assessments and Grading Structure: Add your Assignments, create Assignment Groups to weight activities, set up your Gradebook, and verify your Grade Scheme.
Add Files, Activities, Links, and Pages to Modules: Structure your class sequence and provide the resources for student learning.
Verify or Update Due Dates: Use the "Edit Assignment Dates" feature to review the open and due dates for all course activities. Compare with your syllabus to align your deadlines for student work.
Check and Verify Digital Accessibility: Use the Accessibility Checker in the Canvas LMS rich-text editor to check your page work. Use the checkers in Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat to verify document accessibility. Use GrackleDocs to produce an accessible PDF from a Google Doc. Learn the elements of an Accessible Syllabus and check your Pepperdine Syllabus for accessibility issues. Refer to the Faculty Digital Accessibility Guides for more information.

Don't see a site?

After class site creation has happened and you don't see a site, please check your WaveNet Faculty Center to verify your teaching assignment. If you don't see your class in WaveNet, then you will not see it in the LMS. If that happens, please contact your school program or division office for guidance. Refer to additional faculty guidance as needed.

Other Common Setup Tasks

Set Your Canvas Notifications. Not receiving your own course announcements? You need to modify your settings! Set your notification preferences, especially the "Announcement Created By You" option.
Add a TA or GA: Add People to enroll teaching assistants, graduate assistants, or co-instructors. All official enrollments are automated. Do not add official students; they must officially register for classes.
Select a Home Page: Choose a Home Page to welcome students to your class site.
Add Student Accommodations: Use Time Adjustments in New Quizzes to allow extra time for student accessibility accommodations. Use the "Assign To" option in Assignments to grant individuals, differentiation tags, or sections different assignment deadlines. And please don't use traditional "groups" to make accommodation adjustments for multiple students. Instead, use differentiation tags.
Manage Groups: Create Group Sets in your class site to set up group activities, display some content to select groups, etc. Avoid using "groups" for accommodations, as members of a group can see other participants within the group.
Declutter Your Dashboard: Customize your Course List to hide old courses by favoriting only the sites you wish to see on your Dashboard.
Structure Your Content with Modules and Pages: Use Modules to outline your course, scaffold your lessons, add requirements, and guide student progression. Use Pages to explain lesson content, embed videos, and more. Be sure to publish your content!
Track Participation with Attendance: Use the Roll Call Attendance tool or other participation methods to monitor student attendance.

Faculty To-Do List: After the Term Begins

Don't forget to...

Double-Check That Your Site and Content Are Published. Students will not see your class or modules if you didn't publish them. Learn how to publish your site, publish your modules, and publish your pages.
Continue to Check for Accessibility. Use the Accessibility Checker to be sure that the content you create in the Canvas rich content editor remains available to all learners.
Send a Class Announcement. Use Announcements to communicate with your students. (Important: Students will receive announcements, but you won't receive a copy of your own class announcements by email until you update your notification preferences!)
Explore Analytics. Use Course Analytics to assess student engagement with your class.
Use SpeedGrader! Grade class work with ease with SpeedGrader.
Review Extra Credit Strategies. Explore options to apply extra credit to assignments or student grades.

Additional Training & Support Resources

← Back to Pepperdine Canvas Faculty Guides

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