Get Your Online Class off to a Great Start

Here are important steps for you to take as you approach the beginning of your online course, including the steps you will need to take if you are planning to use Canvas:

1. Make sure your course(s) appear(s) in Canvas. You will not have to make a request for your courses or student uploads since Canvas is tightly integrated with the University’s student information system. Course sites will be created automatically for all sections, and students will also be added to courses automatically. A course will not be visible to students until the instructor publishes the course.

2. Finish getting your online course ready to go live. We recommend planning your course using the Pages and Modules tools in Canvas. Before you start creating lessons, you may want to plan out your modules using the Course Outline Worksheet. If you are new to online teaching, please contact the Center for consultations or other professional development opportunities.

   Before you publish your course site, please make sure that your online syllabus is clear and includes all information for students’ success. Use the online syllabus checklist to reflect on all elements of your online course.

   You may want to review the Quality Matters Rubric, which provides guidance for designing the various elements of your online course. As members of Quality Matters, we have a full, annotated copy of the rubric available for Illinois State University faculty and staff.

   If you are new to Canvas, consult the Canvas Instructional Support.  If you need technical support with Canvas or pedagogical support for online teaching, contact a member of the Center staff at ProDev@ilstu.edu. We offer one-on-one consultations and a wide range of workshops. You'll find a link to our full workshop schedule on the Events and Workshops page.

3. Provide a “Welcome Letter” (via email and via a web-accessible document) with basic course information for your students. We strongly recommend this step because we know from experience that it will save you a considerable amount of time and effort that would either be spent responding to students’ questions or handling distressed students who don’t “find” your online class until long after it has begun. Students in online classes may need to be provided with explicit information about courses that is either taken for granted or easily found in conventional face-to-face courses.
   • Create a Welcome Letter. Suggestions for information to include in your letter are available in the Welcome Letter Description and Welcome Letter Checklist, and you should feel free to download the Example Welcome Letter to use as a model. (This document can be modified to reflect your specific course expectations.)
   • Send your Welcome Letter to your registered students using the Announcement tool in Canvas. You can type directly into the textbox or add it as an attachment. We recommend this message to be sent about a week before your class begins.
   • You may also want to take this opportunity to do a student “roll call”; ask your students to respond to you so you know that they have received the information.

4. Publish your course(s) inside Canvas!
   Note: Students will have IMMEDIATE access to your course once you have published (opened it up for use).
5. Release your “Orientation Module”! — Design an Orientation Module that provides students with low-stake orientation activities to practice the skills needed to use the tools required of them during the semester. For example, you might provide a "Getting to Know You" topic in your discussion board and ask students to share information about themselves so that they can learn how to use the discussion tool AND engage in some community building. Another suggestion is to collect information about your students by asking them to complete a survey or quiz using the Quizzes tool or submit a Student Information Sheet using the Assignment tool in Canvas. You may want to have students watch a video, download a podcast, use course-related software, visit the publisher textbook site, etc. — or ANYTHING that they might be asked to do that might have an associated "glitch." It's best to get those glitches resolved right away before students have to engage in high-stake assessments and activities.
   
   If you’d like additional ideas or information about creating an orientation module within your course, please feel free to email a member of the Center staff at ProDev@ilstu.edu.