Before the first day of class, take a few minutes to review the following in Canvas.

Select a step below.

Create or Move Course Content

Course of record shells are typically created six weeks before the start of the term, and can be found on your Canvas Dashboard, under “Unpublished Courses.” These shells will have your students enrolled.

Unpublished courses on a Canvas Dashboard

In the screenshot example to the left, note the term designations. Use this to make sure you are working in the correct term’s course.

Not seeing your course shell on your Dashboard? Contact your Colleague administrator to make sure you are listed in Colleague as an instructor.

If you plan to request a merged course (combine multiple course sections into a single Canvas course), use this form to submit your request. Once your merged course has been created and you’ve been enrolled as a teacher in it, come back and follow the steps one through seven.

If you plan to request a Blueprint course, use this form to submit your request. Do not do any work in the individual course sections until the Blueprint has been set up and you have been advised further.

Learn more about merged courses and Blueprints →

Choose one of the methods below for getting content into your shell.

Copy a Canvas course from a previous term, or a Canvas sandbox, into your shell by following the steps here.
Import a course template into your shell and begin building the course by following the steps here.
Build your course without copied content or a template in the shell.
If you would like to move content from Blackboard, we highly recommend meeting with a learning designer, who can guide you through the considerations and process.

Check Accessibility of Course Content

YuJa Panorama is a powerful accessibility tool that integrates directly into Canvas, to identify and fix accessibility issues, generate alternative file formats, and support inclusive learning through AI-powered remediation tools. Instructors can use YuJa Panorama to enhance course accessibility and improve the student learning experience.

Learn more about Panorama by watching a recording of our training session, viewing the resources on our website, or by scheduling a meeting with a learning designer.

Check Links

A screenshot of the Canvas Course Link Validator

Once your course content is created or moved in to the shell, use the “Validate Links in Content” feature to check the links used. This is a helpful feature to make sure the links you use are still active. If any links are flagged, note them down, check them out, and update them if necessary.

Some links Canvas flags won’t require remediation. You can check these later in step five when you view the course as a student.

Configure Course Content, Features, and Settings

Publish/Unpublish Course Content

Verify the course content you do not want students to see yet is unpublished. Verify the content you do want students to see is published. If you are participating in preview week, make sure any welcome/getting started information is published.

We recommend that instructors organize their course using Modules. If you are using Modules → See: Publishing your Canvas Module (Make Visible to Students)
If you do not organize your course using Modules → visit the Assignments area of the course to ensure the correct course content is published.

LockDown Browser

If you copied Canvas Quizzes into your course that use LockDown Browser, you’ll need to click into the “LockDown Browser” shortcut in your Canvas course navigation to open the LockDown Browser dashboard. This only needs to be done once to sync your LockDown Browser settings.

Respondus LockDown Browser confirmation message stating that course settings have been updated and the instructor has successfully enabled the LockDown Browser dashboard for copied courses.

If you don’t see LockDown Browser in your Canvas course navigation but need to complete this step → See: “Enabling LockDown Browser” section in Using LockDown Browser in Canvas.

Course Navigation

We’ve pre-set the course navigation menu for you in your course, and in most cases, faculty do not need to adjust the options shown. See: Editing the Course Navigation in Canvas

Course Dates

In rare cases, a course may run outside the standard academic term dates. Faculty teaching these courses are generally aware of this requirement. If your course extends beyond the established term dates, update the course participation dates as needed. See: Change Participation Dates in Canvas

Publish (Open) the Course

A screenshot of the Canvas course Publish and Unpublish options.

When you’re ready to open the course for students, publish the course. See: How do I publish a course?

Once you publish the course, it will move from “Unpublished Courses” to “Published Courses” on your Canvas Dashboard. This can be undone until students participate in the course (submit an assignment, take a quiz, post to a discussion board). Once students participate in the course, it cannot be unpublished.

Send a Message to Your Students

Once the course has been published, send an announcement or use the Canvas Inbox to message your students that the course is open. Your course must be published (open) to communicate with students.

Before midnight on the first day of preview week: use the Canvas Inbox, not an announcement.

Students will receive an e-mail copy of the message you send through the Canvas Inbox.
Students will not receive e-mail copies of announcements. This is because the term has not yet started.

After midnight on the first day of preview week: send an announcement or use the Canvas Inbox.

Students will receive an e-mail copy of the message you send through the Canvas Inbox.
Students will receive an e-mail copy of announcements you send in your course.

During the course, unless you intend to message specific students, you will likely want to use the announcements feature instead of the Canvas Inbox. Note the following:

By default, students will receive e-mail notifications for announcements and Canvas Inbox messages you send.
By default, you (as an instructor) will not receive e-mail notifications for announcements you post in your own own Canvas courses.

More information on customizing notification preferences can be found here.

Canvas global navigation bar, Help is the last item at the bottom

For Instructors

If you need help with Canvas, remember there are 24/7/365 phone, chat, and e-mail support options in the Canvas Help menu. Your question may also be answered on our Instructor Resources for Canvas page, which we continue to update. There, you’ll find how-to articles, short videos, and answers to frequently asked questions.

Please use our Calendly to submit any Canvas-related questions, comments, or requests to our team, or e-mail your learning designer directly.

For Students

If your students need help with Canvas, resources for them (including 24/7/365 support) are available here. You may also share the link to this video with your students to help them become familiar with navigating Canvas.