As you roll your online course over from one semester to the next, there are a few aspects that need to be checked and updated each semester.
Finding and Fixing Missing Links
The main one is finding and fixing broken links and images. Fortunately, Canvas provides a way to automatically check all the links in your course site, including links to images not stored in Canvas Files. In your course settings, you will find a "Validate Links in Content" button which will run the automatic link checker. The automatic link checker will show some false positives when checking links to the IU Knowledge Base and to articles or resources that you would need to sign in to access. In addition to missing links and images, sometimes videos from external sources go missing as well. Any videos that are pulled in from YouTube or Vimeo or another site need to be
If you have typed in dates anywhere in your course, those will also need to be updated manually. The best way to avoid this headache each semester is to ensure that your due dates are consistent. If all assignments are due Tuesday and all discussions are due Friday you can simply reference the day of the week in your instructions and rely on the due date to add the item to students' calendars and to-do lists.
Check Due Dates
We recommend using the "Adjust events and due dates" option when you copy your previous semester's materials into your new course. Even doing that, you still need to manually adjust dates for holidays and breaks. Shifting due dates by a few days is easiest to do in the Calendar tool. There you can drag any assignment or event from one date to another and Canvas will update the date in the assignment and the schedule at the bottom of the Syllabus tool. If you have typed in dates on Pages, Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, or Modules those will need to be adjusted manually as well.
Resetting Announcements
If you import your entire course from the previous semester - even if you adjust dates in the import process - all of your imported announcements will have the original publish date. This means that, unless you delete or re-date them, your students will be able to see the entire set of announcements from the previous semester. While you cannot change the date on multiple announcements at once, you can delete multiple announcements by checking the box to the right of the announcement and clicking the trash can button at the top right.
Updating Technology
If you have been teaching your course for several years using the same procedures, it probably time for tech check-up. IU adds new tools and vendors update their tools regularly. There may new ways of achieving your teaching and learning goals and improving the online experience for both you and your students. There are regular updates and feature additions to Canvas. You may also be interested in learning more about some of the following additional tools.
- Kaltura (for video streaming plus recording tools) (See Creating Video Assignments for more)
- Zoom (for videoconferencing and recording),
- Turnitin (for plagiarism detection and education about appropriately citing sources),
- Quick Check (for mastery quizzes),
- Qualtrics (for anonymous feedback or other surveys),
- Google Apps for Education (including Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, Sites, and Blogger),
- VoiceThread (for multimedia interaction), or
- Examity (for proctored online testing)
Come in to meet with a digital learning consultant and see what updates and new technology could add to your course.
Learn More
For additional tips, see our Getting Started with Your Online Course. For more depth, see the Online Course Development Basics ebook or fill out our consultation request form.