No need to memorize every step of course management when you can lean on the Canvas Checklist. This guide walks through the faculty action items related to accessing, building, and concluding academic Canvas courses. Each task can be expanded to reveal facts and further instructions. Course Schedule Confirmation Tasks You'll know it's time to complete these tasks when we announce Canvas course shells are ready for the upcoming term. We've heard it feels too early to think about when it happens, but faculty are encouraged to knock this short list out for a smooth start to building courses during the following six to eight weeks before classes begin. Estimated Time | 15 Minutes ☐ Confirm your course access is correct or report errors. Canvas course shells are created from the Banner course schedule three times a year: Fall in late June, spring in early Nov, summer in early March. How do you confirm? Open Canvas through Cardinal Apps and locate your courses for the upcoming term. Don't see your courses? Check the Banner course schedule to see if you're the instructor of record (IOR) listed. If changes to teaching assignments occur, edits must be made in Banner by your department administrator. Email canvas@uiwtx.edu if you need help connecting with your department contact. Banner changes feed to Canvas every few hours around the clock, edits are not instantaneous. ☐ Ensure your course dates reflect your plans or change the start and end dates. Term dates are set by default and may not meet your needs. How do you check and change dates? Inside your course, open Settings to check and change Participation dates. You can manage section dates differently if you cross-list multiple sections and want to do so. Do not leave dates blank for academic courses, or they forever display in students' current enrollments. Students do not get access to your course until it has both been published and the start date arrives. ☐ Merge, also called cross-list, multiple sections to manage one single course. Cross-list your sections together before you begin building content. How do you cross-list? Choose the parent course you plan to use and follow the cross-listing instructions. If you build content in a child course before you cross-list, you lose access to that content. Instructional Technology can de-cross-list your courses for you by request. Different courses, rather than multiple sections of the same course, are cross-listed by the registrar through Banner. ☐ Request access to courses from past terms if needed. The button to add people to a course is disabled after the end date passes. How do you request? The Instructor of Record submits a written request on behalf of the person who needs to be added to canvas@uiwtx.edu. If a person requests access for themself, Instructional Technology will acquire approval in writing from the IOR, department chair, or dean before processing. Adding a person to Banner will not give access to past courses as the feed stops running a couple of weeks after the term ends. ☐ Initiate using the OneDrive app to share files later. There's a behind the scenes process that can take while, start early to manage the wait. How do you initiate? Use the OneDrive app in Canvas once per course. ☐ Consider your Microsoft Teams options. Explore the MS Teams options with Canvas as each has its own benefits. If needed, create a MS course group by enabling the integration and perform a sync in your course Settings within the Integrations tab. Get started using MS Teams in less than 9 minutes with the Introduction to Microsoft Teams video. Before Classes Begin Tasks Students report feeling more confident when they access an informative Canvas course on or before the first day of class. Complete these course build tasks to leverage that positive emotional state and build momentum towards academic success. Estimated Time | 45 Minutes ☐ Review any template items that came with your new course. Template items easily allow the university to provide updated info to everyone. There are new additions and edits made each term. How do you review? Start with opening each index for Pages, Discussions, Assignments, and Modules. Keep items you will use, delete those you will not. Remember, removing items from a Module does not delete them. ☐ Copy previous content from another course. Always copy before editing content to preserve the academic record of the past course. Use caution if copying more than once to avoid unnecessary duplication of content. Easily adjust events and due dates during the import. How do you copy? From inside your new course, import all of a previous course or select items. You get an import confirmation the process was successful or details of what failed. Submit a request for content to be copied from another instructor's course to canvas@uiwtx.edu. Instructional Technology will acquire approval in writing from the IOR, department chair, or dean before processing. If you're starting from scratch, connect with your instructional designer. ☐ Set Home after the import process is completed. If you didn't previously delete it, the template home page displays after the copy process. How to set Home? If the desired home page is not displaying, you need to set the correct Front Page. ☐ Follow digital accessibility standards as you create. Canvas courses are websites requiring attention to digital accessibility. Practice 10 essentials skills for improving your course accessibility score. The Canvas RCE also offers an accessibility checker. Schedule a digital accessibility consultation for assistance. ☐ Update your syllabus and course outline documents. Accurate syllabus and outline documents set clear expectations. Avoid naming the files with a date, instead opt for CLASS1234 Syllabus and CLASS1234 Outline. How do you update? Go to Files and locate the items. If the file name is exactly the same, select Replace on the prompt, which updates all links to the file anywhere in the course. If the file name is different, upload the new files, delete the old ones, then navigate your course to fix any links manually. Ensure your syllabus and outline documents are linked on the Syllabus feature. ☐ Edit and publish all your assignments. Graded Discussions and Quizzes are also part of Assignments. How do you edit? You can edit Assignment settings How you set up Assignments creates your gradebook. Confirm points possible and weighted groups calculate grades as stated in your syllabus. Publishing Assignments early allows students to use the What-If Grades feature. If you don't have all the details, let students know they are coming soon in the instructions box. ☐ Confirm events, to dos, and due dates are correct. The Course Summary in your Syllabus feature lists all dated items in one place for an overview. Save your sanity with the due date bulk editor for assignments! All dates must fall between your start and end dates, managed in Settings. ☐ Update all Pages of content. How do you update? Pages can be edited to ensure content is fresh. Avoid dates in the text of your course, as that is a large workload to update each term. Are your office hours and contact info accurate? Do you have a communication policy? Delete duplicate pages or outdated ones you no longer need. ☐ Customize your Student Orientation Module. Orientation builds a mutual understanding about course expectations. Combine new template items with your existing ones in a way that works for your course. If you have more than one orientation module, delete the duplicates. Add practice assignments to build student confidence and reduce tech issues. ☐ Perform a quality assurance check. Manage your course navigation links, removing tools you will not use - don't forget to Save your changes! Use View as Student to see the course through your students' eyes and to create a Test Student in the gradebook. Run the Validate Links in Content tool to check for broken links throughout the course. Check your Accessibility Report to strive for a 100% score. ☐ Publish your course. There are layers of publishing for maximum control of the student experience. Students prefer courses with all items published over surprise content down the road. Publish the entire course once it's ready to go - you can't unpublish after students start working. Students can't take action in the course until after the participation start date, but they can look around. Check the restrict students from viewing option in Settings if you do not want students to see your course early. ☐ Post a welcome announcement. Notifications are not sent via email unless the course is published. Posting a welcome announcement creates a sense of belonging and establishes your presence as the instructor. If you set a delayed date and time for an announcement to post later, know the timestamp once posted will reflect the date you created the post. Use the display until option cautiously, as disappearing announcements can create confusion. End of Term Tasks And here we find ourselves at the end of contributing to another transformative term. The emphasis for completing these tasks is all about finalizing grades, record keeping, and seeing your students off on the next leg of their journey. Estimated Time | 30 Minutes ☐ Complete grading for every student and plan for incompletes. Canvas does not count empty grade cells against students, you must enter a value for every cell. You can see any student's individual grades view to assist in giving feedback. Incompletes are often handled by leaving the course open longer or requesting the student be manually enrolled in a future course with the same work expectations. Use the Notes column for a convenient documentation spot in your gradebook. ☐ Enable a grade scheme to show a letter grade with the final course grade. You can select from the available options or create your own. How do you enable? Open Settings to enable a grading scheme. If you select a grading scheme name "UIW..." and teach for CHASS, DSE, HEBSBA, MSE, SMD, or SPS, your grades will transfer to Banner at the end of the term. If you do not want to enter your grades manually, do not enable the UIW grading schemes. Transfer of grades is not available for any other schools at this time. ☐ Prepare if opting to transfer grades to Banner with a UIW grade scheme. How do you prepare? Follow all grade requirements for transfer before the registrar's export date. Check grades in Banner after the transfer and report errors to the registrar. Manually enter final grades in Banner if you prefer to opt out of this process. ☐ Export a copy of your gradebook for your records. Saving your gradebook is optional. Gradebooks can be exported, adjusted in Excel, and imported back into Canvas. ☐ Create a backup of your course content. Saving a backup of your course content is optional. Course content can be exported and imported into a Canvas course. ☐ Post a farewell announcement. You've spent weeks getting to know your students and guiding them through your subject, take a moment to wish them well. Include guidance for requesting letters of recommendation, picking up large projects, or when you teach them later on in the curriculum. ☐ Verify the end date and viewing restriction settings. Ensure your end date is acceptable. The participation end date changes the status to past enrollments, stopping participation and creating a read-only environment. Faculty can edit the end date proactively. Decide if students can view your course after it ends, restrict their view you don't want them to maintain viewing access. Need further Canvas training or assistance? Email canvas@uiwtx.edu, book time with Instructional Technology, or use the Canvas Global Navigation Help button.

Banner images are a way to create visual appeal in a Canvas course. Broadway, Health Professions, and SPS Canvas courses come with a banner image on the home page, which the instructor can change. This guide explains how to replace an existing banner image with a new image: Open your Canvas course and click Edit to make changes to the home page. Delete the previous banner image, leaving your cursor where you want the new image. Click Insert > Images > Upload Image and select the new banner image. Click the image to select Image Options, mark the image as decorative, or type any text shown on the image as alt text, then select 100% for the size, and click Done. Click Save to apply your changes to the home page. Need more detail? Delve into the in-depth walkthrough below, complete with images and various notes for every step. Step 1: Open Your Canvas Course and Edit Home Your Canvas course opens on the Home page, and you need to click the Edit button to make changes to the content displayed. Step 2: Delete the Previous Banner Image Once you're in editing mode, click the previous banner you want to replace. There will be a faint blue border indicating you have clicked on the image. Then use either the delete or the backspace key to remove it. Leave your cursor in the same spot after you have deleted the old image, as this will allow you to upload the new one to the same spot. Step 3: Upload the New Banner Image There are two ways to upload the new image. Either click Insert > Image > Upload Image or click the image icon in the rich content editor toolbar. Then locate the correct image on the image upload pop-up and click Select. You can enter alternative text or mark the image as decorative now or wait until the next step. However, you aren't able to adjust the display size during the upload. Step 4: Edit the Image Options For your banner image to resize no matter what device your students are using, you need to set the file to 100%. To open these settings, click on the image and look for the Image Option button to appear. Then, on the slide out tray of settings, change the dimension type from pixel to percentage and enter 100. This makes the banner image take up the entire width of the page. Also, if you didn't address alt text in the previous step, be sure to add alternative text for any words in the image. If there are no words in the image, mark the image as decorative. Step 5: Save to Apply the Changes Scroll down and save your changes before leaving the page. Change a Canvas Banner Video Guide If prompted, sign in with Cardinal Apps to view the video. Trouble with the embed? View the video directly. Canvas Banner FAQ Does the banner image size matter? Yes, banner images sized too narrow can appear large in Canvas and take up a greater amount of space than you want. 768 x 96 pixels is a standard banner size for Canvas. Further, you can change the image options in Canvas to 100% so that the image is responsive regardless of your student's device window. Can I make a banner image with PowerPoint? Yes. A slide design size of 8 inches by 1 inch works great in Canvas. A template document is attached to this guide for your use. Can I use the Replace option in Canvas Files to update images? Yes. When you upload a file to Canvas Files with the same name and file extension, Canvas will prompt you to Replace the previous version. This feature then updates the file anywhere it is being used throughout the entire course. This makes changing versions simple and thorough. However, if the name or file extension has changed, Replace will not work.

Important: Cross-listing is only recommended only before students begin working on a course. Due to the risk of lost data, this action cannot be reversed by the instructor; however, you can request the course be de-cross-listed by the Canvas administrator. Cross-listing combines multiple Canvas courses into one. It is recommended when teaching similar materials and learning experiences across different sections, as it allows you to differentiate access dates, communications, assignments, and modules per section. You also retain the ability to sort the gradebook by section. If you teach more than one Canvas course each term, cross-listing can streamline your teaching by reducing the number of courses you manage. Perform cross-listing before copying content or building your courses. Any content in a section that is not designated as the parent course will be hidden from both you and your students, and student activity data and assignments will become inaccessible. To cross-list a Canvas course: Login to Cardinal Apps and open Canvas LMS. Open the "parent" course and copy the course ID from the Canvas URL. The course ID is the numerical value in the URL after /courses/. For example, in https://canvas.uiw.edu/courses/47585/settings, 47585 is the course ID. This example is for demonstration purposes only and is not a usable course ID. Open the "child" course to be cross-listed and navigate to Settings. Select the Sections tab. Select the name of the section to open it — this step is critical and commonly skipped! Click the Cross-List This Section button. In the dialogue box that appears, paste the parent course ID from Step 2 into the ID field, and press Enter. Confirm the parent course is correct and select Cross-List This Section. A confirmation message will appear... Refresh your dashboard view. You will now see one combined course, and all students from both sections will be enrolled in that single course. Repeat steps 3-10 for each child course you want to cross-list within the parent course. There is no limit. Cross-List Demonstration Video The cross-listing process is easier to accomplish when you can see the steps. Follow along with this 4-minute demonstration: If prompted, sign in with Cardinal Apps to view the video. Trouble with the embed? Direct link: Cross-List Canvas Courses Cross-listing FAQ Can each section have a different participation start date? Yes. Instructors can control the date and start times differently for each section of students. Learn how to manage course access in six minutes. Can each section have different assignment due dates? Yes. Instructors can Manage Assign To options to adjust due dates for different sections. Add as many as needed to customize the experience. Note, removing an Assign To variable after entering grades will make them disappear from your gradebook - always add additional ones instead of deleting them. Can I undo my decision to cross-list my courses? While you can't undo the decision yourself, it can be reversed by the Canvas administrator by emailing canvas@uiwtx.edu. However, once you de-cross-list enrollments, all grades and student submissions are removed from the course (since the course can no longer associate the information with any course enrollments). If you need to retain student grades and put them in the original course, you should export the Gradebook and import it into the original course before de-cross-listing the section.

Canvas makes it easy to reuse content you’ve already created — saving you time and effort. Whether you’ve heard it called “Copy my course,” “Import my content,” or “Roll my course forward,” the idea is the same: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each term. At the beginning of every new term, it’s best practice to copy your course content before making any edits. This helps preserve the academic record of your previous course and ensures you have a clean starting point for the new term. You have three main options when copying content in Canvas: Copy the entire course – Best for fully built courses you want to reuse as-is. Copy select parts of the course – Ideal when you only need certain assignments, quizzes, or pages. Copy a single module or item – Perfect for making targeted updates or reusing just a portion of content. Copy the Entire Course Canvas makes it easy to reuse content from a previous course by using the Import Existing Content tool. This is the most common method instructors use when preparing to teach a course again in a future term. ⚠️ Do not clean up or edit your previous course before copying it. Copy first, then make changes in the new course. This ensures you preserve the academic record and avoid breaking links or removing valuable content. Step-by-Step Instructions Open the new course shell where you want to import content. On the Home page or in Settings, click the Import Existing Content button. On the Import Content page, set the Content Type dropdown to Copy a Canvas Course. In the Search for a Course field, locate and select the course you want to copy from. Select All Content to bring everything over. (Recommended if you’re reusing most of the course.) Optional: If the original course used due dates, check the Adjust events and due dates box. Choose Shift Dates to automatically move dates to match the new term. Enter the start and end dates of your previous course (found in Settings). Then enter the start and end dates of your new course. Choose Remove Dates if you want to start fresh without any dates. Use the Substitution option if the new course follows a different weekly schedule (e.g., starting on a Tuesday instead of a Monday). Click +Add to Import Queue and allow the process to run. After Importing Check the import status on the Import Existing Content page. Green means the import was successful. Orange indicates warnings — click View Issues to review and fix anything that needs attention. Red (Failed) means the import wasn’t completed — contact Canvas Support for assistance. Go to Settings > Navigation and edit your course navigation links. Go to Pages > View All Pages and set the correct front page for the course. Go to Modules > Course Orientation for Students and edit/publish for your course needs. Copy All Content Demonstration Video If prompted, sign in with Cardinal Apps to view the video. Trouble with the embed? Watch the "Copy All Content Demonstration Video" directly. Copy Only Select Parts If you are certain to only need a few parts of your course, you can choose Select Specific Content on step 5 in the Copy an Entire Course process. Select Specific Content Demonstration Video Copy a Single Module or One Item Inside a Module If you only want to copy a module or an individual module item from your course, the "Copy To" feature is the best choice. Note, Copy To has a known issue with New Quizzes. For this option, you need to open the previous course where the content exists - the exact opposite of the Import Content tool. Copy To is for sharing with yourself in another course. Send To is for sharing content with other people. Copy To Demonstration Video FAQ: Copy a Canvas Course How do participation dates work in Canvas courses? Participation dates control students' ability to actively work in your course. They are dependent on the course being Published first, then they allow instructors to further manage course access. Where can I learn more about adjusting dates during the import process? Read the instructor guide for adjusting events and due dates. Where can I learn more about import status? Read the instructor guide to view the status of current and prior imports.

You've built a Canvas course, but when can students see it and start learning? This article explains Canvas course access and steps instructors take to manage the student experience, including: Course Availability for Instructors Banner Enrollment Management Publish Levels: Course, Modules, Items Participation Dates: Term, Course, Section Course Availability for Instructors When can instructors expect their Canvas courses each term? The Banner feed initiates course creation three times a year. To signal the milestone, a global announcement is posted in Canvas, which includes links to commonly referenced resources for copying content and getting started setting up your course. Fall courses are created in late June. Spring courses are created in early November. Summer courses are created in early March. Banner Enrollment Management People listed in Banner as instructors of record are enrolled in the Canvas course as Teachers by the Banner feed communicating with Canvas. Students enrolled in Banner get access to the Canvas course as Students. The Banner feed communicates enrollments to Canvas every couple of hours around the clock. Where is my course? If an instructor doesn't see their course in Canvas, they need to be listed as the instructor of record in Banner and wait for the Banner feed to update enrollments. Students must be enrolled and the instructor must have made the course available before they can access it. Remember, whether you're an instructor or student, check your "All Courses" list if you don't see a course on your Canvas Dashboard. The Dashboard gives you a quick stop to current courses, while your All Courses list is comprehensive. For students, the instructor must have published the course before it appears on their Dashboard. Does Banner always update Canvas enrollments? No. After the term ends, the Banner feed is turned off for that term and Canvas course enrollment management stops. Requests to access a past course, such as for new faculty, are submitted by the Instructor of Record to canvas@uiwtx.edu The term started - Students can't access my course. First, students must be enrolled and have no holds delaying the process of accessing Canvas. Second, instructors must publish and manage course participation dates for students to get access to courses. Students contact their instructor if their Canvas course is not open on the first day of class. Publish Levels: Course, Modules, Items Courses, modules, and content items are all created in an unpublished state to support the instructor's development process. This provides an extra layer of privacy, allowing you to ensure quality and accuracy before going live to your audience. The Student View button is an excellent way to ensure students can see your content. Build Before Publishing Times are completing your entire course before publishing it can be unrealistic. We recommend using the skeleton approach when you are pressed for time. Building out the bare bones to create a clear structure and then coming back to fill in the details is less confusing for students. Add the title and a simple "details coming soon" message. There are three levels of publishing to consider. Level 1: Course Publish Course publish is the go-live button for the entire course. It's the lock on your front door keeping everyone out. Level 2: Module Publish Modules allow you to create structure in your course. Using them causes Next and Previous buttons to appear on each item, effectively forming students a linear pathway through all of your content. If the Module isn't published, students can't see it or any items that are inside of it. Level 3: Item Publish Items include any content you have created with Canvas features or documents uploaded in your course. Every item has a publish option. This is a great feature to help you keep track of your progress. We recommend you publish as you work. Just like Modules, items can't be seen by students unless they're published. Also note, that an item that is published but placed inside a Module that isn't published won't be visible to your students. Participation Dates: Term, Course, Section Publishing is the key to unlocking your course, modules, and items, but Participation Dates are just as powerful in managing access to your Canvas course. Just like there are three levels of publishing, there are also three levels of participation dates. Term Dates Term dates are a default setting that comes with your course based on select terms defined by the Office of the Registrar. Instructors can change the Term dates to meet their needs. To confirm if the Term dates are acceptable: Open your Canvas Course Navigate to Settings. Check the Participation Start and End dates. Course Dates To change the Term dates: In your course Settings, select Course from the Participation drop-down menu. Enter your preferred Start and End dates/times. Do not leave the dates empty. The system needs these dates to stop student participation and correctly categorize past enrollments. Decide if you want to restrict students from viewing and check the boxes if you do. Scroll down and click Update Course Details to save. Section Dates If you teach a cross-listed course that contains multiple sections, instructors can manage differentiated participation dates. For example, if you teach a section that meets on Mondays and it's cross-listed with a section that meets on Tuesdays, you can set different Section dates for each section. We recommend watching the training video's chapter on section dates to see how it's done: In your course Settings, select the Sections tab. Click the name of the section to open it. Click Edit Section. Enter your preferred Start and End dates/times. Decide if you want to restrict students from participating outside the dates and check the box if you do. Click the Update Section to save. Video Guide If prompted, sign in with Cardinal Apps to view the video. Trouble with the embed? Direct link: Manage Canvas Course Access Manage Canvas Course Access FAQ Does View as Student work for external tools? No. Student View is unable to connect the test student to any external tools that work with Canvas, including textbooks, OneDrive, Teams, etc. View as Student can only display native Canvas features. Can I change the Term dates? Term dates are set by Banner according to the Office of the Registrar and can't be changed. However, instructors can switch from Term to Course dates to make adjustments for their needs. What happens after the participation date passes? The course enters a read-only state and participation is no longer allowed. Instructors are no longer able to post info, add colleagues, grade, or facilitate the course when a course is read-only, but they can still copy their content for an upcoming term. Students are no longer able to add to discussions, submit work, take quizzes, or interact with the course to accomplish tasks when a course is read-only. The ability of students to access a course for viewing is up to the instructor and is controlled by selecting the restriction options in the course Settings.

The SIS ID (Student Information System ID) in Canvas is a unique identifier for courses within Canvas. Sometimes, you may be asked to provide the course SIS ID to an individual looking to assist with a request. To locate the SIS ID for a course: Canvas Account Administrators Log in to Cardinal Apps and open Canvas LMS Select Admin Open the corresponding subaccount where the course is located. Search, then open the desired course. Open the course Settings. Copy the value in the SIS ID field, found above the subaccount field. Instructors Log in to Cardinal Apps and open Canvas LMS Open Canvas LMS Open the Canvas course for which you are looking for an ID. Open Settings Copy the value in the SIS ID field, found above the subaccount field.