The Office of Learning Technologies' Instructional Designers use templates as a base for courses in Canvas to promote consistency in content and navigation among courses. Some schools/college or departments may have their own Canvas course templates. Instructors can request to have all or specific components of the Learning Technologies course template to be placed into their Canvas course. Follow instructions to import or request the Learning Technologies Canvas course template.

The best practice is to chunk or break course content into small, logical segments to make it easier to process and remember. Neuroscience and educational research indicate that students need to acquire new content in small, logical pieces. When chunking content into modules, use a consistent format for each module and use consistent terminology throughout the course. Read the two articles below to learn how to chunk course and module content. For further assistance in organizing and formatting modules, see the Course Design Style Guide for Instructors (pdf).

• Chunking Course Content
• Chunking Module Content

Simplifying the course navigation menu can help streamline the Canvas course. Canvas includes a set of course navigation links that are shown by default on the left navigation menu. However, some links may point to areas that the instructor is not using in the course, which can be confusing for students. It is important for instructors to provide an organized and course-specific navigation menu, which can minimize distraction and allow students to easily navigate to course components. It is recommended to keep only course navigation links that are relevant to the course and hide the ones that are not being used. Check the Canvas guide on how to customize the Canvas course navigation menu.

Engaging students in a course is crucial to their success. Frequent course check-ins help faculty build a presence and create a supportive environment for students. Faculty are encouraged to participate in the course daily. Participation may be achieved through monitoring and actively participating in the discussions, posting announcements, sending alerts and reminders, sending emails, etc. This provides an opportunity to guide learning, build relationships, identify areas of challenges, offer assistance, and address common issues/questions

Note: Frequent logins do not require 24/7 availability. Expectations for availability and response time should be clearly stated in the communication section of your course syllabus.

Canvas provides several tools for communication which are presented below. Indicate in the syllabus/Canvas the best way for students to make contact. Follow all FERPA guidelines when using these communication tools.

Provide students with clear expectations regarding email response time. Faculty are encouraged to respond to student emails within 24 hours.

Example: Email will be answered within 24 hours (Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., excluding holidays). Emails received between 5:00 p.m. on Friday and midnight Sunday will be answered on the following Monday.

Online student hours (office hours) provide students with the flexibility to receive individual help and feedback on assignments virtually. Regular office hours may reduce the number of emails students send to the instructor. It is recommended that faculty hold a minimum of 6-hours of virtual office hours each week. To maximize the benefits of online office hours, instructors can employ several practices such as:

• Allow students to make appointments or alternate between morning and evening hours for set office hours.
• Post recorded office hour sessions for future viewing. Ensure that students are aware that the session is being recorded and obtain permission from the students to share. Ensure that recordings do not include sensitive/private information such as grades.

As noted above, the Zoom feature of Canvas can be used for virtual office hours.

To ensure a safe online environment for students and instructors, students are expected to follow the guidelines listed below. Instructors are encouraged to model the way to communicate by following the same guidelines.

• Respect: Each student’s opinion is valued as an opinion. When responding to a person during the online discussions, be sure to state an opposing opinion in a diplomatic way. Do not insult the person or their idea. Do not use negative or inappropriate language.
• Confidentiality: When discussing topics be sure to be discreet on how you discuss children, teachers, and colleagues. Do not use names of people or names of facilities.
• Format: When posting use proper grammar, spelling, and complete sentences. Avoid using ALL CAPITALS. This signifies that you are yelling. Avoid using shortcuts/text abbreviations such as “cu l8r” for “See you later.”
• Relevance: Think before you type. Keep posts relevant to the discussion board topic.

Altering the course schedule due to severe weather or other emergencies depends on individual course constraints. Consider the following factors prior to making course schedule adjustments:

• A significant number of students are impacted by power outages or dangerous weather events.
• The University is closed.
• Disruption of the access of the Canvas Learning Management System. When Canvas is not available, the Office of Learning Technologies will alert students and faculty through the Learning Technologies website and other communication channels.

UAB Emergency Management will be the official source of UAB information during any actual emergency or severe weather situation.

Faculty are encouraged to provide a meaningful assessment prior to the “Last Day to Withdraw” to allow students to make informed decisions.

Provide students with clear expectations regarding when grades and feedback for assessments and activities will be available.

Example: Quiz grades will be available upon submission of the quiz. Correct answers will be available after the due date. Grades for written assessments will be available one week after the due date.

Grades can be exported directly into the Banner Student Information System (SIS) from the Canvas Gradebook. Grades can also be manually entered into the Banner SIS by the instructor.

The grading window opens one month prior to the grade submission deadline for each term. Within the grade posting window, instructors will see a Canvas Sync icon on their faculty BlazerNET profile beside each course (requires login). Clicking this icon will pull the grades from your Canvas Gradebook into Banner for that course, if the gradebook is formatted properly for this purpose. Instructors can then make any final adjustments, such as marking Incompletes or Pass/Fail, if necessary. This process can be done as many times as needed, until the grading window ends.

See detailed instructions on how to export and post grades from Canvas to Banner.

If the grading window has closed and grades need to be entered or changed, the instructor will need to submit the Grade Changes request to the Registrar. The Grade Changes request is located in BlazerNET.