Start of Semester Checklist

University wide syllabus statements regarding registration add/drop, academic misconduct, student accommodations, instructional technology statements and university support and resources have been centralized on the Course-related Policies and Resources page. A link to this site is added to the course menu for all courses in MyClasses.

Within your syllabus, we recommend using the following statement to direct students to this information, which includes several support services:

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University Course-Related Policies: Salisbury University expects that all students have read and understood all of the Course-Related University Policies and Resources and thereby agree to honor these standards. Important course-related policies and resources includes, but are not limited to:

• Course registration add/drop/withdraw period
• Academic misconduct policy,
• Student accommodations,
• University resources such as the SU Libraries, Disability Resource Center, Center for Student Achievement, University Writing Center and SU Cares.

The [INSERT ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT/UNIT] considers academic misconduct as a serious offense and ALL incidences are subject to disciplinary action including, but not limited to, separation from the University.

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Faculty can also add this statement to their course by importing the Salisbury University Policies and Resources page from the Canvas Commons.

If you have content from a previous semester, or have been working in a development course, you can import the content of that course to the current semester.

Important Next Steps:

1. If you have integrated embedded Panopto videos, you may need to update your Share permissions for those recording. Each semesters, you must set up permissions for the new course to Reuse Panopto Recordings.
2. If you use Respondus LockDown Browser for any of your online tests/quizzes/exams, activate it in the new course by selecting Respondus LockDown Browser from the course menu. You will receive the following message as verification:  Your Settings Have Been Updated! Copied courses require instructors to access the LockDown Browser dashboard before exams can be taken by students. You just did that, so you’re all set!
3. If you are using Turnitin assignments, you must include the following statement in your syllabus:
   • "Salisbury University contracts with Turnitin for plagiarism detection and deterrence in support of The Salisbury Promise and academic misconduct policy. As a condition of participating in this course, all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review and plagiarism detection through Turnitin. All papers submitted to Turnitin will be included as source documents in the Turnitin reference database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism consistent with fair use principles under federal copyright law. You may be asked to directly submit certain written course requirements through MyClasses. The instructor may also submit a student’s written assignment through Turnitin if the instructor, in good faith, suspects plagiarism."
   • For additional information about Turnitin, including instructional videos, visit the Turnitin Knowledge Base Article .
4. You can update your assignment due dates in bulk >under the Assignments page in MyClasses. Additionally, you can use the Multi-Tool to adjust assignment due dates all from one place. You can also use the Multi-Tool tool to mass delete announcements and/or adjust release dates for reusable announcements.

If you are starting development in your first MyClasses Canvas course, the Starting Your First Canvas Course video below contains useful information to get your started. This video covers information about:

• Importing content from a course template
• Choosing a home page
• Including a syllabus in the course
• Creating and adding items to a module
• Arranging the navigation in the course
• Content creation tips

One of the most important tips about MyClasses Canvas is that the gradebook is organized based on the Assignments area. Assignments are organized into Assignment Groups. For more information, view the Organizing the Gradebook Tip of the Week:

Tip: There is no way to add a column to the gradebook within Grades. Faculty can create a column in the gradebook by creating a No Submission Assignment.

Need a place to start in designing your course? ID&D offers an Online and Hybrid course template you can import into your MyClasses course which customizes the course menu with the more relevant information and provides pages and design that you can modify. The template is good for any course, regardless of modality. In addition, the template meets 11 of the Quality Matters (QM) standards by design, and an additional 10 standards that have placeholders for faculty to modify.

There are several ways to organize a course. The majority of faculty will use the Modules area to add content pages, files, and various graded activities. Pages provide the ability to create content, similar to using Word, directly within MyClasses. Using the Rich Content Editor, you can create and edit information to display to students as well as link to files, assignments, discussions and other areas within the course.

Resource: Examples of organizing content

The Student View allows you see the course as a student views it. While in the student view a Test Student is created for your course to allow you to participate in assignments, quizzes and other areas of the course just like a student. At the end of the session, you can choose to keep the student data of the Test Student in the gradebook or reset it to allow you to complete the activity again. Refer to the How do I view a course using a test student? guide for more information.

Even though courses are created automatically, courses do not display to students until the faculty member Publishes the course. Course availability to students is also dependent on the course dates. Courses are set up for students to access one week prior to the semester start date and close two weeks after the end of the semester.

Online and hybrid courses are expected to open for students one week prior to the semester start date. This allows students to review the course syllabus, become familiar with the MyClasses course, and to complete any pre-week activities.

Faculty can learn more about MyClasses by:

• Attending a Workshop
• Utilizing Resources on our MyClasses Help for Faculty site