Teaching Tip: Five things to check before the semester starts
September 1, 2015
SyllabusHave you updated your syllabus for the new semester? Read the Faculty Senate requirements.
Course schedule
Have you updated the dates in your course schedule to reflect the date for the new semester? Are assignment due dates easy for students to find and consistent throughout your course materials?
Grade center due dates
If you are using the Blackboard Grade Center, have you updated the due dates in the Grade Center to match the dates in your course schedule?
Welcome message
If you are teaching online, have you welcomed your class by sending an announcement in Blackboard or a similar notification that students can easily find? A welcome announcement is an effective way to tell students how and where to get started in your course.
Course availability
If you are using your Blackboard course shell, remember to make it available to your students. Making your course available is as simple as looking under the Control Panel links in your Blackboard course, clicking Customization and then Properties, and looking at #2 on the Properties page. Set Availability to Yes, then click Submit.
This short checklist is meant to be a tool to help you cross the most common new-semester tasks off your list so that you are free to focus on the more interesting challenges of learning and exploration.
Read the full Teaching Tip, with more resources, at iTeachU.uaf.edu.
-- Teaching Tip by Christen Bouffard, UAF eLearning instructional designer