Start and End of Semester Checklist for Instructors

Make sure your courses appear under the "Courses" menu in Canvas. If a course is missing, appears incorrect, or you’re not listed as the instructor, contact your department. Departments coordinate with the Registrar to manage course listings in Banner, which syncs with Canvas regularly. Ensuring you're correctly listed as the Instructor of Record in Banner is key to gaining access.

Course/Section merges

Teaching multiple sections of the same course? Request a merge before adding content. Email Canvas@montana.edu with the course title, course code, section(s) to be merged, and semester information. Learn more about the merge process.

Publisher Integrations

If you previously used a publisher integration in D2L (Brightspace), this short video can help you locate where those tools now appear in Canvas.

If you don’t see what you need or want to set up a new integration, email canvas@montana.edu with your course title, code, section, semester information and the name of the publisher. More on publisher integrations.

Activate course

It is the instructor’s responsibility to publish their course and make it accessible to learners in Canvas.

Learn how to publish your course.

Attend workshops as necessary

Brush up on tools or explore new strategies. View upcoming faculty workshops.

Enroll other instructors, course assistants into course(s) as needed

You can manually add users—such as TAs, co-instructors, or department personnel—to your Canvas course as long as you're within the course start and end dates. If you're outside that window and the +People button is greyed out, contact canvas@montana.edu and we’ll help you get them added.

Learn how to add users and review and edit available roles and permissions.

Copy or import previous course content

Save time by reusing course materials from previous semesters. Follow these steps to copy content.

In Canvas, final grades are shown in the Total column of your gradebook. By default, this column is visible to students and appears on their Grades summary page. If you need to hide or unhide this information—for example, while finalizing scores—this tutorial walks you through how to manage grade visibility.

Set up Learner access to a Brightspace course to satisfy an incomplete grade:

1. Upon submission of final grades to the MyInfo area, instructor indicates an ‘I’ grade for a learner that is to receive an incomplete grade for the course.
2. After submission of final grades in MyInfo, send an email to canvas@montana.edu and provide the course code with section (example: AGED 140US-001); course title (example: Leadership Dev For Agriculture); term (example: Spring 2020); course CRN: XXXXX (example: 54321) and learner’s first/last name with the last four digits of their student ID number (GID).

Backup Grades

Make a backup of course grades by exporting a spreadsheet file of course grades. This creates a local copy that is accessible and printable. This file can serve as a departmental record (if required).

Learn more about exporting grades in Canvas

NOTE: Be sure to consider using a KNOX folder as a storage solution for this sensitive information.

Export a course backup

Download a copy of your course content (without student data) for future reference. Instructions for exporting a course.

Course/Section merges

Publisher Integrations

If you previously used a publisher integration in D2L (Brightspace), this short video can help you locate where those approved integrateions now appear in Canvas.

If you don’t see what you need or want to set up a new integration, email canvas@montana.edu with your course title, code, section, semester information and the name of the publisher. More on publisher integrations.