Introduction

The beginning and end of a semester can seem daunting; not only do you have administrative and grading requirements to meet, but also content and assignments to update before the next time you teach! This page includes recommendations for wrapping up your semester and preparing for the next, including a visual overview of the annual cycle of teaching and course preparation shown below:

Screenshot 2023-10-17 at 12.18.07 PM.png

As you'll see in the image above, there are several tasks to complete near the end of each semester, plus additional tasks to check off your to-do list as you prepare for your next semester of teaching. You can apply the same steps to the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters per your specific teaching schedule, so come back to this module near the end of every semester if you need a quick refresher on the process.

On This Page:

Wrap up your current course
Prepare your new course
Archive your course

NOTE: See the next page of this module for step-by-step instructions related to each of the activities introduced below.

Wrap up your current course

You should begin working on these semester wrap up tasks about three weeks before the semester ends. Preparing communications and verifying grades ahead of time will help set clear end-of-the-semester expectations and make it easier to submit your final grades accurately at the end of the term.

Request SEEQs (Student Educational Experience Questionnaire)

Complete 3-4 weeks before finals end.

When SEEQs are available, students will see a notification on the Notices icon in their global navigation menu. These surveys can provide valuable feedback about your course, so it's a good idea to send a reminder to your students to complete the SEEQs using either your course Announcements page or the Canvas Inbox.

Pro-Tip: If you use Announcements, you have the option to prepare your course announcements for the entire semester ahead of time, and delay sending them until a specific date!

Finalize Student Grades

Complete 2 weeks before finals end.

Take some time to review and update your students' grades before final exams begin. Grading can be complex, so to be sure you and your students have an accurate sense of where they stand as they head into finals week, please check each the following critical items in your course Gradebook:

Missing Assignments: Enter zeros for any missing assignments. You can do this manually, or, if you have a large number of students, you can automatically enter zero for any missing scores using the Set Default Grade option.
Hidden Assignments: Post any hidden assignment grades; if grades are hidden, you will see an eyeball with a slash icon beside the assignment title at the top of the Gradebook column.
Final Grades: Verify the accuracy of your students' "final" grades by exporting the Gradebook and opening it in Excel. You'll want to check this again after you've entered the grades for any final exams or projects submitted during finals week.

Communicate with Students

Complete 1 week before finals end.

Send an end-of-semester message to your students via the course Announcements or the Inbox. Use this opportunity to convey any final end-of-semester tasks, thank your students for their participation in the course, and wish them well on their academic journey.

Submit Final Grades

Complete 48 hours after finals end.

Final grades must be submitted to LionPATH within 48 hours after the end of final exams. You have the option to submit grades automatically by pulling grades into LionPATH from Canvas, or you can manually enter the final grades from your Gradebook into LionPATH.

Prepare your new course

You should begin work on these semester-prep tasks at least three weeks before the beginning of your next semester of teaching. As you learned in Module 1, it's highly recommended that you use a Master Course to manage your course content and assignments over time. Now that you're ready to transition to your next semester of teaching, you'll make any desired changes to your syllabus, content, and assignments in your Master Course, import the updated version into your new Live Course when it appears in your courses list, and make final adjustments to due dates and other details before welcoming your new students to the course.

Revise Master Course

Complete anytime before classes start.

Your preparations for the next semester of teaching will always begin in your Master Course, and there are several areas that may require your attention before you begin working in the new Live Course space for the next term:

Request any new Textbooks and/or Library eReserves needed for your course.
Update your Syllabus page and/or Course Home Page if you would like to change anything about the way you introduce the course and your specific expectations for the new term.
Adjust your due dates and availability dates for each Assignment, Quiz, or other graded activity (e.g. Discussion) in your course. You can adjust these due dates and availability dates individually or by selecting multiple assignments and assessments. This can be done through the Assignments tab in your course navigation and selecting Edit Assignment Dates.
If you would like to prepare student communications for your next semester in advance, create or update the messages on your Announcements page, and select the date when you would like each announcement to be posted/sent to your students.

Import into Live Course

Complete 3 weeks before classes start.

Before the start of the next term, your new Live Course space will appear in your All Courses list. For easy access to the new course, add it to your Dashboard. You can also remove the previous semester's course from the Dashboard while you're there.

Visit the Settings page in your Live Course to import the content of your Master Course into your new space.
Copy or share Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, and Pages from one course or instructor to another using the Direct Share feature in Canvas.

Verify Live Course

Complete 2 weeks before classes start.

After importing your Master Course, it's important to review each of the following parts of your Live Course to ensure the import was successful and your due dates/other settings are correct before making the course available to your new students:

In your Live Course settings, confirm that your Grading Scheme aligns with the Penn State Compatible Grading Scheme.
Use the Validate Links button to automatically check your course for broken links.
Check the course Calendar or the assignment list on the Syllabus page to verify all due dates are correct.
Check your Course Navigation to ensure Textbooks and/or Library eReserves links are functioning properly.
Use Student View to review your course from a student's perspective.
PUBLISH!: When you're ready, publish your course to make it available to your students. You can verify that your course is published by looking at the top right corner of the Course Home Page.

Communicate with Students

Complete 1 week before classes start.

Send a welcome message to your new students using your course Announcements or the Inbox. Use this opportunity to welcome students to your course, set expectations, and convey important information.

Archive your course

Penn State has developed a process to archive completed courses. When a course is archived, it will no longer appear on your Canvas Dashboard or in your All Courses List. If you do not wish to have a particular course archived, you may temporarily delay this process with the Course Archive Manager tool. You may also use this tool to restore archived courses.

Please refer to the Canvas Archive Policy for a full description of the process including what is and what is not archived.

For more information and specific instructions on how to use the Course Archive Manager tool, please review the following Penn State Knowledge Base articles:

Canvas: Opt-Out of Course Archiving (PSU resource)
Canvas: Self-Restore an Archived Course (PSU resource)