Guidelines for Course Standards

Following these guidelines helps course sites across the iSchool maintain consistent navigation, structure, and appearance. Within the bounds of the guidelines, instructors can modify the layout according to their specific needs.

The iSchool Canvas Course Templates adhere to many of these guidelines already. Instead of starting your course from scratch, you can download and import these templates to provide you with a foundation to build your course.

Homepage

• Include your name, photo, email, and office hours, as well as class meeting times and locations.

Syllabus

Syllabus is a special page that can be made public while keeping the rest of the course restricted. It generally does not contain the full course schedule as would be included in a traditional paper syllabus. Instead, think of it as the front matter of a paper version. The weekly schedule will go on Course Schedule or Module pages.

Syllabus usually include these sections:

• Course description

• Student learning outcomes

• Course format/structure

• Student and instructor expectations

• Assignment list

• Grading policies

• Link to the Academic Policies page

• Religious accommodations (required)

• Statement of inclusivity:

The Information School is committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive learning environment. Faculty are encouraged to write or adapt a statement of values in their own voice, display this prominently in their syllabus / course website, and discuss it with students on the first day of class. The statement should address topics such as:

• Learning in an environment of mutual respect in the classroom, and giving behavioral examples of what that means. 

• Establishing guidelines for discussion of sensitive topics or having difficult conversations. 

• Promoting active listening and establishing the classroom (both in person and all virtual extensions) as a safe space for the sharing ideas and contrasting perspectives. 

• Use vocabulary and language the signals awareness of ideas and concepts regarding  equity, inclusion, and social justice. 

• Identifying one’s own positionality as it may relate to the subject matter of the course. 

Course Schedule vs Modules

• Residential courses with very little online content generally do not need to organize content into Modules. A Syllabus page and a Course Schedule page with links to Assignments and readings is usually sufficient. Use the iSchool's Course Schedule template.

• Online courses usually use Modules with a module page for each week to help organize content. Use the iSchool's Course Module template.

Content

• Post readings, lectures, and other content in their appropriate locations. If you use an iSchool's Canvas Course template, there are placeholders for these content already on the course schedule or module pages, depending on which template you use.

• Ideally, have all of the content posted by the start of the quarter. If that's not possible, be sure to post content at least a week in advance so students know what to expect and have enough time to review content before working on assignments.

• Consider hiding Files menu from the course navigation bar, so that students don't accidentally stumble upon old files that are no longer being used.

Grades

• Change your grade posting policy to manual. See more at UW IT's Guide to Canvas Grade Posting Policy or Canvas Guide's How do I select a grade posting policy for a course in the Gradebook?

Settings

• Check the box to Let Students Attach Files to Discussion Posts (Course Settings > More Options)

• Enable a grading scheme so students know how their percentage grades will be converted to 4.0 grades

• You may want to edit the Name and Course Code to include both section letters if your course site is combining sections.

Publish

• Publish the course by the first day of the quarter.