Course Preparation

As mentioned right above this section, there are a few things left to do once you access your course for the first time.  Each of those items has a tutorial and video in the Faculty Resources area link provided below and many are linked, directly as well.  In order to put our best foot forward with our students and quell any new course jitters they may have, please do the following, approximately 2.5 weeks prior to the term start:

1. Access your course in D2L and fill in all the due dates for each graded item,
  meetings, and any other dated items of importance for students to know about.  (Video links for due dates: Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes).  Remember, you can also create D2L calendar entries for your students to see for key meeting dates.

2. Customize your syllabus (Need help?  Click-->NLU's Simple Syllabus help)

a. Access the electronic Syllabus by clicking on the top navigation label that says "Syllabus", this is how you access Simple Syllabus to customize it and publish it for your students.  

b. Provide details related to office hours, grading turnaround, and responsiveness to outreach.  

c. For office hours, please list at least one hour per week (in Central Time) that you have reserved specifically for this course and notate “and by appointment” to be sure students know they can reach you at other times as well.  Indicate the preferred method for holding your office hours in a virtual learning environment such as Skype, Zoom or via phone.  List the information, including links, so it is easy for students to access.  Students are not required to attend office hours, of course, so feel free to also use this time for any other catch up in the course if no one chooses to attend.

d. Consider uploading your photo and including your biography and/or a video introduction in the Instructor Information area, too.

e. Check your textbook citation against the NLU bookstore to ensure accuracy – alert your key academic leader urgently if they do not match.

f. Fill in department Grading Policies in Expected Course Practices (some sample content should populate for you to edit), be sure to be clear on what you will accept late, within what timeframe, and what the specific penalties would be.  As an institution that supports the students on their journey into growth mindset, we do ask that you accept at least late papers and quizzes (or other such summative assessments in the course).  Because Discussion Questions are meant to be an active, formative assessment, we do support not allowing for late postings.  We also understand that sometimes extenuating circumstances prevent students from meeting an occasional deadline, so please exhibit a culture of care when administering it later on. Once you are satisfied with your syllabus, press Submit.

3. If you decide to use our plagiarism detection software, TurnItIn™, go to each assignment and turn it on in D2L.  

4. Check to make sure your Gradebook Settings are accurate.

5. Review your content and click on URLs to ensure their currency (sometimes you may need to Google a course material and replace the link by using "Edit HTML" at the bottom of that page OR reach out the Helpdesk for assistance at helpdesk@nl.edu).  If you have a course that uses courseware, please make sure the content is available when you are viewing as a student in the next step.  Click for-->Hawkes or Knewton Help

6. View the course as a student to catch any other items needed prepped.  Note: you will not be able to view the syllabus this way, put rest assured the version you see when you submitted is what they will see.  If you want to double-check it, you can go back out of student view and click the Syllabus link again to view it.

7. Create a Welcome Announcement, and please use video in addition to graphics and text if you can.  Please visit the Faculty Resource Appendix in this Playbook for a helpful template.  This should be visible to students at least 2 weeks in advance of the start of the term.

8. Bring your course to active to students and view it to be sure everything looks the way you want it to at least 2 weeks prior to it starting – and yes, refer to the Faculty Resources page for instructions should you need them!

9. Do you need a Zoom account for your class to support instruction?  Please contact our HelpDesk to obtain a pro account. Additional Zoom resources can be found on the NLU Faculty Resources page.

*Please submit a Course Maintenance Form to permanently replace a broken link.  It will be fixed in the template in a following term.