CBU Remote Ready Quick List

A quick list for CBU professors to prepare for remote learning.

Image of the Canvas Dashboard. Shows the top part with Published Courses and the bottom part with Unpublished Courses

Click image to enlarge

1. Go to your Canvas Dashboard

All classes (Traditional, Hybrid, Online) have an automatically generated course shell in Canvas

Haven't used Canvas much?

    • Click here for quick guides to access Canvas

    • On your Canvas Dashboard, you'll see groupings for Published and Unpublished courses.

2. Use your Canvas course shells as home base for students

On the first day of each term, every course shell for every CBU class a student is enrolled in -- is auto-published on student Canvas Dashboards. On the first official day of the term, every course shell that a student has registered for (TR, HYB, OL) will be visible on their Canvas Dashboard.

  • All Canvas course shells should be prepared to welcome students on the first day of the term, regardless of format or which day of the week the course begins.

  • If you want to publish your course early, that's great! The student will be able to enter the course on their Canvas Dashboard. If you want to hide any modules or assignments, you can. See this example

Even if you have a Hybrid or Traditional class, the automatically generated shell for your course can act as a class website and assignment hub. You can update your course as often as you want. You can make Canvas a reliable space for students to look for course information.

  • Click here to learn about the range of ways -- from small to big changes -- to create a home base for students.

  • Click here for guides to using Canvas

Include the first two weeks of material online. They will be hidden until courses are published on the first day of the term. Even then, you can hide any assignments or modules. See this example

3. Communicate your plan with students

Once CBU's plan for Spring is set, even if you haven't published your Canvas course shells, email students to share your plan. Let them know that you'll be adding information to the Canvas shells and will email them once it is published. This can ease their concerns.

  • Click here to see how to create email lists from your Canvas courses

  • Note: The Announcements feature in your Canvas courses will not send announcements to student emails until you publish your Canvas course. Even when your course is published, we recommend using CBU email as your primary form of communication with students, as not all students have opted-in to receive Canvas Announcements to their email.

  • Share this CBU Student Remote Learning Guide with your students: bit.ly/CBUremote

  • If you plan to use WebEx for synchronous meetings in a course, you can share this video with students to prepare them.

4. Prepare WebEx for class meetings

If you intend to use WebEx for synchronous class meetings, check that it's set up. If you haven't used it in a while, you may have to reauthorize it.

  • Click this if you receive a WebEx authorization error (Requires Canvas login)

  • Click this for a WebEx Troubleshooting guide

  • Click this for a guide to set up WebEx meetings in Canvas (requires Canvas login)

  • Click this to consider the limitations of required synchronous meetings in an emergency remote situation

5. Canvas helps

Canvas may still be new to you or a tool your haven't used in a while.

These 5 steps will help you and your students better prepare for an emergency remote situation

đź’ˇ Consider adding a Canvas Discussion Board to increase engagement: