Week 1: Welcome Back to Fall 2025!

The faculty message for the week of August 25-29, 2025 welcomed faculty back and emphasized proper gradebook setup, including downloading rosters, setting grading schemes, handling missing assignments, and waiting until semester's end for extra credit and dropped scores. It also covered student communication options and advised caution with group creation before add/drop closes.

Welcome back to TLP’s timely tips and tricks for fall 2025!

IMPORTANT! Gradebook Set-Up

• Download student rosters with email in Canvas Analytics.
• Set up your grading scheme to match your syllabus.
• No one wants students to have an inflated sense of their grade. For missing assignments, create an automatic policy now or enter zeros as you go. 
• Wait until the end of semester to create "drop the lowest x quiz scores" rules.
• Review your extra credit options before offering to students and wait until the end of semester to enter it. No, seriously. Look into this first. In Canvas, it is complicated.
• Save a lot of time by applying time and due date extensions across the whole semester. See the Accommodate HQ Overview to get started.

Communicate with your Students

Announcements, Inbox, Discussions, Pronto (like Slack or Discord), email, oh my! Learn more about communication options.

Don’t Make Groups Just Yet

Can’t wait for the add/drop period to close? Use caution when creating a graded group discussion to avoid a “deserted discussions debacle.”

Need help? The “Help” button is at the bottom left in Canvas, or drop into the TLP Zoom Lab during our new hours, 9am - 5pm.