LMS (Canvas)

Canvas is Frankfurt School’s central LMS for course organization, materials, assignments, communication, and student interaction. The TEL team supports course setup and selected implementation tasks, but lecturers remain responsible for academic content, assessment design, and publication decisions.

Canvas course checklist

General Course Preparation

Syllabus

Lecturer checklist

• Review the course homepage and keep programme-specific requirements as provided, including links to the module description where mandatory, the reading list, lecturer profile, and related programme information.

TEL team support

Frankfurt School Canvas courses are equipped with a basic structure specific to the study programme, including an introduction, module description, recommended literature, and lecturer profile. Do not edit these programme-specific elements without coordinating with the TEL team.

Course Structure

Lecturer checklist

• Define the basic course structure, for example by sessions, days, weeks, topics, or modules.
• Use a consistent structure across modules.

TEL team support

Lecturers may adapt the preset session structure to their didactical needs, for example using day-by-day, weekly, topic-based, or module-based organization. Provide the TEL team with the intended structure so that the foundational structure can be prepared accordingly.

Preparation & Content

Lecturer checklist

• Prepare the syllabus, readings, exercises, quizzes, files, and other course elements.
• Upload content centrally to Files and link it from Canvas pages or modules.
• Prefer Canvas pages for readable content such as text, embedded media, and instructions instead of providing everything as downloadable files.

TEL team support

The TEL team provides the Frankfurt School PowerPoint template and supports lecturers with uploading teaching materials, improving and developing content for contemporary formats such as interactive e-learning and video, and implementing materials according to lecturer specifications.

Assessment

Assignments

Lecturer checklist

• For each assignment, define the description.
• Define the submission format.
• Define the number of attempts.
• Define the availability timeframe.
• Set the due date.
• Define the grading scheme.
• For group work, connect the assignment to the appropriate group set.

TEL team support

The lecturer is responsible for graded assignments. The TEL team can assist with task setup and recommend suitable settings, including submission type, number of attempts, plagiarism review, group-set connections, assigning to functionality, submission dates, and rubric connections. The lecturer remains responsible for publishing the assignment.

People and Groups

Lecturer checklist

• Create and manage group sets in the People tab where required.
• Ensure that every student is assigned to a group.

TEL team support

For TEL-assisted group setup, provide:

• the group-set name
• the number of groups or number of students per group
• a list of names per group when groups are predefined
• whether random grouping or self-sign-up should be used

Rubrics

Lecturer checklist

• Set up grading rubrics for key assignments.
• Define clear criteria.
• Define performance levels.
• Link the rubric to the corresponding assignment.

TEL team support

Send the rubric matrix to the TEL team for transfer to Canvas.

Course Interaction & Quality Review

Discussions

Lecturer checklist

• Decide whether discussion forums are useful for the course.
• Define discussion topics, for example an FAQ discussion.
• Review the discussion settings.

TEL team support

Share discussion topics with the TEL team and communicate any deviations from the standard discussion settings.

Communication

Lecturer checklist

• Define the main communication channel, such as Canvas Inbox, email, or in-class announcements.
• Make the communication channel explicit in the course or in a welcome announcement.

TEL team support

Refer lecturers to the Canvas section of the lecturer guide for instructions on posting announcements.

Quality Check

Lecturer checklist

• Review the complete course using Student View before publication.

TEL team support

Once the course is set up, the TEL team can run the Canvas link validator and check content accessibility.