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Week Zero

A common method of welcoming students into a new term is through the use of a "Week Zero". The purpose of this non-instructional week is to allow your students the opportunity to become familiar with you, the structure of your Canvas course, review essential documents like your syllabus and required textbooks or resources, and to ask questions before the term starts.

Establish Communication

Messaging your students slightly before the term begins is an excellent way to introduce yourself, and set your expectations around communication and how your class will run before it actually starts. It will give students a springboard to reply with questions of their own, and goes a long way toward reducing first-day anxiety.

Recommended topics

Clearly identify what communication methods you prefer (COCC email? Canvas Inbox? In-person after class?) and when and how students can expect to hear from you.
Highlight anything that will be essential to success in the first week. Many students wait their financial aid is dispersed to purchase course materials, so if they will need access to publisher content, software, or lab materials in week one, mention this.
Be clear with any particular logistics and expectations related to your class. Other instructors will have different requirements for their courses.
Direct students to resources they may not be aware of, such as tutoring, Services for Students with Disabilities, or the technology lending library.
Invite questions! Encourage students to reach out to you

How to:

Send students a message through the Canvas Inbox
Send students a message using Canvas Announcements
Send students an email through Outlook email (search DLX:[CRN] in the Outlook Global Address Book)

Student Access

How and when students see your course is controlled through two main elements: the start date and publish status. You can leverage these elements to allow students to preview areas of your course before the term begins. You may, for instance, choose to publish your Getting Started module containing your introduction and contact information, syllabus, the exam schedule, and required technology the week before the term starts .

If the Start Date has not passed, any published content will be shown in 'Read Only' mode, meaning students can see the content but won't be able to interact with it. Unpublished content (modules, pages, hidden menu items, etc.) will remain hidden until you publish them.

Managing Student Access

In your Course Settings under Participation you will see Start and End dates for your course. The Start date will always be the day your course starts according to the official COCC schedule. (The End date is the schedule end date +14 days.)

You can publish your course early in Settings by expanding the dropdown under Course Status and selecting Publish.

screenshot of the course participation area in Canvas Settings

screenshot of the publish status dropdown

Good to Know

Week Zero represents a great opportunity, but there some guardrails involved.

All student engagement with Week Zero is voluntary.
- You can not assign or collect work before the term begins, or make pre-term work a requirement of any assignment given later in the term.
Only students who are officially registered in your course can see that course's content in Canvas.
- No COCC staff member will give a student access to a section they have not registered in.
- If you want to share content outside the LMS, that is at your discretion but that content won't be safeguarded by COCC systems.
Registration changes sync with Canvas every 3 hours during the day - at 6AM, 9AM, 12PM, 3PM and 6PM.
- Students can register themselves up until the first day of term, after which they will need your approval.
Waitlist students will appear in your Canvas Rosters for the first week of term.
- These students are encouraged to participate in the class as if they are fully registered. Anyone who is not granted an official seat during the first week will be dropped on Sunday of the second week.