Pre-Semester Checklist: Preparing to Teach an Ohio State Course

Whether you are new to teaching at Ohio State or a seasoned instructor, it's important to be aware of relevant university policies and guidelines before you teach.

1. Explore expectations for facilitating discourse and fostering a safe and respectful classroom environment.
2. If you are teaching online, your online course must be approved and address the requirements described in Policies for Online Teaching. 
3. Know where you can find university policies related to teaching. Information is available in the Office of Academic Affair's (OAA) Policies and Procedures Handbook and University Faculty Rules. Additional guidance can be found on the OAA  Policies, Guidelines and Forms page and Faculty Policy FAQs.

Be sure to acquaint yourself with any department-specific guidelines for teaching as well.

Having a basic understanding of the university's learning technology toolset is important for any instructor.

1. Familiarize yourself with CarmenCanvas, Ohio State's learning management system. See Getting Started with Carmen for Instructors.
2. Understand the uses of other tools in the supported toolset, including CarmenZoom, Mediasite, PebblePad, and Top Hat. 
3. Read about the importance of using university-supported and -vetted tools in Understanding Learning Technologies at Ohio State.
4. Know where to get help with learning technology — bookmark the Teaching and Learning Resource Center's Help page as well as your local IT or departmental support.

Know key information about your course and important dates for the upcoming term.

1. Log in to Buckeye Link with your Ohio State name.# and password. Click on Faculty Center to confirm the following information about your course(s): course number, section number, class number, class roster, meeting dates and times, and location. 
   1. Note that instructors must have formal approval to change the delivery mode of a course. Contact your unit’s academic leadership if you have questions.
2. Review the Academic Calendar on the University Registrar's website for important dates in the semester, and add reminders to your calendar.

If you are teaching an established course in your department, familiarize yourself with the approved syllabus and how it fits within the academic program’s curriculum. For example, is this a required course, an elective course, or a General Education course?

Spending time reflecting broadly on the course's goals and learning outcomes will set you up to think creatively about the details. 

1. Review the learning goals and outcomes. What should students understand and be able to do by the end of the term? How might the course impact students' disciplinary knowledge, values, or beliefs?
2. Make a list of readings, videos, examples, or ideas from the course that you find particularly exciting. Why does the content excite you? How could you get students excited about this material?
3. Consider where your students come from. What might motivate them to take this course? What authentic connections between the course content and their lives can you highlight?

If you have access to instructor notes or student comments from previous offerings of the course, be sure to utilize them.

1. Review prior students’ end-of-semester survey responses, or any midterm feedback that may be available. Note areas of strength as well as common student concerns. 
2. Consider previous teaching reflection notes or peer review feedback to gather insights about what successful teaching might look like in this course. 
3. Think about changes you can make to improve the course.

If you are able to choose the primary texts and materials for your course, considering using affordable options such as Open Educational Resources (OERs). In addition to saving students money, OERs enable you to customize materials to better align with your goals.

Learn more about Affordability at Ohio State and Customizing Your Course with Open Educational Resources.

Make sure required textbook(s) are ordered before students begin registering for the course, using the Adoption & Insights Portal (AIP). See these textbook ordering instructions from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

To comply with federal and state laws intended to control college costs for students, textbook orders should be submitted at least ten days prior to the date of priority registration for a given term. Typically, this means orders should be submitted by early March for autumn semester, early October for spring semester, and early February for summer semester. Find registration dates on the University Registrar's Academic Calendar.

If you are designing your own assignments, consider appropriate assessments and learning activities that align with your course goals. 

1. In addition to summative assessments, plan formative assessments to help students practice key skills. Include low-stakes assessments early in the semester to provide students feedback before the course drop deadline (see the Academic Calendar for dates). 
2. Apply principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to offer students multiple means to interact with content and demonstrate learning. 
3. Integrate authentic assessments that encourage students to engage real-world content and problems, address real-life audiences, or present their work in formats they are likely to use in your discipline or their future careers.

Learn more about assessing student learning in Designing Assessments of Student Learning and about course design as a whole in Using Backward Design to Plan Your Course.

To support student success in your course, review assignment descriptions and instructions to ensure they are clear and student-friendly.

1. Apply the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework to ensure the purpose, tasks, and criteria for success on each assignment are explicit.
2. Take a positive approach to academic integrity as you prep assessments – clearly communicate academic integrity expectations for each assignment.
3. Consider how you will encourage or limit the use of generative AI for assignments. Learn more in AI Teaching Strategies: Transparent Assignment Design.

You can find additional guidance for specific assignment contexts in:

• Creating and Adapting Assignments for Online Courses
• Designing Research or Inquiry-Based Assignments
• Implementing Peer Review Activities in Your Course

Think ahead about a lesson plan for each week of class and any additional materials you need to organize.

1. Plan for active and collaborative learning. Review the active learning strategies provided on the Drake Institute website.
2. Consider the materials you will need to deliver instruction each week. For example, will you need presentation slides, handouts, or instructions for activities? Should you provide ancillary resources to help students complete assignments?
3. Connect with your Subject Librarian, who can help you find additional information and materials for your discipline and course topics.

Each Ohio State course must have a syllabus, and it must “be provided to each student explaining how the student’s performance will be assessed.” The syllabus must “be made available to students at the beginning of, and throughout the conduct of the course” (see University Faculty Rule 3335-8-19 on Student assessment). 

1. Review Ohio State’s recommended syllabus statements and policies and any additional statements required by your department.
2. If you are teaching an online or hybrid course, reference the Online and Hybrid Syllabus Template developed by Ohio State Online. 
3. For additional syllabus resources and examples, see the College of Arts and Sciences (ASC) Syllabus Elements.

Include information for each of the following areas in your syllabus:

1. Course title, number, and semester
2. Course meeting dates, times, and location
3. Instructor contact information
4. Office hours and location
5. Required texts and materials (and where to find them)
6. Prerequisites (if applicable)
7. Course description (general themes, topics, goals)
8. Learning outcomes
9. Course schedule (readings, discussions, assignment deadlines, exam dates, and so on)
10. Instructional approaches
11. Assessment methods
12. Grading scheme (assignment and exam weights and criteria)

To learn more about grade marks and grading see University Faculty Rule 3335-8-21 and Ohio State's Standard Grading Scheme. You may also consider this example of an Alternative Grading Scheme from the College of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to course-specific policies for tardiness, absences, late assignments, makeups, and so on, include statements for the following:

1. Academic integrity
2. Artificial intelligence
3. Content warning language 
4. Copyright
5. Counseling and consultation services/mental health resources
6. Creating an environment free from harassment, discrimination, and sexual misconduct
7. Disability and accessibility
8. Diversity
9. Grievances and solving problems
10. Religious accommodations
11. Open communication
12. Weather or short-term closings

You can download the university's recommended syllabus statements for many of the items above.

Consider university resources you want to highlight for students, such as support contacts for mental health and wellness, study, technology assistance, library research, and so on.

For example, you could consider including the following in your syllabus:

• Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing
• Dennis Learning Center
• IT for Students
• Peer tutoring
• Student Mediation Program
• Student Wellness Center

See additional student services provided by the Office of Student Life.

Submit your syllabus to the University Registrar in accordance with university policy.Guidance for how to upload your syllabus or replace an earlier version can be found on the registrar's website.

Log in to Carmen at carmen.osu.edu and find your courses for the upcoming semester. The Start of Term Checklist for CarmenCanvas is a useful resource to make sure your courses are ready – scroll down to the Instructors section and consult the checklist when you are ready to review and publish your course.

For guidance on logging in and creating courses in Carmen, see Getting Started with Carmen for Instructors.

To create a consistent and student-friendly learning experience for students, instructors are encouraged to address the four “Carmen Essentials.” 

1. Upload an updated syllabus in the Syllabus section of your Carmen course. 
2. Check that all course materials are available in Carmen and organized logically in Modules. 
3. Plan to use Announcements in Carmen as your main form of communication with students outside of class.
4. Set up your Gradebook in Carmen, including all assignments for the term, to help students stay organized and monitor their progress.

If you cannot apply all of the essentials to your course, prioritize posting your syllabus and setting up the Gradebook.

Learn more about Carmen Essentials.

For a deeper dive into recommendations for creating a student-friendly Carmen course, see Carmen Common Sense: Best Practices.

Reviewing the accessibility of your Carmen course material is crucial to creating a student-friendly learning experience.

1. Read Five Ways to Improve Accessibility in Your Carmen Course.
2. Use the Accessibility Checker in the Rich Content Editor.
3. Use the Validate links tool in Carmen to check course links. Be aware that the links tool cannot validate links behind a login.
4. Make sure all assignments have accurate due dates. To easily review and adjust due dates as needed, access the due date editor from the Assignments tab.
5. Review the Office of Student Life and Disability Services Best Practices and Resources for Faculty/Staff.

Once you have reviewed your Carmen content and course setup, you're ready to publish your course. Be sure that you have also published individual assignments, pages, and other materials so students can access them. 

Use the Student View to ensure all course content is visible to students and to experience how the course will appear to them. 

If you are teaching in a physical classroom, familiarize yourself with its features and functionality. 

1. Visit the Learning Spaces Directory to virtually tour the space. 
2. If time permits, walk to the building(s) and classroom(s) you will be using before the first day of class.
3. Consider how you can leverage the space for specific course activities. For example, are the chairs and tables fixed, or are they flexible for group work? Are there whiteboards in the room? Will students have space to move around during activities?

Pool classrooms supported by the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation (OTDI) vary from room to room, but all will include a projector, a wall-mounted camera, and an in-room microphone to assist with lecture recording or simulcasting. Additional features may be available in some rooms.

If you are teaching in a space managed by your department, the available technology may vary – reach out to your unit's scheduling coordinator.

Learn more about available classroom technology and support. 

Reserve other spaces you will need during the semester, such as tutorial rooms and computer labs. 

For example, you might look into:

• Research Commons Computer Lab in University Libraries
• Proctoring options at Ohio State
• Digital Union spaces and software

Communicate with all contributors associated with your course, including teaching assistants, graders, tutors, or guest speakers.  

1. Explain the expectations for their contributions to or participation in your course. 
2. Ensure they know the dates, times, and locations for course activities they must be present for.
3. Establish a clear channel to use for future communications with each contributing group.

Select a primary channel for communication to streamline messaging with students so they don't miss important information.

1. As noted in Step 6, using Announcements in Carmen  for course communications will help you centralize messaging so students always know where to look for news and updates.
2. Plan to alert students of your intended communication method(s) on the first day of class.
3. Make communication channels transparent by noting them in your syllabus, on your Carmen homepage, or in your welcome message.

Learn about Announcements and messaging in Carmen.

Plan regular announcements or emails to students, and block time on your calendar for sending them. For example, you might aim to send a Carmen announcement at the beginning of each week to address upcoming course activities, deadlines, and recent questions.

If you are teaching online, learn about communication with students in Online Instructor Presence.

Draft a brief but warm welcome message to send to students before the first day of class. You  might include a few sentences about yourself or your background, need-to-know information about the course, expectations for the first day or week of class, and your contact information.

Consider how you will provide feedback to students on their coursework and progress. Feedback should be frequent, personalized, and delivered in a timely manner so students have time to respond and adjust their approach to learning. These suggestions for high-quality feedback in online courses can apply in any setting.

Also think about how you will seek student feedback on their course experience.

1. Review and reflect upon Ohio State’s end-of-course student survey. Find out if your academic unit or program uses a different method or tool to collect students’ end-of-course feedback. 
2. Plan how you will collect student feedback during the semester, such as in the first weeks and at midterm. Learn more in  Beyond the SEI: Collecting Student Feedback on Your Teaching.

The first day and week of class is an important time to set expectations, get to know each other, and lay the groundwork for a productive course.

1. Review the syllabus with students to highlight learning outcomes, expectations for participation, important materials and assignments, grading schemes, and so on.
2. Facilitate introductions or icebreaker activities. In larger classes, you might consider breaking students into groups or pairs.
3. Gather information early about students' interest in your course and what they already know about course topics. Options include Top Hat polls, brief surveys or exit slips, ungraded quizzes, or informal discussion.

Prepare to talk with students about academic integrity expectations, in general and/or for specific assignments, on the first day of class. Remind students of these expectations throughout the semester, especially before major assignments.

Learn more in A Positive Approach to Academic Integrity.

Invest time to understand the implications of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) for teaching and learning, and consider how it will be implemented (or limited) in your course. Because genAI guidelines vary across students' courses, it is important to be explicit about your expectations – have a transparent discussion with students in the first week of class, perhaps when discussing your syllabus. 

Learn more in AI Teaching Strategies: Having Conversations with Students.

Be intentional about creating an inclusive and respectful learning environment, in the first weeks and throughout the semester.

1. Work with students to develop ground rules for respect, civil discourse, and communication.
2. Have a plan for addressing potential conflict or concerns – learn how to turn challenging discussions and tension into productive learning moments.
3. Consider using trigger warnings for potentially sensitive content.
4. Read about how to support students experiencing tragedy or difficulty.

Learn more in Shaping a Positive Learning Environment. 

To comply with Federal Title IV regulations, the university collects information about whether a student begins attending or participating in a course at the beginning of a semester or session. All instructors are required to complete a grade roster report during the first week of class. 

Reach out to students who did not show up or participate during the first and second week of class to remind them they are enrolled in the course, refer them to advising or student services, and remind them to review important deadlines on the Academic Calendar.

Learn more about attendance and participation rosters. 

You will receive notification letters from Student Life Disability Services (SLDS) for any students with registered accommodations. When you hear from SLDS is dependent on when students register with them; it could be before your course, the first week, or even later. Examples of potential accommodations include exam alternatives, accessible media, notetaking support, participation and communication options, or having a service animal in class. 

Not all students who may need or would benefit from accommodation will have registered with SLDS. Encourage students to speak with you if they need support or flexibility to access course material, take part in class activities, or complete assignments. 

See the SLDS website for guidance on managing accommodation requests and contact your SLDS Access Specialist if you have questions.