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DSJC New Session Checklist

The course is a collaboration between Kristina Visscher of the UAB Department of Neurobiology and UAB IT Research Computing. The intent of the course is to provide a guided platform for self-motivated students to learn more about Data Science and its important accessory skills. Accessory skills include software development, programming, data engineering, image and signal processing, visualization development, and high performance computing.

The course runs every session each year: Fall, Spring, Summer. The UAB Academic Calendar dictates when classes start for each session. As instructors, our goal should be to have the course published the week before classes start.

Course Setup Checklist

Instructor of Record

  • At least one month prior to start of classes, contact departments to get courses listed.
  • Merge GBSC and IDNE sections.
  • Add course Teachers and Instructors as needed.
    • Must be done by IOR after merge step is complete! Otherwise, adds may need to be redone.
    • Please visit Canvas: Add/Remove User(s) SLA page.
    • Teacher/Instructor List:
      • wwarr for William Warriner
      • mdefende for Matt Defenderfer
      • prema for Prema Soundararajan

Teachers/Other Instructors

  • Set up the Syllabus Affirmation Assignment
    1. Navigate to Quizzes page.
    2. Click "+ Quiz" button.
    3. Select "Classic Quizzes".
    4. Click "Submit" button.
    5. Enter in first text entry box: Syllabus Affirmation.
    6. Enter in the "Quiz Instructions" text entry box:

      "In a new window, please read the Syllabus, then return here to complete the affirmation."

    7. Create a link to the Syllabus Course Page at the word "Syllabus" in the previous step.
    8. Set the following field values in the remainder of the form.
      • Quiz Type: Graded Quiz
      • Assignment Group: Assignments
      • Options:
        • Shuffle Answers: checked
        • Time Limit: unchecked
        • Allow Multiple Attempts: checked
          • Quiz Score to Keep: highest
          • Allowed Attempts: unchecked
        • Let Students See Their Quiz Responses: checked
          • Only Once After Each Attempt: checked
          • Let Students See The Correct Answers: unchecked
        • Show one question at a time: unchecked
      • Quiz Restrictions:
        • Require an access code: unchecked
        • Filter IP Addresses: unchecked
      • Assign:
        • Assign to: Everyone
        • Due: Wednesday of 2nd week.
        • Available from/until: both blank
    9. Click "Questions" tab.
    10. Click "+ New Question".
      • In the top-left Text Entry box enter "First Demonstration Due Date"
      • In the Drop Down box select "Multiple Choice"
      • Enter the text "When is the first demonstration due?" in the main text entry box.
      • Make one answer the correct date (see the Syllabus for timings).
      • Make other answers other dates.
      • Click "Update Question".
    11. Click "Details" tab.
    12. Click "Save & Publish" button.
  • Set up the Demonstration Assignment HTML
    1. Navigate to Assignments page.
    2. Click "+ Assignment" button.
    3. Enter Assignment Name in text entry box: Demonstration #1.
    4. Switch text entry box to raw HTML mode by clicking </> symbol at bottom-right of box.
    5. Copy-paste HTML into text entry box.
    6. Update Syllabus link.
      1. On the first line is HTML tag that looks like <a title="Syllabus" href="">.
      2. Copy-paste Syllabus Page URL between double quotes after href=.
    7. Make any other necessary changes to the assignment HTML. Don't forget to update in the repository!
    8. Switch to WYSIWYG mode: click </> symbol again.
    9. Set the following field values in the remainder of the form.
      • Points: 1
      • Assignment Group: Assignments
      • Display Grade as: Complete/Incomplete
      • Submission Type: No Submission
      • Group Assignment: unchecked
      • Peer Reviews: unchecked
      • Assign:
        • Assign to: Everyone

        • Due: varies, see table below

          Assignment due dates should be staggered, with at least three weeks between them, always on a Friday. The following table contains due dates for each. You will need to determine the actual calendar dates for each semester. Be sure to account for Spring Break in the Spring semester! Don't let assignments land on holidays or break days.

          Session Length #1 Due Date #2 Due Date #3 Due Date
          14 weeks 6th week 10th week 14th week
          10 weeks 4th week 7th week 10th week
        • Available from/until: blank

    10. Click save and publish!
    11. For Demonstration #2 and Demonstration #3:
      1. Go to the main Assignments page.
      2. Click the vertical three dots next to the Demonstration #1 assignment you created.
      3. Click "Duplicate".
      4. On the new entry, click the vertical three dots, then "Edit Assignment".
      5. Modify the "Name" field appropriately.
      6. Click "Save & Publish".
    12. Verify the assignments are published in the Assignments main page, with a green checkmark icon next to each.
  • Upload Syllabus HTML
    1. Navigate to Syllabus page.
    2. Switch text entry box to raw HTML mode by clicking </> symbol at bottom-right of box.
    3. Copy-paste HTML into text entry box.
    4. Update Syllabus Affirmation assignment link.
      1. Look for the HTML tags like <a title="Syllabus Affirmation" href="">.
      2. For each one, add the appropriate assignment page path, which should look like /courses/$course_number/quizzes/$quiz_number, e.g. like /courses/1601187/assignments/2325855. This can be found by visiting the assignment to get the $course_number and $assignment_number values.
      3. Only the trailing part of the URL starting with /courses is needed. The leading / is required.
    5. Update Demonstration assignment links.
      1. Look for the three HTML tags like <a title="Demonstration #1" href="">.
      2. For each one, add the appropriate assignment page path, which should look like /courses/$course_number/assignments/$assignment_number, e.g. like /courses/1601187/assignments/6860919. This can be found by visiting the assignment to get the $course_number and $assignment_number values.
      3. Only the trailing part of the URL starting with /courses is needed. The leading / is required.
    6. Switch to WYSIWYG mode: click </> symbol again.
    7. Check "Show Course Summary" checkbox.
    8. Verify formatting is correct.
    9. Update syllabus at https://s3.lts.rc.uab.edu/uab-rc-dsjc/syllabus.html by manual upload.
  • Set up Home page.
    1. Navigate to Home page.
    2. Click "Choose Home Page" button.
    3. Select "Syllabus".
  • Set up Settings page.
    • Navigation tab:
      • Disable all except:
        • Home
        • Announcements
        • Syllabus
        • Assignments
        • Grades
        • People
        • UAB Cares
        • UAB Policies
        • UAB Libraries
        • Technology Resources
        • Student Academic and Support Services
      • Put them in the above order!
      • Click Save when done.
  • Verify links using "Validate Links in Content" on Settings page.
    • Note: https://rc.uab.edu may be marked as unreachable. Double check that it works correctly manually. This should be a false positive.
  • Use Student View to verify the course has appropriate appearance and function.
    • Make sure syllabus looks correct.
    • Make sure assignments are visible (they need to be published individually).
  • Publish the course. May need to be done by IOR.
  • Make an announcement welcoming new students.
    1. Navigate to Announcements Page.
    2. Click + Announcements button.
    3. Enter Topic Title as "Welcome to the Data Science Journal Club course!"
    4. Switch text entry box to raw HTML mode by clicking </> symbol at bottom-right of box.
    5. Copy-paste HTML into text entry box.
    6. Switch to WYSIWYG mode: click </> symbol again.
    7. Modify as necessary to be relevant to the current session.

Important Information

People

Course Title UAB Title Name email
Instructor of Record RC Facilitation Manager William Warriner wwarr@uab.edu
Instructor RC Facilitator (Scientist I) Matthew Defenderfer mdefende@uab.edu
Instructor RC Facilitator (Scientist I) Prema Soundararajan prema@uab.edu

Relevant Pages

Abbreviations

  • DSJC: Data Science Journal Club
  • GBSC: Graduate Biomedical Sciences
  • IDNE: Neuroengineering
  • IOR: Instructor of Record
  • RC: Research Computing
  • SLA: Service Level Agreement
  • TA: Teaching Assistant
  • WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get
    • Refers to a kind of text editor that lets you see what the resulting document will look like as you make changes.
    • Microsoft Word is WYSIWYG.
    • Most Canvas Page text entry boxes are WYSIWYG by default.

Notes on Using Canvas

Most Canvas Page text entry boxes, including those of Syllabus and Assignments, have a WYSIWYG HTML editor. The entry mode can be changed to raw HTML mode by clicking the </> symbol at the bottom-right of the box. We use raw HTML mode extensively, allowing us to version control invidividual pages for the content of the course.