checklist.md

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

Steps can be performed by any Teachers and Instructors unless otherwise noted.

• Merge GBSC and IDNE sections.
  • Must be done by IOR.
  • Please visit Canvas: Course Cross-Listing SLA page.
• 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.
• 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 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.
  5. Switch to WYSIWYG mode: click </> symbol again.
  6. Check "Show Course Summary" checkbox.
  7. Verify formatting is correct.
  8. Manually verify all links by clicking them!
  9. Make a note of the Syllabus page URL for use with the Assignments page. Not the Syllabus editing page!
• Set up the Syllabus Affirmation Assignment HTML
  1. Navigate to Assignments page.
  2. Click "+ Assignment" button.
  3. Enter Assignment Name in text entry box: Syllabus Affirmation.
  4. Set the following field values in the remainder of the form.
     • Points: 1
     • Assignment Group: Assignments
     • Display Grade as: Complete/Incomplete
     • Assign:
       • Assign to: Everyone
       • Due: Monday of 2nd week.
       • Available from/until: blank
  5. Click "Build" button.
  6. Follow instructions at Syllabus Affirmation Assignment.
  7. Click "Done" 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. Switch to WYSIWYG mode: click </> symbol again.
  8. 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.

         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

  9. Click save and publish!
  10. 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".
  11. Verify the assignments are published in the Assignments main page, with a green checkmark icon next to each.
  12. Manually verify all links by clicking them!
• Set up Home page.
  1. Navigate to Home page.
  2. Click "Choose Home Page" button.
  3. Select "Syllabus".
  4. Click "Save" button.
• Set up Settings page.
  • Course Details tab:
    1. Set appropriate start and end dates according to the Academic Calendar.
    2. End date should be at least one week after the last day of final exams so students may review their grades and course material
    3. Typically Canvas does a good job of picking these dates
  • Navigation tab:
    • Disable all except:
      • Home
      • Announcements
      • Syllabus
      • Assignments
      • Grades
      • People
      • Chat
      • UAB Libraries
      • UAB Cares
      • UAB Policies
      • Technology Resources
      • Student Academic and Support Services
    • Put them in the above order!
• 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).
  • Manually verify all links by clicking them!
• 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	Associate Professor	Kristina M. Visscher	kmv@uab.edu
Instructor	RC Facilitator (Scientist I)	William Warriner	wwarr@uab.edu
Instructor	RC Facilitator (Scientist I)	Matthew Defenderfer	mdefende@uab.edu

Relevant Pages

• UAB Academic Calendar: https://www.uab.edu/students/academics/academic-calendar

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.