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checklist.md 10.11 KiB

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 "Course 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: Friday 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. Switch text entry box back to WYSIWYG mode by clicking </> symbol at bottom-right of box.
    7. Create a "Course Link" to the Syllabus Course Page at the word "Syllabus" in the previous step.
    8. Check links.
    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, and Thanksgiving Break in the Fall semester! Don't set assignment due dates on holidays or break days, move it one business day later. So far, all sessions have been 14 weeks. The first assignment has extra time because it may take students time to get oriented to their chosen data science problems, especially if they are new to data science, etc.

          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" button.
    11. Duplicate to create 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" and "Due Date" fields appropriately.
      6. For Demonstration #3, set the due date to be the last day of finals.
      7. 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. Switch to WYSIWYG mode: click </> symbol again.
    5. Remove the title. The title is only used for sharing the Syllabus outside Canvas. Canvas produces its own title.
    6. Create a "Course Link" to the Assignments Course Page at the word "Assignments" in the Grading section.
    7. Ensure "Show Course Summary" checkbox is checked.
    8. Verify formatting is correct.
  • Set up Home page.
    1. Navigate to Home page.
    2. Click "Choose Home Page" button in right panel.
    3. Select "Syllabus" and "Save".
  • 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" at the bottom 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. Should 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. Create a "Course Link" to the Syllabus Course Page at the word "Syllabus" in the previous step.
    8. Create a "Course Link" to the Syllabus Affirmation Assignment at the words "Syllabus Affirmation" in the previous step.
  • Upload syllabus to https://s3.lts.rc.uab.edu/uab-rc-dsjc/syllabus.html.

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.