End of Semester Guide

This Semester Guide will walk you through the process of closing your Webcourses@UCF course section(s) at the end of the term. Don’t forget to review the Start of Term Checklist before the next semester.

End of Term

I. Back Up Content and Grades

At the end of the term, it is a good idea to download scores from your gradebook for quick access, and export your course content to ensure that it can be restored quickly.

II. Hide Content

At the end of each semester, your course is automatically concluded on the course end date. You can find the course end date inside your Canvas course under Settings >> Course Details. After a course is concluded, students can see Modules, Discussions, Assignments (including Quizzes), the Gradebook, etc., and their contributions in the course, but they aren’t able to actively participate in the course. If you allow students to see their quiz responses, students are able to view all quiz questions after the course is concluded. If you do not wish students to see all content after the course is concluded then follow the steps below.

Note: Take this step after copying content to the next term.

If you have copyrighted content that you do not want students to access after the end of the term, you can can lock the file.

If you have many files you wish to protect, it is easiest to move them to a separate folder and lock the folder.

If you allow students to see quiz questions in their quiz results, you will probably want to hide this information at the end of the term as well. To disable this, go back to the quiz options and uncheck “let students see their quiz responses.”

If you wish to restrict access to the entire course after the semester, you can hide the navigation links in the course navigation menu to prevent students from browsing the course after the course end date.

III. Update Your Webcourses@UCF Section for the Next Term

As you prepare your course for the next term, do NOT make any changes to your course content for the current term. This can affect grades for students in the current term. Instead, follow Steps I and II above, and make any changes in next term’s course. Students in the course will also see notifications of changes to content. For example:

This semester I decided that I would change one of my quizzes for next semester. At the end of the semester, I create my course for next term, copy the content from this semester, and then make changes in the new course. Once I have made all my changes, only then do I Publish my course as described in step III above.

Other items to consider:

  1. Update your syllabus and schedule.
  2. Check for inactive or bad links (link rot) in your content.
  3. Set your Home Page
  4. Review the Prerequisites, Requirements, and Lock Until dates of content in Modules.
  5. Update and publish Quizzes.
  6. Review Assignment settings.
  7. Create Calendar Events.
  8. If you weight grades, then review Assignment Groups.

IV. Submit Final Grades from Webcourses@UCF to the myUCF Portal

Step-by-step directions to submit final grades.