Faculty Should Be Prepared for Possible Class Cancellations

Faculty are encouraged to prepare their courses for the possibility of a personal absence necessitating an individual class cancelation. Preparations should include a plan to alert students well in advance of any cancelations.

Preparing your Course

To become prepared for delivering cancelation notices, we encourage faculty to familiarize themselves with the use of the Announcements feature within Canvas. Even faculty who have not yet adopted Canvas can quickly and easily find their course, publish it, and make an announcement to current class members.

Students are encouraged to set their Canvas notifications accordingly and to monitor their preferred notification mode for any potential cancelation. The flexible notification settings within Canvas allow students to receive announcements via text messaging, email, or even social media services ensuring that messages are received quickly and consistent with individual preferences.

Publish Your Canvas Course

• A Canvas site is created for each CRN-based course whether the instructor uses it or not. At any time during the quarter, an instructor may choose to publish their Canvas course site(s). Go to wwu.edu/canvas, select the appropriate course. Then, follow our instructions on publishing.

Make an Announcement

• An Announcement is the recommended method for sending a time-sensitive message to your students. Follow these instructions for making an announcement.

Set Your Canvas Notifications

• Students should set their Notification settings to receive Announcements ASAP and via a method that they will check routinely whether that is through text-messaging, email, or other social media tools.