Resources to Help Prepare Your Semester 1, 2025 Canvas Sites

Congratulations on completing the semester!  If you're thinking ahead to prepare and publish Canvas sites for next year, there are resources available that can help.

Thinking ahead to prepare and publish Canvas sites for your Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning subjects for the coming semester? Learning Environments have published a thorough Checklist and a set of Frequently Asked Questions. As you work through the checklist, here are some things to keep in mind:

Copy-forward: Subject coordinators are now able to self-manage the Subject Copy-forward Process, but BEL+T are always available to assist, especially in setting up your sites and establishing clear navigation. You can reach us at abp-belt@unimelb.edu.au. And you can find our Canvas Guides on the BEL+T website.

Welcome! Short welcome videos, posted to the subject’s home page, can help engage your students and build rapport. BEL+T has published Multimedia Recording Guides, and can help you make high quality recordings in the Faculty’s dedicated Microstudio.

Simple, Effective Design: Learning Environments have published a Guide to Designing a Simple and Effective LMS Site.  It emphasises the importance of scoping your work and keeping your design choices legible, robust, and accessible.

Accessibility: In designing your learning resources, consider applying Universal Design for Learning principles by offering multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression. By catering to diverse abilities, backgrounds, and learning styles, UDL can help engage and motivate every student in your cohort. And by focusing on inclusion from the outset, UDL can help avoid the need for duplication of effort down the track. For further information, see BEL+T’s Inclusive Teaching Resources and Learning Environments’ Guide to Creating Accessible Subjects in the LMS.

Copyright: Uncertain about how to share readings with your students in a way that's copyright compliant? Readings Online is your best option. The Copyright Office can help, and have published a straightforward guide on Copyright and Teaching.

Penalties and Requirements: There are currently no Faculty or University default late penalties or attendance requirements.  Instead, late penalties should be set by your subject's Board of Examiners and published in your Subject Outline. Any other requirements—around attendance, assessment weightings, and hurdles—should match what's been approved and published to students via the Handbook. The Faculty's Subject Outline Template has been developed to help you cover what’s needed per the University's Assessment and Results Policy.

Assessment Configuration: For guidance on setting up your assessment weightings in the LMS, see BEL+T’s Canvas Guides for details on How Canvas Weighs and Calculates Marks.

Lecture Livestreaming and Recording: If your subject has a timetabled lecture class in a lecture-capture enabled venue, it will be recorded and livestreamed. If required, you can Opt-out of Livestreaming, with approval from the Associate Dean Teaching and Learning. Lecture recordings should remain visible to students via the Lecture Capture tab in the left sidebar.

Teaching and Learning with Generative AI: BEL+T has published Guidance on GenAI, touching on the opportunities and challenges it poses for built environment professions, teaching, assessment, self-directed learning, feedback, and academic integrity.

Students are advised by the University:

“The acceptable use of AI will vary across disciplines, subjects, and assessment tasks. Your subject coordinator will provide this information, but it is your responsibility to check the assessment guidelines and relevant policies, and to understand what is expected of you. Resources on academic integrity are available to you through your subject’s LMS site, Academic Skills, and the Library.

If an assessment task does permit the use of AI tools and technologies in the preparation of the submission, this usage must be appropriately acknowledged and cited in accordance with the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326).

If an assessment task does not permit the use of such tools, or if you use such tools in the preparation of an assessment submission without acknowledgement, this is academic misconduct. In accordance with the Student Academic Integrity Policy (MPF1310), any student who commits academic misconduct is subject to the penalties outlined in the Schedule of Student Academic Misconduct Penalties.”

Re:cite, the University of Melbourne Library’s guide to citations and references, now includes guidance on how to cite and reference AI.

Subject coordinators are asked to determine and communicate what AI use they authorise for each assessment task.  BEL+T will be sharing further supporting resources on this in the coming months.

Subject coordinators should please report any and all potential or actual academic misconduct incidents to the MSD Student Programs team, who are able to support.  (Note that major changes to the Student Academic Integrity Policy (MPF1310) have been approved to take effect from January, 2025.)

Alongside developments around assessment and academic integrity, Learning Environments are continuing to test the University’s Canvas-integrated AI Learning Assistant (AILA), targeting roll-out in 2025.  Subject Coordinators interested in trialling AILA in their Summer 2025 subjects are invited to express their interest.

The University’s Spark AI is also available to all staff.

Final Checks: Before publishing, we recommend that you preview your subject’s Canvas site using Student View. Check that navigation is clear, your content is available, and your assignments are configured. You can also check that that site is displaying correctly on the Canvas Mobile App.

You might also prompt Spark AI to get a second set of “eyes” on some of your teaching materials.  For example, you might ask:

Please evaluate the attached subject outline based on the following criteria:

1.Clarity of subject aims, learning objectives, and alignment with assessment tasks

-Are the subjects aims and learning objectives clearly stated?

-Is it clear that the assessment tasks allow students to demonstrate achievement of the objectives?

2.Structure and organisation

-Is the guide well-organised and easy to navigate?

-Are all key details—including teaching staff information, schedule, assessment requirements, late submission policies, academic integrity policies, etc—included?

3.Learning activities and resources

-Is it clear that the learning activities will support students in achieving the learning objectives?

-Are sufficient learning resources—readings, library resources, etc—provided?

4.Accessibility and inclusivity

-Is the language clear and easy to understand for the intended student audience?

-Are there any potential accessibility issues for students with disabilities?

-Does it promote an inclusive learning environment for a diverse student cohort?

Please provide specific feedback on what works well ad what could be improved for each criteria.  Let me know if you need any clarification or additional information.

You might also prompt Spark AI to help in proof-reading assessment task briefs, marking criteria and rubrics, tutorial exercises, etc.

Auto-publication: Subjects’ Canvas sites will be automatically published to students at 10:00 am, ten days before the subject’s start date. For most Semester 1, 2025 subjects, this will be Friday 12 July.  In the lead-up to that date, staff can request to opt-out of automatic publication of their ABP subject Canvas sites by emailing BEL+T at abp-belt@unimelb.edu.au.

Learning and Teaching Consultations: Starting shortly, and leading up to Semester 1, BEL+T will be reaching out to ABP subject coordinators to check-in and to offer teaching and learning support.  If there’s anything we can do to help, don’t hesitate to let us know!