THE YEAR · STOP ONE OF SEVEN

Before the Semester Starts

One question: what do I have to have ready before students arrive? Seven things. Each one is a link to the how-to, so you can work straight down the list — and each says what “done” looks like, so you can tell when you're finished rather than guessing.

Your course — six moves, in this order

The order matters a little: knowing the baseline first stops you building something you then have to redo, and the late policy has to exist before the first grade lands or it can't be applied retroactively. Everything else is genuinely yours to sequence.

1 The RJ Baseline — what every course must have Read this one first. It's the short list of what a Regis Jesuit course is required to show a student, and it's the standard the other five items are working toward. Done looks like: you can name what's missing from your course without opening it. 2 Templates & Starters — don't start from blank Before you build anything by hand, check whether your department already has a starter. Importing one and editing it is faster than an empty shell, and it means your course looks like your colleagues'. Done looks like: you've either imported a starter or confirmed there isn't one for you. 3 Module Setup — build the first module right You only have to get the shape right once — every module after it is a copy. Getting it wrong once is also a decision you copy fourteen times. Done looks like: one complete module a student could work through without asking you what to do next. 4 Publish it, and set your homepage — give students a front door An unpublished course is invisible to students no matter how good it is, and this is the single most common first-week problem. A course that opens on the Modules list also works — the point is that they land somewhere deliberate. Done looks like: Student View shows what you meant them to see. 5 Write your AI policy — required in every syllabus Every syllabus carries one. It doesn't have to be long, and “not on this assignment” is a legitimate position — what it can't be is absent, because then the first disagreement about it happens in November with nothing to point at. Done looks like: a student could tell, from your syllabus alone, whether AI is allowed on your next assignment. 6 Gradebook and the missing/late policy — set it before grades start This is the one with a real deadline attached to it. Set it before the first grade lands, then leave it alone: Canvas warns that changing the late policy later changes work you have already graded. Taking points off for lateness? Any part of a day counts as a whole day. Done looks like: it's on before the first graded thing is due.

And one that isn't about Canvas at all

7 The two safety apps on your phone — asked for by the Director of Safety Ruvna, for accounting for your students in a drill or an emergency, and Mobilize Rescue, which talks you through a medical emergency. Ten minutes. The part people miss is that installed is not the same as logged in — both stop at a setup screen the first time you open them, and an app sitting on that screen is one you'll be tapping through in the worst possible thirty seconds. Done looks like: you've opened both and got all the way past setup.

On dates. Only two things here are genuinely time-bound: the late/missing policy, which must exist before your first graded work, and the safety apps, which Kelli Lotito asked for before students arrive. The rest are “ready for day one” rather than a specific deadline.

Where an exact date matters — grade submission, the end of the add/drop window — the academic calendar on MyRJ is the authority, not this page. If your department sets an earlier internal date, that one wins.

Stuck on any of it? Message me in Teams — a one-line question is completely fine, and in August it's the fastest thing either of us can do. If you'd rather work through it together, bring the actual course rather than a description of it.

TEAMS JASON WHO TO ASK OPEN A TICKET

Ready for day one is a shorter list than it feels like in August. Seven things, and you can finish them in an afternoon.

Jason Beyer · Educational Technology · Regis Jesuit High School · A.M.D.G.

LAST VERIFIED · 18 AUGUST 2026

HelpDesk@regisjesuit.com · 303.269.8080 | Safety · Kelli Lotito · klotito@regisjesuit.com · 303.269.8061