Tools: Course Closeout Checklist
I’m in the midst of final preparations for my Spring semester courses, and one thing that I realized was that, in some ways, I hadn’t fully put to bed my Fall semester ones. Grades have been in for some time, of course, but I hadn’t really processed the course in its entirety. By process, I mean on the one hand, doing administrative things like exporting data from Canvas that I may want to hold on to, but on the other, also mentally processing the course: how did this all go? What did I learn? What I might do better next time?
I guess I’ve done this in an unstructured way in the past—saving things here and there, looking over student evaluations and then thinking about them. But I figured it would be good to build a habit of closing out each course in a systematic way: going down a checklist, and making sure that I’ve closed any open loops in my head about how it went, and even just making sure my record-keeping and administrative bits and pieces are in order.
To that end, below is a Course Closeout Checklist that I’ll endeavor to follow each semester. Some of these bits may be irrelevant to you (my archival impulses regarding online platforms borders on the obsessive), but I think there’s enough here that you get the idea, and I hope it might provide some helpful inspiration.
I’ve included below the checklist some explanatory comments on terms and references in the checklist.
Sample Course Closeout Checklist
Class-Specific Cleanup and Archiving
[ ] Review Omnifocus project for remaining todos. Schedule as needed.
[ ] Canvas archiving
[ ] Export Canvas course.
[ ] Export gradebook
[ ] Export attendance report
[ ] Make sure all Canvas submissions have been archived.
[ ] Save any discussion boards you want to hold on to.
[ ] Save "final" version of syllabus from course homepage or Canvas page.
[ ] Make a Word version of syllabus for teaching portfolio/professional website
[ ] Download any Google Forms surveys.
Rolling Up Into Master Class Folders
[ ] Review class folder for presentations or assignments that should go in master class folders. Create copies and move them if need be.
[ ] Review syllabus for language that should roll up into master syllabi (either in Master Class Folders or 42.01).
Evaluations
[ ] Look over evaluations.
[ ] Reflect on evaluations.
[ ] Write about how you think the class went.
[ ] Move to tips or Master Class Folders any useful takeaways.
[ ] Save latest version of this document to 42.01
How I Think the Class Went
Notes
Omnifocus is the project and task management application that I use. I highly recommend it.
Depending on the class, my syllabi have existed as webpages, Canvas pages, and markdown files. But while preparing teaching portfolios for job applications, I’ve found it very time consuming to collate syllabi from different courses together in a way that looks cohesive. So that’s why I have a closeout checklist item for making a Word version of my syllabus—this’ll make it easier to assemble into a teaching portfolio later.
42.01 is my Johnny Decimal number for my Teaching (Reference) folder, where I keep resources, tools, and materials relevant to teaching generally (as opposed to materials specific to certain types of classes—those are the Master Class Folders I reference above).
How I Think the Class Went: rather than making a separate note, I just included this at the bottom of the checklist. I haven’t done this sort of written reflection before, and event a 5–7 minute writing exercise was greatly helpful. It helps me sort through all the lose ends and insecurities dangling in my brain (especially after reading evaluations) so that I can take ownership over how I deal with the feedback that I received, and how I use it to improve my future work.