Introduction
Online Seminary schedules typically align with local school calendars. However, because school schedules vary by area, online administrators and/or online seminary teachers often need to adjust due dates to better match local pacing.
This overall process of adjusting course timing and structure to align with local school calendars is called pacing.
The information and steps below provide online administrators with an efficient way to set pacing once and then apply it across multiple courses.
Step 1: Request a Development Master (Dev Master) Course
A development master course is a blank Canvas course that administrators use to build and/or adjust content for an online seminary course. For more information on dev master courses, refer to the article "Which Canvas Course Do I Need?"
To request a development master course, please fill out this form.
Once the LMS Support Team has created the Dev Master course shell for you, they will send you an email with the course link(s) and you are ready to move on to Step 2 to import the content into the course yourself.
Step 2: Import Seminary Content into Dev Master Course
To populate the Dev Master course with content, online administrators create an online class in WISE as they normally would and then import the content into the Dev Master course. For instructions, see this guide on creating a class in WISE and this guide on importing content.
Step 3: Adjust Pacing in the Dev Master Course
Once the content is imported, the online administrator can do the following:
- Change due dates
- To change due dates in bulk, follow this guide.
- Move “Life Prep” lessons to different weeks
- Make other pacing-related adjustments
After due dates and other adjustments have been made within the Dev Master course, the Dev Master acts as a template course that reflects the desired pacing for that area.
Step 4: Reset Content in Existing Area Courses
Before the updated course content in a Dev Master can be used in other courses, those courses must have their content reset.
Follow this guide to reset existing course content.
Important Notes:
- Resetting course content disconnects it from its Blueprint Course
- Blueprint courses are used to push fixes (such as broken links) to multiple courses at once
- Once disconnected, the automatic blueprint updates no longer apply.
Normally, this isn’t a major issue/concern since mid-term fixes are rare, but administrators and teachers should be aware of this before proceeding.
Step 5: Import the Template Content
After resetting using the steps above to reset course content, import the updated content from the Dev Master (or template) course.
- Use this “Canvas Course Import Guide” to complete this step
Conclusion
By using a Development Master (Dev Master) course, as a pacing template, administrators can:
- Set up pacing once per area
- Avoid repetitive course-by-course editing
- Better align Seminary content and courses with local school schedules