My start-of-term checklist

As a self-proclaimed productivity nerd, I am a huge fan of the humble checklist. (I’m actually kind of shocked, going through my blog archives, that I haven’t blogged more about my love of checklists.) I set up my to-do lists (physical and virtual) as checklists, and love the act of checking something off once it’s completed. I use checklists to keep track of occasional tasks like packing for trips, camping, and aquabike races. I set up checklists for big projects with a lot of moving pieces, so that the details don’t slip through the cracks.

One thing that falls in the category of “big recurring project with a lot of moving pieces” is preparing a course for the start of a new term. While the details of an individual course vary, the vast majority of tasks are consistent across courses. About 5-6 years ago, I started using checklists regularly for this task, and eventually created a checklist template in Evernote that I use to this day.

Here’s what’s on my start of the term checklist, broken down by category, with some commentary on each category.

Planning

• Write overall and per-unit learning objectives
• Make topic map and tie topics to specific learning objectives
• Draft the final assessment
• Draft the initial and final course reflection assignments
• Determine frequency and types of assessments
• Draft / outline assessments
• Create daily grid in Google Sheets
• Block off Midterm Break and travel dates on daily grid
• Assign topics to days on grid
• Fill in assessments on grid
• Write / revise syllabus and course policies
• Write “In a Nutshell” document (overview of the course and its policies)

I am a big fan of backwards design, which I think you can see from this list: I start at the end and fill in the details from there. I also find it really useful to conceptualize the course in grid form — it helps me to see the full 10 weeks all at once and visualize how one week flows into the next.

Resources

• Select textbook / readings for course
• Order textbook / gather readings
• Set up GitHub organization for course (if needed)
• Try out / set up software; make sure we have appropriate licenses (if needed)

I don’t always gather all of the non-textbook readings prior to the start of the course, but I’ll at least have figured out that I want them to read this many chapters of this book, an article about a particular topic that the textbook doesn’t cover, etc.

Moodle (course management system)

• Set up “template” (the structure I use for each week in the course)
• Add contact info for myself and the course staff, in a prominent place
• Add office hours to the Moodle calendar
• Link to daily grid
• Fill in the topic summary for each week
• Create placeholders for each assignment
• Make / revise question bank for quizzes (if applicable)
• Make page live

The Moodle calendar is truly awful, and I have no idea if students actually refer to it, but my rationale is that it’s helpful for that information to be somewhere that someone is likely to look for it. I also tend to fill in the assignment placeholders with the actual assignment text and rubric as soon as I’m finished drafting them. At the very least, I have everything posted for the next 2 weeks ahead of time, so that students can work ahead if need be.

Communication

• Set up course Slack workspace
• Send Slack invitations to class roster
• Add Slack workspace to desktop app, phone, and iPad
• Set up folder in my email for the course
• Set office hours for the term, and communicate them to our admin
• Set up Calendly for students to sign up for office hours appointments
• Update personal web page with office hours and teaching schedule
• Add office hours, class meeting times, advising days, etc. to calendar

I have a whole separate checklist for setting up Slack, mostly so that I don’t forget to add channels and set them so that everyone is subscribed to them automatically.

People

Course staff:

• Check department spreadsheet to find assigned student(s)
• Find students’ email and add to Moodle
• Set up weekly meetings to check in and discuss the course

Waitlist / roster:

• Follow procedures to let students in off the waitlist (if applicable)
• Print out photo roster
• Make flash cards from photo roster
• See if students have included pronunciations of their names on the roster; listen and spell out phonetically on photo roster printout.

Never have I ever actually made flash cards from my photo roster. I always tell myself I am going to do it, and then fail to do it. Luckily, I can learn names pretty quickly. Will this term be the term where I finally make flash cards?

This term, I don’t have any course staff, so I get to skip those steps.

First day / week

• Write class plan for first day
• Revise “Getting to Know You” survey (and post link on Moodle)
• Make copies of any handouts for first day
• Check that all readings, assignments, and resources are posted on Moodle for the week.
• Panic that I’ve forgotten something important
• Read survey answers as they come in; add notes to photo roster printout.

Fun fact: This term, I teach on the Tuesday/Thursday schedule, so I get an extra day to panic.

Do you use checklists to help you manage your work or your personal life? If so, how do you use them?