Welcome to the Fall 2026 semester! We're excited to work with you this academic year. In this letter, you will find some important reminders and information to help you start the term strong. As always, if you have any questions or would like to meet with a member of the COLRS staff, please contact us. We're happy to help anytime!
-Emily, Carrie, Scott, & Taylor
Canvas courses
Students will be added to courses on Monday, August 10, and Fall 2026 courses open to students on Monday, August 24 at 12:01 a.m. Courses will automatically publish at this time; you will not need to do anything on your end to ensure students have access.
Deans receive a list of blended and online courses that do not contain an updated syllabus and/or learning materials that would be visible to students on the Thursday before courses begin. Reach out if you need help preparing your courses. We're here to help you have a great start to the semester!
Reusing course content
Courses go into a read-only state approximately five days after the grading deadline for a term has passed. If you want to modify the content for future use, you can copy the content from a past term into the active term, or you can request a Gold Course (if you do not already have one). Gold Courses never go into a read-only state and can be modified outside of term schedules. Please reach out to us if you'd like to get started with Gold Courses or would like assistance copying your content.
Canvas backups
Following the Canvas security incident in May, ITS has enhanced our data protection and recovery procedures for system-wide issues/catastrophic events. We now export course gradebooks and back up course content twice daily. Please note that "course content" does not include student submissions or discussion board postings. These measures are being taken out of an abundance of caution to ensure we can more effectively restore critical academic information should a future security incident or service disruption occur. We want to be transparent about these efforts and reassure faculty that they are part of our ongoing commitment to safeguarding instructional data.
Upcoming workshops
Canvas Basics
New to Canvas? Need a refresher? Join COLRS staff as we go over how to use Canvas as an instructor. Topics covered include the Canvas dashboard, notification settings, and course setup. We also are happy to answer any questions you have. Hope to see you there!
- Date: Wednesday, August 19
- Time: 12:00 p.m. (1 hour)
- Location: COLRS Zoom
Illinois Online Higher Education Symposium (IOHES)
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is proud to host the third annual Illinois Online Higher Education Symposium, a statewide initiative dedicated to fostering collaboration, sharing innovating practices, and advancing the future of online education. The symposium brings together faculty, instructional designers, administrators, and staff from across Illinois to exchange ideas, strategies, and approaches that enhance teaching and learning in online environments.
This year's virtual symposium will take place on Friday, November 6 and will focus on the theme of Accessibility, highlighting practices and perspectives that support inclusive and equitable online learning experiences. Register to attend!
- Date: Friday, November 6
- Time: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Location: Virtual, links to join will be sent to those who register
COLRS office hours change
Starting on August 10, we will be moving our COLRS office hours to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. This is to ensure that our staff can be fully present at our daily office hours to offer faculty the best service possible. We hope that this new time will work for you. If not, please reach out to a member of the COLRS staff to schedule a one-on-one appointment; we're happy to answer your questions at a time that works in your teaching schedule.
Regular & substantive interaction (RSI)
Now is a great time to make a course plan that aligns with RSI. The U.S. Department of Education requires regular and substantive interactions (RSI) between instructors and students for an institution to maintain eligibility for federal funding. We recommend that 16-week courses have at least one RSI activity each week, while accelerated courses have two RSI activities each week. Learn more about activities that qualify as "regular and substantive" interactions on our website.
Video creation & editing
COLRS multimedia services cover a variety of production styles for online classes: interactive video quizzes, lightboard demonstrations, lectures, graphic animation, and more. We have also produced videos for marketing, student outreach, alumni testimonials, and more. View a fuller array of our video services, and contact Scott, our multimedia specialist, to get started!
Instructor support
Office hours
Join the COLRS team for open office hours on Zoom at p.m. Central on weekdays. Scott, our multimedia and video specialist, joins office hours on Tuesdays and Fridays each week.
One-to-one support
Please feel free to call or email us with questions! You can also set up an appointment to work with a member of the COLRS staff. We're available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Phone: 217-206-7317
- Email: colrs@uis.edu
COLRS events & teaching tips
Keep an eye on our website for more information about our teaching tip series this year. Teaching tips will be sent to full- and part-time faculty lists periodically during the term. Feel free to email us an idea for a workshop or tip!
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