Prepare for the Class/Learn the Course Structure

Labs can vary dramatically from discipline to discipline. Some questions you should consider before starting your lab include:

• Are you responsible for the corresponding lecture component, or only the lab? This determines how much content you need to build and how closely the lab needs to track the lecture schedule.
• How many weeks does the lab run, and how does it map to the lecture schedule? Similar to a flipped classroom, students often need to complete pre-lab work (readings, videos, or quizzes) before they arrive so that in-person time can be spent on hands-on practice. Align with the lecture schedule as much as possible. 
• What format does the lab follow? A common format is to open with a short safety briefing or pre-lab check, move into the hands-on activity, and close with a debrief or data write-up.
• Are you running the lab yourself, or do you have TAs leading individual sections? If TAs are involved, how many sections are you ultimately responsible for overseeing?
• What are your department's lab-specific protocols? Reach out to your lab manager early to understand safety procedures, equipment checkout, and supply ordering timelines specific to your department's labs.

Develop Outcomes and Objectives

Before building content, take time to define what students should know or be able to do by the end of each lab. Clear outcomes keep everyone aligned and make it easier to decide what's essential versus optional when time is tight.

• Start with the course-level outcomes the lab is meant to support. Lab objectives should tie back to something bigger than "complete the procedure"—for example, analyze data to draw a valid conclusion rather than just follow the steps.
• Write objectives using measurable, observable verbs ( identify, calculate, interpret, evaluate) so it is clear how you will know a student has met the objectives.
• Separate procedural objectives from conceptual ones. Learning to operate an instrument correctly is different from understanding why the underlying reaction or process happens — both may matter, but they should be assessed differently.
• Align each objective with an assessment. If an objective matters, students should be evaluated on it somewhere — a rubric, a quiz question, or a lab report prompt.

Build Content in Canvas

1. Digitize your safety agreement. You can set up a graded survey (or zero-point quiz) in Canvas that requires students to read your safety policies and confirm their agreement before they are allowed to participate in lab. See Create a Quiz for step-by-step instructions.
2. Request a Canvas blueprint course if you are managing more than three lab sections. A Canvas blueprint course creates a master course that you can update and push changes to your other sections at once, saving you from editing each section individually. See information on setting up a blueprint course.
3. Tie all of your assignments to rubrics. This ensures that students know what is expected of them and keeps grading uniform across separate sections, labs, and TAs. It also speeds up your grading turnaround time. See Create a Rubric.

Communication

Be sure to keep students and TAs informed as details of the lab evolve throughout the semester.

• Set expectations up front. Use your syllabus to spell out safety requirements, attendance/make-up policies, and grading breakdowns specific to lab work, since these often differ from the lecture portion of the course.
• Use Canvas Announcements for schedule or procedure changes, such as a canceled lab, a swapped experiment, or an updated safety protocol, so every section gets the same message at the same time.
• Loop in your TAs early and often. If you have TAs leading individual sections, make sure they know the objectives behind each lab, not just the procedures, so they can answer student questions consistently across sections.
• Give students a clear point of contact for lab-specific issues (equipment problems, missed labs, safety concerns) separate from general course questions, especially if you are not the one running every section.