四虎影视

Faculty Checklist

Faculty Start of Term Checklist: Fall 2025

Get ready for a smooth and successful start to the new semester! This checklist covers essential steps to prepare your course, connect with students and access the tools and resources you鈥檒l need. Please note that all deadlines indicated on this page are for the Fall 2025 semester.

As we always tell our students, double check the final room assignment of your class. Use the to confirm these details.

Publish your course syllabus on Canvas, no later than seven calendar days prior to the start of the first day of the term,  

Course Publication Deadline

August 19, 2025

Review the first day of attendance policy and procedures and confirm the class roster of each section (including online) using the Canvas First Day of Attendance Tool. 

Attendance Confirmation Deadline

August 30, 2025

If students appear on your roster after you submit your First Day Attendance Report, but fail to attend, please email TellTheRegistrar@usf.edu to drop them. 

Late Registrant Notification Deadline

August 30, 2025

Students must be officially registered through the Office of the Registrar to attend your class. Faculty may not manually add students to a Canvas roster or allow a student to sit in on a class; see the faculty success website for more information.

Students will be dropped from both the Banner and Canvas rosters if they fail to pay by the payment deadline, and your rosters will be updated by September 9, 2025. Students who have a financial aid Tuition Deferment, Veteran鈥檚 deferment, Florida Prepaid Plan, or a graduate assistant tuition waiver will not be subject to cancellation. Please review the webpage that outlines the process.

The Academic Calendar and Important Dates & Deadlines are always available on the Office of the Registrar webpages.

Midterm Grading

Plan ahead! Per , Midterm grades are required for all 1000-4000 level courses; midterm grades must be submitted within two days of the midpoint of the time period that the course is conducted.

Midterm Grading Opens	October 6, 2025
Midterm Grading Closes	October 21, 2025

Final Exams and Grading

Be sure you鈥檝e read the Testing and Final Examinations policy.

Final Grading Opens	November 3, 2025
Final Grading Closes	December 16, 2025

Graduation

Please remind all students eligible to graduate to apply by the application deadline.

Fall 2025 Graduation Application Deadline

October 3, 2025

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First Day Attendance

Per , you鈥檙e required to confirm the class roster of each section and report whether students are present or absent at your first class meeting by using the Canvas First Day of Attendance (FDA) tool, including for all sections being offered in an online environment.

This makes seats available during drop/add and prevents financial implications for students and 四虎影视 (for example, it keeps 四虎影视 eligible to award federal financial aid to students).

If students appear on your roster after you submit your First Day Attendance Report, but fail to attend, please email TellTheRegistrar@usf.edu to drop them by the deadline.

Please note: Students can no longer add themselves back into the section once you've dropped them. Follow your Academic Department's guidelines if a student asks you to re-add.

For sections with a modality that includes distance education, documenting that a student has logged into an online class is not sufficient to demonstrate academic attendance. Here are a few acceptable examples of attendance from the:

• Student submission of an academic assignment or exam
• Documented student participation in an interactive tutorial, webinar, or other interactive/computer-assisted instruction
• A posting by the student showing their participation in an online study group assigned by the institution
• A posting by the student in a discussion forum showing their participation in an online academic discussion
• An email from the student or other documentation showing student-initiated contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course

Pro-tip: Ask students to post a brief introduction about themselves by the end of the first day of the course to capture attendance!

You鈥檒l find an FDA tool link in the Navigation Menu of each course in Canvas.

Note: You may save as you go, but you may only submit your roster once.

If a student is auditing your section, please review to ensure compliance. Auditing students must be registered through the Office of the Registrar and attend class as listeners.

• You are not required to grade an auditor鈥檚 assignments.
• You are not required to permit an auditor to participate during class.
• You do have the authority to expand an auditor鈥檚 role if they request to engage more fully in the learning experience. If you expand an auditor鈥檚 role, please clarify your new expectations in writing to their 四虎影视 e-mail address. 
• If you determine that the auditor should be a credit-bearing student, direct the student to the Office of the Registrar before the drop/add deadline to change from audit to credit.

We recommend that you add this policy to your syllabi:

Per 四虎影视 Policy 10-006: Registration Changes Including Course Change, Cancellations, Withdrawals and Auditing, an auditing student 鈥渁ttends the class as a listener.鈥� Please identify yourself as an auditor in the course within the first two weeks and let me know if you wish to discuss your role in the classroom.

Pro-tip: You can clearly identify Auditors in Canvas, as they have 鈥淎uditing Student鈥� listed for their Role.

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The Office of the Registrar will be in touch throughout the term. In the meantime, if you have a question or concern, please email TellTheRegistrar@usf.edu.

For difficulties with the First Day of Attendance tool or other technology, contact Information Technology at 813-974-1222.