Forum Post
I see room for improvement when it comes to the Global Campus course publishing timeline.
Issue:
I have been teaching classes on the Global Campus for many semesters. At this point, I know this campus expects courses to be published on Friday before classes begin. While I would prefer to have classes published on the first day of instruction, I have come to manage the automated Friday publishing day by going in an unpublishing the class if it is not ready. This has worked for me in the past. However, this fall semester 2025, I unpublished my Global Campus courses on Friday, and then a colleague from the Global Campus republished my classes and sent this message to me by email:
“We are reaching out on behalf of Global Campus to notify you that your Canvas course spaces, listed below, have been published for student access.
[Course Number]
[Course Number]
We found that your courses were previously un-published today and we wanted to remind you that the course spaces must remain published at this time.
If your course space is not ready for student access we encourage you to work with the Learning Innovations staff member responsible for your course. Please note that they are included on this request should you need assistance.”
I am always happy to work with Learning Innovations staff, and I am grateful for the Global Campus professionals, but I request more control over my classes, especially when content is not ready. This semester, contracts did not begin until Saturday, August 16, so the Friday, August 15, publishing deadline was in advance of my appointment.
My Canvas courses were not ready on Friday, August 15, and included old dates and videos. I am concerned that this early publishing of the course is not student-centered and may result in confusion. Plus, communicating incorrect information at the beginning of the semester (actually, before the semester begins) may lead students to believe that I as the professor am not prepared, which is not true. I put effort into my Global Campus courses and want the students in my classes to see this each day.
Solution:
Faculty and instructors should have control over their Canvas course space publishing. If a course is unpublished, no one except the instructor on record, or that instructor’s supervisor is necessary, should have the ability to publish or unpublish the course.
Thank you for considering my Faculty Forum Post.
Response
The concern about publishing a course website before it is ready is an important one and it is reasonable that the course director have the course website complete before it is published. As Dr. Thigpen points out in her comment below, it is also reasonable that Global Campus students have access to the site early enough that they can prepare for the term ahead. It seems the core problem is having faculty appointment start dates that are too close to the start of the term for the course director to have the site ready. If appointment dates could be earlier, 5 working days for example, it would be reasonable to require the course site to be ready a few days in advance of the course starting. This solution should be explored.
The following is further information from Global Campus regarding course webpage publishing before courses begin.
In cases where a course website will not be ready by the Friday before classes begin, the course director can work with Global Campus Learning Innovations team to post a notice that the course site is still under construction and to hide any material that is not yet ready for students to view. This step taken in lieu of unpublishing the course, to eliminate student confusion and concern.
The team in Learning Innovations, led by Jennifer Thigpen, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, is always available to answer any questions (jthigpen@wsu.edu).
Comments
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns regarding the course publishing timeline for Global Campus courses. I will provide some context around this policy and the reasoning behind its development.
Global Campus students often balance full-time jobs, family responsibilities, and other commitments. For many GC students, the few days before the semester begins offer the time they need to familiarize themselves with the course space, review course expectations, acquire course materials, and generally prepare for the term ahead. Global Campus students have made it clear that they appreciate access to their courses prior to the start of classes.
Additionally, our Learning Innovations team uses the weeks leading up to the start of the term to conduct final reviews of course spaces to ensure that they are complete and to conduct final accessibility checks. Publishing on the Friday before the regular semester begins allows us to identify and resolve any last-minute issues before students begin engaging with the content.
To clarify, there is no expectation for instructors to be active in the course space before the start of the term. Faculty are welcome to use availability dates in Canvas to prevent students from completing any assignments and assessments ahead of time.
Jennifer Thigpen
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Global Campus
Thank you for responding to this concern, which many faculty share with the original commenter.
To clarify, the concern is not whether instructors are “active” in the course space before the term begins, but that some fall semester courses cannot reasonably be ready for publication without creating the implicit expectation of unpaid labor during the summer.
For 9-month faculty, automatic publishing before contracts begin effectively requires preparation during the previous academic year, outside the contract period. While Global Campus courses are prepared in advance, certain materials inevitably need updating at the start of each term. If courses are published before these updates can be made, students end up accessing out-of-date information, which undermines the rationale for early access.
Most faculty are aware that the number of days between the start of 9-month contracts and the first day of class varies across years as a function of the calendar and leap years. In 2025 there were zero (0) business days between Aug 16th and the first day of class. Similar variation occurs at the end of the spring semester. For 2025, there were seven (7) business days between the day grades were due on May 6th and the end of 9-month contracts (May 15th).
If you calculate the number of business days between the date that grades are due in May and the day that classes start in the fall (a schedule already approved by Faculty Senate through 2035), there are between seven (7) and eight (8) business days every year for the academic years from 2025 through 2033 (data is unavailable after this date). Sometimes these days are stacked at the end of the spring semester as was the case for 2025, but in other years they are stacked at the beginning of the fall semester as they will be for 2026 and 2027 (5 days each year).
No one is telling faculty that they must work on their fall semester courses immediately after submitting grades in May. Nevertheless, there are seven (7) to eight (8) days (56 to 64 hours) of compensated time between then and the first day of class to prepare materials for Global and other courses in the fall. Faculty have the flexibility for when to invest this time.
This is a different problem for new faculty and this year the deans agreed to start new 9-month faculty on August 1st to ensure earlier access to benefits and to take advantage of new training offered through the Office of the Provost. Without this early start, our new faculty would have had zero (0) days to prepare for classes. It appears that this strategy was successful, and we are committed to continuing this earlier start for newly recruited faculty who have 9-month appointments.
I also investigated the possibilities of frameshifting the contract period or literally adding more days on contract before the start of the fall semester. With over 900 faculty on 9-month contracts and some teaching responsibilities, the cost of these two options is between prohibitive and extraordinary. Fortunately, these options are unnecessary assuming most faculty can complete preparation for the fall semester given 7-8 business days of compensated time.
Please reach out if you have additional concerns. Sincerely, Douglas Call, Senior Vice Provost, drcall@wsu.edu.