1Students and their contacts
One row per student, as a spreadsheet or an export. Whatever you have of:
- Full legal name, preferred name and date of birth
- Student ID numbers, if your school uses them
- Email, phone and mailing address
- Emergency contacts
- Program or degree they're in, and when they started
- Status: current, graduated, withdrawn, on leave
Include past students as well as current ones. Graduates still request transcripts.
2Past grades and transcripts
Every course each student has completed, with the term, the grade and the credits. This is the record that matters most, so send it in whatever form it's in:
- A grades export or report from your current system
- Spreadsheets kept by term or by student
- Transcripts as Word documents or PDFs
- Photos or scans of paper transcripts and grade books
Also send your grading scale (what counts as an A, B and so on, and the grade points for each), so grade point averages come out the same as before.
3Programs and degree plans
Each program or degree you offer and what it requires: the courses, the credits and any electives. Your catalog or student handbook is often enough.
4Your course catalog
Every course you teach or have taught: code, title, credits and a description. Old courses you no longer offer matter too, because past grades point to them.
5This term or next
If you're switching mid-year: the classes running, who teaches each one, when they meet, and who is enrolled. If you're switching at a term break, the next term's schedule is enough.
6Faculty and staff
Name, email and role for everyone who will sign in: instructors, the registrar, admissions, leadership.
7Documents
Applications, transcripts from other schools, and other files kept on students. Folders named by student are ideal, but anything works.
8Course materials (optional)
Readings, assignments and quizzes from an online classroom. This is the least important part: many instructors prefer to set their courses up fresh. If you'd like them brought across, see moving from Canvas, Moodle or Google Classroom.