end of academic year rollover

[DavidHawthorn]

We are using Canvas for the first year and I'm getting in early before the end of our academic year (December) and starting to think about what happens for next year.

We are using Compass as our school SIS which we have integrated with Canvas.

When we have our new enrolments for next year and do a sync with Canvas what happens to the existing courses? Can two courses have the same SIS ID if the date ranges are different? Do existing courses get automatically archived? Does the sync fail if existing courses haven't been archived? One thing that I have noticed is that even if a course is deleted the SIS ID cannot be re used.

Our IB diploma student do subjects that run for two years and they should be able access courses from the first year when they are in their second year and are no longer enrolled in those first year subjects. From a student (and a teacher) perspective they are doing a two year course, from a timetabling perspective they are doing two single year courses and thus each year of the course has a different SIS ID (eg. IB11MA, IB12MA).

Do teachers get a new set of courses that they need to manually import content into from their previous year courses? 

A bunch of questions for those more knowledgable than me (probably most of you!) to think about.

[paul_fynn · Accepted solution]

@DavidHawthorn I am aware that there are different approaches and some organisations will adopt a 'roll on roll off' type approach which woud result either in a purge of the original course users, or would add the incoming users as a new section.

In our institution a new academic year means new module instances / occurrences corresponding to the unit identifiers in our SIS (YEAR UNITCODE TRI Occurrence/Location).

We then have a (currently manual) process for teachers to copy their old content into their new course shells.

[mzimmerman · Accepted solution]

@DavidHawthorn 

Our process is similar to @paul_fynn 's.   At our school we create new course shells each term (our SIS course ID includes a section and a term identifier), and instructors copy content from one term to the next.  The terms themselves also include start and end dates in Canvas which dictate how long students have access to those courses.

How your school handles it will depend on how your Compass integration is set up, but I'm afraid that I don't have any specific experience with Compass.

[paul_fynn · Accepted solution]

@DavidHawthorn I am aware that there are different approaches and some organisations will adopt a 'roll on roll off' type approach which woud result either in a purge of the original course users, or would add the incoming users as a new section.

In our institution a new academic year means new module instances / occurrences corresponding to the unit identifiers in our SIS (YEAR UNITCODE TRI Occurrence/Location).

We then have a (currently manual) process for teachers to copy their old content into their new course shells.

[mzimmerman · Accepted solution]

@DavidHawthorn 

Our process is similar to @paul_fynn 's.   At our school we create new course shells each term (our SIS course ID includes a section and a term identifier), and instructors copy content from one term to the next.  The terms themselves also include start and end dates in Canvas which dictate how long students have access to those courses.

How your school handles it will depend on how your Compass integration is set up, but I'm afraid that I don't have any specific experience with Compass.

[Hildi_Pardo · Accepted solution]

Hi @DavidHawthorn 

I think it depends on how your school system has things set up.   Are you the System Admin? 

We have scheduled our Rollover dates as such:

• 6/27/24:  Start sending Summer School info (don't pause current school yaer)
• 8/2/24:  Pause our One Roster/Clever Sync
• 8/8/24:  Start Sending One Roster/Clever Sync for STAFF (to pick up new staff)
• 8/16/24:  Start sending all data (courses)

Answers to your questions and how it looks like in my district:

• When we have our new enrollments for next year and do a sync with Canvas what happens to the existing courses?
  • Once they conclude, past term/year courses go into a view-only archived state.  They can still be access by Teachers and Students under Courses=>All Courses=> Past Enrollments.  Teachers/Students cannot interact with the courses (submit, change grades, etc), and Students cannot see Quiz questions (classic quizzes for sure, not sure about New Quizzes).    Teachers CAN however, import that content into their Sandbox or new courses.
• Can two courses have the same SIS ID if the date ranges are different?
  • No.  In the SIS they can have the same state course ID.   But for course ID, we use the School year, like this example:  2024-15-YR-14117-E#####. (School Year - School Building Code -Term - Course Code - Teacher ID)
• Do existing courses get automatically archived?
  • We don't have them archived nor deleted so we can have access if any FOIA questions come up.   They remain in "Past Enrollments" in a read-only state.   We haven't reached the point where we might consider archiving or deleting past years, yet.
• Does the sync fail if existing courses haven't been archived?
  • This goes back to the roll over info above -- there is a new sync for the new year.   The past year needs to have been paused.  If any of the past year courses remain "active" (not concluded) for some reason or other, this will not affect the new courses coming.
• One thing that I have noticed is that even if a course is deleted the SIS ID cannot be re used.
  • That is correct. 

Our IB diploma student do subjects that run for two years and they should be able access courses from the first year when they are in their second year and are no longer enrolled in those first year subjects. From a student (and a teacher) perspective they are doing a two year course, from a timetabling perspective they are doing two single year courses and thus each year of the course has a different SIS ID (eg. IB11MA, IB12MA).

• Students and Teachers can access from Courses => All Courses => Past Enrollments
• TIP!!!  if they FAVORITE the course (click the star in Courses so it stays on the dashboard), the concluded/past course can stay on the dashboard for easy access the following year.  Once it's no longer needed, you can "unfavorite" it by removing the star

Do teachers get a new set of courses that they need to manually import content into from their previous year courses? 

• Yes.  We also give our teachers four Sandboxes so they can import the past year's course during the summer if they want to make any edits, improvements, updates prior to receiving their new year's courses

Again, this is how it's set up to work in our district.  I hope this is helpful!