On Jan 18th, 2017 there was a Sakai Users Roundtable  web conference session.  During the session kimhwrth​ of Stanford shared the following resources:

Canvas Course Profiles - a collection highlighting faculty exemplary use of Canvas to enhance teaching and learning

"Coursework" vs Canvas feature comparison

Getting Started with Canvas​

List of Canvas migration resources contributed by other institutions​

hi

We are new to all this, but we're really excited to be here. Any help would be great.

I know you guys have touched on this a couple of times before, but i want to get specific.

We are moving from Bb9.1. In an ideal world we would just like to leave all that old content behind and start again, but we have Bb 'baggage' that academic staff don't want to leave behind.

We are just experimenting at the moment to get the most efficient way to get 5000 modules from Bb into C. So first of this has to be done at scale and not by hand. The common course cartridge creates a nasty html mashup by the time it arrives in C. Is this the way we are doing it or is there something we are missing. See below.

We don't want staff to have this as their initial canvas experience. Export .zip function when it arrives in C is a thing of beauty. The only problem is doing this at scale. we have been looking at the Canvas API and searching github for blackboard exporters. Has anyone got experience of this that could sooth my weary brow and make the pain go away!

jim

We are a state University that is migrating from Sakai to Canvas. Our Registrar's office is working on new data feeds from our PeopleSoft system to Canvas. They would like to connect with other PeopleSoft schools that have completed the SIS integration from PeopleSoft to Canvas. We are starting with .csv uploads rather than using the APIs.Thanks for any contacts.

Hello I come from a D2L School and we are transitioning to Canvas.  One of the instructors that I am working with has a course in Etudes that they would like to transfer over to Canvas.  I re-call seeing information about the migration tool, but currently can't find any recent information.  Do you have any suggestions on where to look?   Thanks.

When importing a course from Moodle into Canvas, for some reason none of the quizzes are importing as a "Practice Quiz" instead of a "Graded Quiz." Why does that happen and can I change it? Also, the grade book is not set up in the categories that I have in Moodle.  Again, why does that happen and can I change it?

We will be imported over 150 courses into Canvas in a couple months... looking for a solution before that happens. Thank you!

Hi, community,

Really need your guidance!

Thanks to  @kona ​, who alerted me to this group!

I have 400 multiple choice questions in my Blackboard Introduction to Logic course, and I created a Bb export zip file for import into Canvas (which we're all using in the Fall).

Over the years feedback has been added to every answer, so there are now way over a thousand feedback sentences.

When I imported the quizzes into Canvas, the questions and answers came in, but all the feedback is missing!

Is there a way (short of using Respondus) to get the feedback for each answer into my Canvas course? I had thought it was part of the import process, and perhaps I didn't set it up correctly.

Can anyone help a poor panicky philosophy instructor?

Thanks!

Dan

I'm not sure if this is a question or a discussion topic, please move as you see fit

Hi! We are in the mist preparing for the Fall pilot of Canvas at our university. We are pushing for a majority-on, launch for the Spring '17 semester.

With that said, I am trying to determine how long, on average, did it take your instructors to convert their courses from one LMS to Canvas (we are moving from Bb to Canvas). I am looking for time estimates so I can better predict how to staff my group. Some instructors won't mind moving and doing the work themselves, but others will need the hands on experience.

For your university or school can you please answer the following:

1. The number of unique courses that converted from an LMS to Canvas (by phases or full numbers - anything helps!). I'm looking for a total number of courses that actually moved from your previous LMS to Canvas.
2. How long did it take you, an ID staff, or the instructor to convert each of the following:
   1. Basic Course - think simple, not much material, maybe a few quizzes, no videos, a few links, maybe an assignment or two, the syllabus, and maybe a simple grade book.
   2. Middle of the Highway course - not fully online, uses many of the tools, online quizzes, external URLS, some media, discussion boards, groups, rubrics, grade book
   3. ALL IN course - I'm thinking your fully online courses that use multimedia, discussions, grade book, online quizes, main point of communication, announcements, assignments, rubrics, peer reviews, you know - everything and the kitchen sink.
3. About how many staff did you have on hand to handle these course conversions?
4. Any tips on the bulk migrations from Canvas? We are planning to do multiple phases to onboard the faculty through out the Fall semester (to prepare their course for a Spring launch).

I hope that all makes sense. I think I'm feeling pretty solid on our training plan to prepare the faculty. I'm getting a bit anxious about the actual move off of Blackboard into a new system for majority of our courses in Spring.

Thank you for your knowledge and insight! ... also, any gotchas!

Crystal

Messy, yeh, that's the word I'd use for both the TITLE of this document and end result of the Bb-to-Canvas import process.

I helped manage our BbLearn to Canvas migration two years ago and it was indeed a messy splattering of perfectly posed content from BbLearn into Canvas. Trust me, that's not a slam; it's just the way the migration process works. It's not all rainbows and lollipops. With our BbLearn-to-Canvas migration we experienced

• some content coming along for the ride and other content not quite making it,
• some content that does make it goes "SPLAT!" somehow in a Canvas Module or across multiple Canvas Modules,
• some Modules can be mixed up/out of order,
• some BbLearn Content Areas and folders can import and split into multiple Canvas Modules that will need to be recombined for a consistent structure in Canvas.

It's hit or miss. Over the multiple classes we imported for our fully-online cyber learning program from BbLearn into Canvas that I had the opportunity to experience the import process first-hand...repeatedly.  After a few imports I really couldn't predict an import behavior or pattern even after import re-attempts on the same export file.  For example, I remember trying this hopeful work around to get an import "just right"

1. resetting the Canvas class after an undesirable import,
2. renaming my class Content Areas over in BbLearn,
3. renaming any content folders/nested content folders in BbLearn,
4. restarting the export in BbLearn,
5. saving the BbLearn export zip,
6. importing the zip into the Canvas class,

and it still delivered crazy-looking and parts of content going M.I.A., too.

How did I export?

When I exported from BbLearn I just selected all Content Areas and exported as much as I could in the zip hoping to bring over whatever I could to Canvas. I know that it Canvas doesn't support Adaptive Release functionality for its content areas but I zipped it into the export anyway -- no telling when I might run into BbLearn in the future and might be able to re-use the export again, right? Here's a sample shot of my export settings from BbLearn.

What's in a naming convention? That which we call a helpful solution.

One tip I could offer that could help that didn't necessarily help with reconstituting the course structure during the Canvas import BUT DID HELP with the search and rescue party after the import was what I mentioned above -- use naming conventions in your BbLearn course content parts. With a naming convention you can put Humpty Dumpty back together again with a bit more ease after the input in Canvas. For example,

• U01 Overview is a Unit 1 overview in any class.
• U04L02A01 Biomes is a Unit 4, Lesson 1, Assignment 1 on Biomes in a science class
• U06L04D01 Diaphragmatic Breathing Tips is a Unit 6, Lesson 4 Discussion on diaphragmatic breathing in an instrumental music class.

Fortunately, as a rule of thumb in our online courses and to help students and teachers easily identify the location of any content in any course in BbLearn we used naming conventions like the one above everywhere. After the import the consistent naming convention for the different pieces of your class will helped us drag class parts into position and find their new Module home in Canvas. Another perk of naming conventions is alphabetization. The naming convention (although a little clunky-looking) helps you search as pieces of your class are sorted alphabetically in their class menu "silos" (especially if you follow file naming conventions for sequencing like using zeros for numbers below 10). At the very least this can help you look for your content you're looking for before bringing it out to module structure.

Are you a checklist kind of person?

Another suggestion I could offer is a way to manage what easily could have become for us a nightmare-of-a-process trying to remember where we left off one day and where to pick up another especially when I was supporting a migration team. It's easy to create lists of BbLearn course content. I don't know if this is helpful for everyone or not, but below is a shot on how to pop the menu out and copy from it.

1. Click the pop-out menu from your class menu in BbLearn.
2. Expand all folders.
3. Select and copy all contents from the pop-out menu.
4. Right-click/paste special/text into a spreadsheet.
5. Use this list over in Canvas to verify what is missing and what needs to be copied/pasted after the import process completes.

If you're a Google Wiz, paste these into Google Sheets one BbLearn course content list per sheet. When the Google Sheet is shared with the rest of the migration team collaborators, different class sheets can be delegated to different team members for project management oversight. When one team member finishes a smaller class verifying all content is in place, s/he can jump in and help with the next class or help a team mate making for an efficient team effort.

I took a screenshot of this using an Audacity Course menu I designed in BbLearn. You can see that the original 4 Unit Level Content Areas in the class menu have various content types nested in each. Depending on the "import mood" Canvas was in that day (it honestly felt like that because there was just no rhyme or reason I could see as to why things imported the way they did some days), sometimes these would stay together (YES!!!) and sometimes one Content Area would split up into multiple Canvas Modules (BOO!!!), typically at a subfolder but sometimes not. To help me scan and make sure my content not only traveled but would wind up in the correct place the check list helped me a lot.

Repurpose Draft State

Some courses had a LOT of BbLearn Items that naturally came over as Canvas Wiki/Content Pages. Complicating this was the fact that some Pages made it out into their modules and some stayed in the Canvas Pages "silo" over in the class menu. Toggling between the silo and modules got a bit tedious after a few hours one day so I tried using the Draft State clouds as a marker/check-list of sorts, too. Initially, I unpublished every module. Then I unpublished everything in the Pages silo. After I refreshed the Module page the whole thing was filled with grey clouds just like the Pages silo page was. Then I traveled down the Modules page lighting up each module which in turn lit up every Page contained in the Module turning all of the draft state icons green. When I went to the Pages silo I could much more easily see what was left unpublished. In other words, I could see what was not yet brought out to the Modules where I had published everything. This allowed me to browse down my Pages silo and looking at each page that was still unpublished and decide into which module I want to bring that Page or to let the Page unpublished in my Pages silo for use on a later date.

Of course, when everything was in its place and where I wanted it to be, I adjusted the draft states using them for their original purpose of managing content visibility to student and observer roles in their new Canvas home.

______________________________

Special thanks to stefaniesanders​ for asking me to cross-post this as a document, which originally was a response replied to here, in this Community Group. Having gone through a BbLearn-to-Canvas migration 2 years ago and then last year a CanvasSubAccount-to-OurOWNCanvasInstance migration I found through some hard knocks a few ways to insure content made it to its new Canvas destination. Never hesitate to drop me a line if you have questions about your BbLearn to Canvas migration or if you have questions about using the Instructure WhiteGlove migration migrating from one Canvas instance to another or not. I'm happy to share our thought process if it helps you weigh the pros and cons and make a decision for your institution.

We are transitioning from BB to Canvas.  My recorded lectures have been imported, but I cannot get them to play.  I used Hughes Presenter to narrate my powerpoints when recording my lectures.  The problem seems to be the "start.html" file, which I used in BB to link to each lecture.  I get an "Oops you’ve found a broken link!" message.  When I click on "index.html", which also worked in BB, I get a flash player message.  I have the latest flash player v.22. 

Can I convert an html file to a swf file to access the lectures?  Please help!

How do I place exported Angel  old courses into my Canvas sandbox?

Has anyone been successful in exporting a rubric from Blackboard and importing it into Canvas? If so, would you share your steps/process?

Many thanks,

Rosie

Hi All!

I have successfully migrated materials from Etudes with exception of the modules.  It seems the entire modules file will not successfully migrate.  When I upload it it in pieces, one section loads in but then the next then replaces the first load, so I can't seem to get them all to load in and stay in place.  I went through to make sure all the links in the modules were working properly. They seemed to be fine.

Anyone have suggestions regarding how to get modules to load in properly? I would love to not have to recreate every unit in each module!

Thanks for reading!

Carley

Hi All,

With moving from D2L to Canvas, we've seen some issues with quizzes moving from D2L to Canvas. 

Has anyone tried running the quizzes through Respondus 4.0 (or other exam software) and then uploading them to Canvas?

Thanks!

-Dave

If you update a grade in the "other" software and push it back to Canvas, is there any record of the change being made (i.e., "paper trail" - Jane Smith changed this grade from 9/10 to 10/10 on 4/25/16), or does it just update the grade? I know when you import via CSV, the grade simply changes, and there's no way to know that it was changed at some point, or by whom.

Hello,

I was wondering how others have handled transferring Blackboard Assessments that use the Calculated Formula/Math Editor. The assessment is not coming across to Canvas appropriately.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Kari

When I first imported a Moodle Course into Canvas the Books came over as pages in the Modules.  When I do it now, the pages of the books end up elsewhere.

Is there a way to require that the pages from a Moodle book import into the Canvas modules?

Thanks,

Diana

Another question has popped up with our transition! I hope you can help! How did your institution go about finalizing SafeAssign? Instructors are wanting to save reports for their records so that they are aware of plagiarism  or if it was submitted  in Blackboard SafeAssign so that they can crosscheck with new sumbissions in Canvas. Was this a concern? How did you go about tackling this issue? Is there a way to link SafeAssign to Turnitin?

Thank you!

My institution is in the process of setting up a Canvas Pilot for a small group. Currently we use Moodle as our LMS and have for many years. Can people share with me any insights as to getting faculty on-board, migrating content, training, and differences in the two systems.

Thanks in advance!

Melissa

Hello,

My university is coming up on the great transition from Blackboard to Canvas in the Summer. I have a few questions on users that have done this transition:

1. Did you do a mass export of Blackboard Courses into Canvas?  If so, what did the process look like?

2. How did you go about training Faculty about the transition? Did you have a recommended process?

3. Were there any problems/bumps in the transition?

4. Any helpful tips?

Thank you for any assistance!

Kari Johnson

All registered Canvas User Engagement group members can "Edit" this doc and share their ideas!

IMPORTANT: This is a collaborative doc so let's work together to keep this polished, full of fresh new ideas, and void of duplicates 😉

Follow these instructions if you'd like to share your some of your ideas:

1. Click "Edit" on the right side of this screen.
2. Add your idea to the most appropriate category, below.
3. Click the "Publish" button at the bottom of this screen, when finished!

Index of Categories:

1. Learn how faculty currently teach their courses.
2. First train the faculty heads and empower them to train the teachers in their faculties.
3. Pick the right faculty members for special attention. Not someone who will poison everyone else on the experience.
4. Obtain faculty buy-in through other faculty educators 
5. Work with leadership to send initial messages introducing who will help roll out and support.
6. Provide all faculty with a sandbox course to practice and play with.
7. Splash page in retiring LMS announcing/redirecting to Canvas
8. Make presentations at faculty association/senate meetings
9. Be prepared to have a workaround for instructors who are accustomed to doing certain things in the previous LMS
10. Put a positive spin on the migration process that so many dread; Promote the idea of an “upgrading” your course, not just moving it!
11. Focus on using students to promote Canvas; First get strong student buy-in and the faculty will be “forced” to come along
12. Give faculty specific timelines - be honest and transparent on how long it will take
13. Create videos depicting the change between old LMS and Canvas; Emphasize why it is a GOOD change
14. Start with a Pilot semester of ~30 teachers in various departments. The following semester hire these now ‘expert’ Canvas teachers to serve as “faculty mentors”
15. K12 institutions - Try starting with 8th - 12th grade implementation and letting others follow.
16. Have sign-up sheets to gauge attendance and ensure seating
17. Let faculty know well in advance if they are going to be required to switch from an old LMS to Canvas. Offer more hand-holding for early adopters!

18. Always emphasize the power of Canvas resources whenever offering training (empower them to find answers to all their questions)

    1. The Canvas Guides - Guides (learn how to do anything in Canvas)

    2. Canvas Video Tutorials - Video Guide - Table of Contents  (learn how to use Canvas by watching short videos)

    3. Canvas Community - Canvas LMS Community (ask questions to community)

    4. Release Notes - Release Notes (keep up with new features)

    5. CanvasLIVE webinars - CanvasLIVE (free webinars to learn more about Canvas)

19. You may be interested in having Canvas trainers offer F2F training; Contact your Instructure CSM to discuss this option.
    1. Synchronous online webinar training
    2. Asynchronous instructor-led training
    3. Face to Face, on-site workshop trainings

1. Market and Advertise upcoming training sessions in various methods (flyers, posters)  and to all parties - teachers, students, other users. Incorporate quotes/stories/case studies from people who are using the product about how they are using is and what they love about it, and how much their students like it!
2. Create an infographic for students and teachers for classrooms, advert boards, and computer labs. Include the essential elements for getting started.
3. Website countdown clock (Days:Hours:Minutes:Seconds to Canvas launch; retiring LMS cut-off, etc.) on the login portal
4. Captive target audience (Canvas users - students and teachers) - Posters in restroom stalls.
5. Canvas Booth at student/faculty events and fairs on campus that the college sponsors
6. Create candy bar wrappers with canvas logo and links to handout for faculty. Wrap candy bars and give out to faculty. K.I.S.S. Make links obvious and enticing!
7. Set up the Canvas "Login page" with announcements, links to training dates/times, links to help and support resources (From Instructure, homegrown, or both!)

1. Have a sign in sheet for all training sessions. Keep detailed records on all trainings, hours, topics discussed, people trained, etc. (Not just for traditional classroom training for everything!)
2. Offer frequent, optional classroom F2F training - Let instructors follow along in their own sandbox course.
3. Create a sample course that you can use when training. Ensure it is expertly designed and filled with exemplary sample content so you can effectively show off the features you want to highlight.
4. Chunk 1-day training in modules (basic - intermediate - advanced) and give faculty option to sign up for full day or individual modules so they can stretch out training if choose
5. Go to them! Regularly visit the faculty/adjunct areas - guerrilla training sessions! Don't expect them to show up for generic training sessions. Some might, but your personalized attention will go a long way and help with faculty adoption!
6. Offer a “whiz-bang” show and tell session. Have this followed by hands-on, well-supported sessions.
7. Before training sessions, showcase a few exemplary courses to help instructors see what's possible (Inspire them!)
8. Offer some focused attention on how to migrate content from prior LMS into Canvas.  Keep in mind the option of starting from scratch. Many institutions have found the "clean slate" approach to be the best instead of migrating content.
9. Train teacher while in the classroom with the students as a shared experience-- “now your teacher is going to click ‘publish’” and you as students will see the quiz is published. Students, now click on quiz and take it. “Now your teacher is going to go to Speed grader and give you some feedback. See how they can click on the rubric and give you a rubric score, as well as give you comments. Your teacher can also click on the media comment tool and record some audio/video feedback.
10. Present a paper copy outline that follows training curriculum for traditional versus 21st century learners
11. Hold targeted training sessions and present clear expectations of participants so they can know if they are ready for the content presented. Offer some kind of basic assessment to "place" instructors into the right training
12. "Technology Boot Camp" (combined training and work sessions - 3 hour event broken into 10 minute introductions to course tools followed by hands-on work sessions with Canvas ‘mentors’)
13. Course Design F2F training where you allow faculty to “work on their own” and ask questions as they go!
14. Train all on basic capabilities and then add intermediate and advanced skills
15. Create and provide an all day boot-camp/workshop for Canvas... with lots of interactive activities and hands-on time
16. Host a “Preview session” - NOT A TRAINING SESSION.
    1. A quick f2f 20-30 minute preview of the best/coolest/most time-saving features in Canvas.
    2. Compare/contrast old LMS to new LMS (Canvas)
    3. Include a handout listing the main features in old LMS and what they were in Canvas and the features in Canvas that old LMS didn't have.
    4. Host many of these as a way to get faculty interested and excited to use Canvas.
17. Host a Canvas Conference
    1. Have a raffle before training begins
    2. Serve a meal mid-day
    3. Give out lots of swag
    4. Lots of group work – not just lectures
    5. Play happy music before session begins

1. “Go slow now, so you can go fast later!" Teach small bits now... the necessities and foundational topics so the teacher can excel and take off as time goes on. Don't overwhelm them with everything at once.
2. Deliver short, sharp shock training. Don’t teach using lengthy PowerPoints. This way instructors will have something punchy to emulate. (Provide videos, as an example of what they could be doing)
3. Host short training sessions on specific topics (Remember to let out early when possible 😉
4. Focus training sessions on small bits of the tools. Don’t do training by fire hose.
5. Use the ‘Teaching Channel’ (https://www.teachingchannel.org/) for the Canvas roll-out and make comments as the "notes."
6. Help instructors modify assessments so they use meaningful, guided/probing questions.
7. Offer a Pedagogy Course (online/F2F) - talk about web accessibility and learning styles
8. When training instructors on Canvas, focus on student-centric learning activities in course design
9. Collaborate with other Canvas trainers and discuss challenges and successes.  Consult them for feedback on how to improve.
10. Host a "Canvas Challenge" for your institution: https://training.instructure.com/courses/961116 (provided as a resource by Instructure but not currently supported)
11. "Black Diamond Challenge" http://canyonsdistrict.org/canvasfasttrack Look for the link to the Canvas Black Diamond Challenge.
12. Offer Departmental Training / Grade Level Training
13. UnConference on digital workflows in the classroom, led by students, faculty and Instructure reps -- Canvas is part of a bigger picture
14. Train ambitious students to be Canvas experts that can train and answer questions from instructors
15. Create a training menu so instructors can clearly see the different types of training and the associated curriculum. Clearly identify courses that have prerequisite knowledge/experience. Set these up as small, 1 hour sessions. Market that they can build their own custom training experience... a la carte!
16. Create a regional consortium of school districts/colleges/universities that are sharing digital content - label content/courses so faculty know what they are getting into:  beginner, advanced, etc
17. Let faculty learn to use Canvas on their own, and struggle through it (i.e. it seems they learn better when they are the ones clicking through the steps instead of us doing it for them) Offer support on the side.
18. Plan a common time for instructors to work with other Canvas experts - be the bridge between your power users and the newbies
19. ELearning faculty in residence (stipend and or course release)
20. Create a group of early adopters/"Canvas coaches" to act as leaders in their areas. Give some kind of recognition/reward to these "Canvas Coach" Experts. (Gift Card/Swag)
21. Establish super-user groups that focus on specific areas of interest or discipline. Provide a venue (like a course or a group) where users can share ideas/content.
22. Host special, dedicated training for online instructors. Don't try to have them listen in via conference call to classroom based training
23. Offer custom trainings based on accessibility needs,  and how to use accessibility tools in Canvas.
24. Empower teacher leaders to do small training sessions to get the training out to the masses
25. Offer "Lunch & Learn" opportunities for faculty to come learn how to use Canvas or other technologies
26. Recruit faculty volunteers to train other faculty in their department
27. Offer online training for faculty. They can join your webinar from anywhere.
    1. If faculty has questions or problems as they are going through the online training, provide follow-up help via email, phone, or f2f.
    2. Give 1-on-1 personal help, but NO GROUP SESSIONS where possible (one opinion)
       1. Group sessions can be difficult when everyone has different technical aptitude. Will be too slow for some and too fast for others.
       2. Faculty can work at their own pace and then ask for help as needed.

1. For new teachers, create an online Canvas course to provide self-paced training on using Canvas; Include inline links to "just in time" help on common question/problem areas
2. Create a "badging course" that encourages instructors to become ‘experts’ in Canvas.
3. Create an eLearning Academy dedicated to Canvas trainings; Show instructors ways to improve student engagement through gamification!
4. Arrange a time for instructors to synchronously participate in a Canvas course; Offer real-time, in-line chat to support them
5. Provide faculty a sandbox course to practice course design/creation. Enroll them as the teacher AND enroll a "dummy student" so they can experience both sides of course design and interaction.
6. Create a “What is Canvas” course for instructors to experience as students
7. Provide a Canvas training course built in Canvas.  You may want to search Canvas Commons for examples.  Learn more about Canvas Commons in the Canvas Commons‌ group.
8. Bootcamp training course - self-paced, self-enroll sessions (basic, intermediate, advanced)
9. Provide the instructors with a course on Effective Online Learning environments, make this course a requirement and have instructional designers review the course participation to identify gaps and reach out to instructors
10. Create Canvas courses for “training” (the proof of the pudding is in the eating!)
    1. Leverage Canvas guides and tutorial videos with direct links so your course always stays updated when guides are updated.
    2. Add personalized videos
    3. Ensure Canvas training courses will achieve desired outcomes
11. Require faculty to build a course in Canvas and get it approved before letting them use it to teach with students.
    1. You can go through their courses and make sure things were going to work
    2. Offer helpful instructional design and usability tips
    3. Make sure the actual Canvas features/tools are being used correctly
    4. This will take a lot of time, but can be a HUGE help because you’ll have fewer problems at the beginning of the semester - i.e., fewer requests for help from faculty and from students.
    5. Learn more about this approach

1. Provide short orientation trainings for students to get them excited and encourage their instructors
2. Offer a bunch of student orientation sessions at different campus locations. Have raffles to encourage attendance (get local businesses to sponsor raffles). Throw out swag (if it's in a big lecture hall or the like).
3. Create a Canvas course to teach students about Canvas

1. Create "Mobile Labs" (go to the different buildings, on set schedules, to meet with faculty on their turf) A "faculty roadshow"
2. Offer open-lab time for Q&A about all supported technology services... not JUST Canvas.
3. Provide 1-1 assistance in open-labs
4. High touch - Instructional Designer & Technologist open office hours, open to all faculty to attend for 1-1 help with ANY technology or teaching help
5. Hold virtual training sessions on a consistent day each week for all instructors - record the sessions
6. Speed-dating with Canvas! (Open-house with Canvas experts – faculty)
   1. Have a monitor facing two or three people at a table
   2. Faculty power-users on the other side of table
   3. Faculty power-user highlight one or two unique ways they are using Canvas
   4. Rotate after 10-15 minutes
7. Offer walk-in office hours or a "Learning Lab" and be sure to properly publish/advertise all dates/times - advertise on training calendars "Build your Canvas Course"
   1. Have faculty work and learn Canvas together
   2. Have one or two experts on hand to answer questions (could be a teacher)

1. Offer enticing incentives - iPad, iPod, etc! (For completing a series of canvas training workshops, completing an online course by a given date, then mentoring "x" number of of other faculty to learn Canvas. etc.)
2. Give participants food, candy, etc.
3. Give them a certificate of accomplishment to those who complete any training.
4. Issue certificates (and/or badges?!) for attaining different levels of mastery. Have a public listing of those who have earned different levels of achievement
5. Badging - offer staff members badges for completing training or participating in training sessions.
6. Have contests with who is using Canvas the most or the best. Give away some great prizes like an iPad or a Bluetooth speaker.
7. Offer hot lunch, exclusive swag and badges
8. Make Canvas training sessions count as PD hours for faculty that complete training
9. Identify some local experts, compensate them (if possible) and direct others to them for help.
10. Create an incentivized faculty mentoring program with mentors assigned to each campus. Usually a good idea to recruit early adopters and ambitious folks who could be great evangelists.
11. Faculty Showcase Luncheon once a semester highlights 3 to 4 faculty and how they use Canvas. Offer awards and create a really exciting environment so others will strive for excellence.
12. Showcase exemplar faculty and provide them a platform for sharing their work. Maybe showcase on the faculty Login page for Canvas.
13. Present award to pilot participants
14. Door prizes for all training participants, raffles and other prizes - be sure that you have advertised these enticing things you are doing!
15. Host a Canvas course showcase and award Ceremony
16. Hand out pens with handouts/notebook and encourage note-taking (encourage them to write down topics that you don't cover in depth during your training... later on they can search the Canvas Guides)
17. Host Deeper Dives
    1. Help faculty become acquainted with more rich feature
    2. Prerequisites
    3. Conferences
    4. Model a training session where you leverage these tools in the session to help them see practical application
18. Host a Canvas Smackdown
    1. Gamify learning how to use Canvas.
    2. Have awards for people who “finish first” or “best”

1. Be sure to "train" teachers but don't forget to also REVIEW instructor courses after they are finished creating them, to ensure compliance with effective course design. This will also help you analyze what training topice need more emphasis in the future.
2. Draw attention to instructors doing exemplary things in their course as a model for employing teaching methodologies and demonstrating new system capabilities.
3. Have faculty write guest blog entries about what they are doing in Canvas (include screenshots, videos, etc.)
4. "Friday Forums" - bring new technology to teachers and offer food - teach them a new technology. Encourage faculty to volunteer as presenters.
5. Deliver "drop-in" sessions once a week after initial instructor training
6. Recurring Faculty Meeting at the end of a semester, for turning in grades: provide food and overview of “new” Canvas features: Discuss prep tips for next semester
7. Show faculty real data on the change that takes place for students as a result of using Canvas features
8. Provide small group cohorts of faculty conferencing via Adobe Connect or BBB (build out content/activities)
9. Send out detailed follow up emails to workshop participants: Address questions raised during the workshop along with links to where they can find more information
10. "Tech Talk 21" - Teach Teachers how to use small pieces of Canvas in 21 minutes or less and provide a webinar using Big Blue Button- record and teachers can watch later.
11. "2 Minute Canvas Tips" - Set up a YouTube Channel and post 2-min instructional video clips to help instructors learn basic canvas adoption tips and tricks incorporating functionality and pedagogy! Encourage all faculty to subscribe to the channel. If all instructors were in an account group or course you could subscribe all to a discussion board or push new videos out via Announcements.
12. Encourage faculty to share courses among their departments, this motivates them to build better courses
13. Department demos where they feature a course from one of the instructors
14. "Learning Bytes" - Have a 3-4 min share out at staff meetings from those who you would not expect to share out.
15. In addition to choosing your tech savy staff for early adapters, chose a staff member that people know is tech challenged and really partner with them to pick one feature that they can share with the staff. Make this very successful for this person and staff will feel that they can also use that feature.
16. Create step by step videos focused on faculty needs and share them with staff via email, post them on a blog or on a Canvas course. (Save time and use the tutorial videos made by Instructure.
17. Send important updates to faculty via email (stay in touch!)
    1. How to prepare for the end of the year
    2. Saving student data, grades, submissions
    3. How to export course content
    4. How to import content from last semester
18. Host and facilitate a monthly faculty user-group meeting
    1. Showcase courses
    2. Discuss “best-practices” – what’s working and what’s not working
    3. If you have low attendance… go mobile! Use Google Hangouts On Air (Links to an external site.)
19. Host a "Canvas Shoot-out” on Google Hangouts On Air (Links to an external site.)
    1. Spotlight some great uses of Canvas by your teachers;
    2. See how Pasco County Schools did this
20. Leverage administrative groups as a faculty group
    1. Have a Q&A board and encourage all faculty to “Subscribe” to that board. And have them adjust their notification preferences.
    2. Host design elements in Files, to be used by all (images, icons, buttons)
    3. Host a consistent “virtual open office hours” where you are available for a 1-2 hr block every week where you make yourself available to answer questions… use the conferences tool in your course.

1. Don’t copy 20+ pages in the syllabus area, instead have the instructor’s info on the syllabus page in Canvas and the full syllabus as a link
2. Show the athletic dept. how they can use different options to keep student athletes current in courses
3. Set the homepage for a course as a unique identifier - Retail Management course.
4. Show how Canvas can work in concert with a 1:1 implementation of iPads and Chromebooks. Device usage will increase and teachers will become more literate with both (Proven fact!)

I'm brand new in the community and new to Canvas. We are running a pilot this spring where a few dozen faculty will be using Canvas instead of Blackboard. I'm the lone trainer at our campus for LMS systems.

Would anyone be kind enough who has been to this war share with me what they did for training?

Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Canvas Essentials

Editing the menu

• Setting your personal preferences
• Inbox for communicating
• Creating Pages
• Setting a Home Page
• Uploading files

Getting from Blackboard to Canvas

• Informal moving of files from Blackboard to Canvas
• Users will log into their Blackboard Course – download files – organize and cleanup files – upload files into Canvas
• Users will learn how to incorporate these files into a Canvas course
• Moving of quizzes, tests and surveys
• What works and what doesn’t
• Checking feedback and scores
• How to deploy a quiz

Canvas Grade Center Essentials

• How to add a column in the Grade Center
• Types of assignments

Canvas Communication Tools

• Inbox
• Live Chat
• Conferencing tool

I've created the following instructional videos to share with you:

Getting started with Canvas - YouTube

Again, I'm in this battle alone and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Leona :smileygrin:

We are running a pilot of Canvas and currently use Blackboard.

I've tried to come up with the easiest method of moving content from the Blackboard system to Canvas for those who don't want to start from scratch.

From what I've experienced, I created some short videos on how to get from Blackboard to Canvas that I hope is helpful to those going through the same process.

I'm hoping that sharing our experiences, we can better support our faculty and have less grief for all of us.

Getting started with Canvas - YouTube

Greetings,

We are looking for advice from schools who have migrated from Blackboard.  How have you handled archiving courses for future accreditation reports?  Since Canvas does not import student grades or submissions from archive files, and it is hard to anticipate what future reporting requirements may be, how have you handled backing up old Bb courses?

Thanks, in anticipation,

Anne Marchant

Shenandoah University

Tried importing various Bb 9 archive files into Canvas over the past few months, and all but one of them has failed to import.  The importation times out, regardless of my browser or connection.  The one exception produced an import that was virtually useless, as much of my content was missing, and other bits were located in very odd places.  Have any of you experienced this?  We're considering switching to Canvas.

It's important to decide whether you want to build your courses from scratch or if you want to import all of your content from Angel.  In most cases all course content in Angel does copy over into Canvas, but will need some tweaking.

Benefits of moving your entire course over from Angel

The only real benefit of moving your entire course over from Angel is that pretty much all of your course content will automatically be in Canvas. Yet, in many cases it might take just as long to adjust your course after copying all the content over as it would if you started from scratch.

Want to give it a try?

If you want to copy an entire Angel course over into your Sandbox to see how it looks before you make your decision, there is solution!  You can copy all Angel course content over into your Sandbox, try it out, and if you hate it and want to start from scratch you can literally clear out all content from your Sandbox course in Canvas and start fresh. Be cautioned though, it really does delete everything and even Online Learning will not be able to get the content back! If you are interested in this option, the "Reset Course Content" button is located on the right under Settings in your Sandbox Course.

Adjustments needed when going from Angel to Canvas

• IMPORTANT! Be sure to UNCHECK the "Calendar" box before exporting your course information from Angel!!
• Checking and possible resetting all assignment (dropbox, discussion, and exam) settings and due dates
• Reviewing course content to make sure links, video, and other media are showing up and working correctly
• Make sure LOR content is copied (and not linked) into your course
• Reviewing gradebook settings and making necessary adjustments
• Reordering course content. If you have a lot of folders inside of folders in Angel, then you may need to do some reordering.

Benefits of starting your Canvas Course from scratch

The main benefit of starting your Canvas course from scratch is that you have a chance to review your course materials, make updates, and rethink how you are doing things and if you could do them different/better in the Canvas environment.

Video Comparison

Below is a video comparison of an Angel course and the same course copied over into Canvas.  The Canvas course hasn't been tweaked since copying the course content over so you can really see what a copied course from Angel will look like in Canvas

It's been a few years since we needed to deal with this, but at the time I felt the need to improve on the built-in Blackboard import into Canvas. I tried to replicate the structure of the original course in Blackboard in a new course in Canvas as closely as possible.

My code is posted to GitHub, but has not been updated to handle Blackboard 9 exports (if they're different) or a few lingering issues.

Feel free to have at it, improve it… or just use the built-in importer! If you want to use my code and want a hand getting it cranked up and running, feel free to reach out to me.

Moving from BB to Canvas, but some of our courses have content that links back out to BB- anyone know any utility that replaces all the BB URL links in courses? thanks

Looking for a super script that can replace all BB URLs with new Canvas url....

Just over one year ago, we made a transitions from Pearson eCollege's LearningStudio LMS to Canvas.  Here is a chart that we put together a while back for our faculty to help them understand the differences between the two platform.  The last version of LearningStudio we used before we switched was their .NExT platform (based on Microsoft's .NET framework).

I've been downloading and re-creating online classes in Canvas from our old Moodle site, and for some reason, the assignments--anything that requires an upload--don't appear in the new Canvas classes. I can't figure it out. There's an "Imported Assignments" category in the gradebook, but nothing there.

Getting ready to leave?

Consider migrating vs. rebuilding

If you decide to migrate:

• Clean out any unwanted or hidden file/materials
• If you use LORs (repositories) make content is copied, not linked
• Rename content to unit/module specific convention
• Move nested materials to top folder level
• Remove section headings, remnant ANGEL Quizzes
• Remove empty question bank folders
• Check your gradebook setup
• Assessments - check question pools, keywords and matching questions
• Check links, files and pages
• All folder names should consist of only alphanumeric characters which means no special characters or slashes in the folder name. Rename folders that contain special characters or slashes in the folder name.

REMEMBER, the following items won’t convert from ANGEL to CANVAS

1. ANGEL's Games, Syndicated Folders or Blogs
2. ANGEL's Standards
3. Specific team assignments, although Team ids and Team descriptions will be migrated.
4. ANGEL Automation (actions and agents)

Exporting/Importing

• Export in ANGEL format (not .imscc or common course)
• Content only, no user data
• Import into development course shell, not production