Is anyone using their Canvas Catalog for offerings that are not necessarily going to use a Canvas course (ex. a face to face one day seminar)?

[sgilliam]

We want to use the catalog to include offerings beyond classes and self-paced learning courses from within Canvas.  We have many onsite face to face training, as well as webinars that we would like to include in our catalog - right alongside our LMS courses. Right now, it looks as though we have to create a course shell for anything to be added to the catalog.  If we are having four sessions of a training on various dates - what is the easiest way to do this without cluttering up our LMS?   Any insights would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[gasellc]

Hi Sue,

This is a great question. Currently, for faculty development we are using two systems - GoSignMeUp for f2f and webinar events and catalog for self paced and courses. This does mean that faculty have to do to two separate places, but they are usually looking for one or the other anyway. I am working on a way for faculty to move between the two systems easily, but that is where we are at right now. GoSignMeUp is almost done with with their integration to Canvas, so at some point, we could just use GoSignMeUp for our trainings (f2f, online, self-paced, webinar) and reserve catalog for other courses outside the scope of faculty development.

Crystal

[karen_bowden]

OCPS is doing this right now, but unfortunately I am not a part of that team. However, from what I have seen and experienced of it they are still tweaking it while it is live. Wish I could offer more info but maybe someone from Canvas can help.

[jsowalsk]

Hi,

We, unfortunately, have the same issue. There is really no way around it. We have put in a feature request with Instructure to see if there is a way to duplicate the same listings so we won't have a ton of clutter.

Jessica

[bromanski]

Excellent - I am very interested in this integration as well!  

Beth

[adivirgilio]

I use Catalog for all of my in-person classes.  There are a few issues, though.  I just posted a discussion re the use of Sections.  First, yes, we do have to create a canvas "shell" for every course we want to put into Catalog. Can get a little cumbersome.  Additionally,  there is no way to keep track of the course numbers using the analytics or reporting options, so a manual record is needed.  Next, I would want my registering students to be able to choose from a number of sections by date/time/topic but as of now, that's not how Sections work.  We have our registrations linked to TouchNet for money collection, and this works well, but there are also a few bumps on that road.

I found that if I use a program vs a course, and want to include 2 or more classes in order to qualify for a certificate, the enrollments don't filter to the individual classes as I was under the impression they would.  This makes for a confusing administrative process, to keep track of certificate students, who might still have a course or two to complete before getting a certificate. 

Andrea

[dunn1]

We have been using LearningStream (formerly ABCSignup) for registration/payment/tracking purposes for in-person courses for over 10+ years ad have been very satisfied. The draw back with canvas Catalog is not being able to customize registration questions per class (instead of per category). Learning Stream allows for multiple types of questions, questions that branch off depending on the response, and a great deal more reporting options than Catalog, do I doubt I will move away from using it, but sure would be nice to have everything in one package. 

[GoSignMeUp]

GoSignMeUp has merged with Learning Stream - the benefits of using either with Canvas are you can create as many or few public-facing sign-up pages as you wish - you can mix in-seat and online classes, and also charge for courses or not.  
Also lots of reporting options.  Could be what you need.
http://canvas.gosignmeup.com/