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LMS Migration: Canvas is coming to ODU classrooms
ODU's relationship with Blackboard is coming to an end. Learn more about our plans to migrate Blackboard courses to Canvas.
After extensive research and a rigorous RFP process, ODU will be replacing Blackboard with Canvas as our official Learning Management System (LMS) over the next year. While we acknowledge that switching platforms presents some challenges, we are doing everything we can to make the transition as smooth and painless as possible. We will have training and support available at every step of this journey.
Canvas provides faculty with the resources they need to improve the student learning experience:
An intuitive, easy to learn interface, including an improved mobile app experience;
Enhanced and easy to manage syllabus, course calendar, and course schedule that automatically updates due dates for course activities;
Improved workflow for more streamlined grading;
A dashboard that quickly summarizes all relevant course events and items;
Simplified student collaboration and group options; and
24-7 phone and live chat support with Canvas, along with improved instructions, videos, and guides.
We encourage your questions and feedback (elearningadmin@odu.edu) as we go through this process together.
Migration & Archives
A third-party vendor, K16, will help us with course migration. They'll start by importing Blackboard course content from the most recently available courses you teach into Canvas templated courses. This is a very intensive white-glove migration process where every effort is made to identify matching functionality between Blackboard and Canvas. Each piece of your course content will be carefully migrated as cleanly and completely as possible. Of course there may be instances where functionality doesn't quite match, requiring post-migration review and manipulation, but we will make sure faculty have the support needed for a smooth transition.
In addition to migration services, K16 will archive all Blackboard courses and organizations (including content, student data and grades) through the end of our Blackboard contract. Should you need access to these archives, you can contact the ITS Help Desk.
Training
You will have all of the support necessary for a successful transition and beyond.
Growing with Canvas
As an initial step, faculty and staff are encouraged to log into https://canvas.odu.edu with their MIDAS ID and password. If you look in your Dashboard or Course list you will find a course called "Growing with Canvas." This course, available to everyone, is a great place to start learning about Canvas and how to use it. Additionally, you can select the Help option from the left menu to access the Canvas Training Portal and explore a wide variety of available online, virtual and on-demand training.
Passport to Canvas (Quick Start Guide for Students)
Students can find a course called "Passport to Canvas" in their Dashboard or Course list, or browse Canvas' extensive resources.
The Academic Resource Center covers Canvas basics in one-on-one coaching sessions. They've put together this checklist for students wo want to get to know the main features. Contact arc@odu.edu or call (757) 683-5370.
Training from Instructure (the makers of Canvas)
Instructure is offering multiple 3-hour training sessions for instructors. These live sessions (presented over Zoom) will cover Canvas basics, working with content and using the platform's tools. You'll need to be able to view the instructor in Zoom while you follow along with the exercises in Canvas; it might be helpful if you have dual monitors and a headset with a microphone. The training schedule lists all the sessions available, along with their Zoom links. (You'll need to log in with your MIDAS ID and password to view the schedule and links.)
After learning the basics, you can dive deeper in a CLT workshop (see below).
Training from the Center for Learning and Teaching
Additional training sessions and workshops are provided by ODU CLT staff. See the CLT Canvas Workshops & Training page for descriptions and schedules.
Faculty Forums
Information Technology Services, the Center for Learning and Teaching, and the Center for Faculty Development held faculty forums in November. You can watch (or rewatch) a recording here.
Project Details
Project Timeline
Fall 2021
September to October 2021
Contract signed with Canvas
Prepare new Canvas environments
November 15
Faculty Champion course selection
November 17-18
Faculty Champion training provided by Instructure and CLT
December 1
Migration of Faculty Champion courses (along with some test courses)
Email to all faculty about course migration selection (courses need to be selected before the December 10)
December 7
Faculty Champions provide feedback about the course migration process
December 10
Second migration of Faculty Champion and test courses (correcting issues identified from the migration on December 1)
December 15
Migration of all remaining courses and organizations
All faculty will have access to their course content for review
Spring 2022
January to May
Faculty review course content in Canvas for Summer and Fall courses
January
Initial college training sessions provided by Instructure and CLT
February to March
Second round of college training sessions for faculty
End of semester
Spring course migration note: Spring courses were migrated back in the fall. If you've made changes to a course this semester in Blackboard, you'll need to make those changes in Canvas as well. If you've created a new course from scratch, contact ITS for help migrating that course to Canvas.
Summer 2022
Summer semester
All courses taught exclusively with Canvas
June 1, 2022
Access to Blackboard will be removed for instructors and students
June 30, 2022
Contract with Blackboard ends.
Project Team
Individuals on this committee will be responsible for implementation of Canvas and migration from Blackboard.
Dave Hamel (Lead)
ITS
Kate Hawkins
Academic Affairs
Tomeka Wilcher
CFD
M'Hammed Abdous
CLT
Chrysoula Malogianni
CLT
Ashraf Amrou
ITS
Karthik Navuluri
ITS
Rusty Waterfield
ITS
Faculty
TBD
Department Organizations
TBD
Faculty Steering Committee
Individuals on this committee will be steering the implementation and migration to Canvas.
Kate Hawkins (Lead)
Academic Affairs
Jim Bellamy
Community & Environmental Health
Renee R. Felts
School of Continuing Education
Charles R. Gray
Sociology & Criminal Justice
Holli A. Kubly
University Libraries
Jon Lester
Engineering Technology
Tatyana A. Lobova
Biological Sciences
Chrysoula Malogianni
Center for Learning & Teaching
Sara M. Maynard
Medical Diagnostic & Translational Sciences
Michael K. Mcshane
Finance
Kyle H. Nicholas
Communication & Theatre Arts
Paige H. O'Shaughnessy
School of Accountancy
Cesar A. Pinto
Engineering Management & Systems Engineering
Mark C. Rehfuss
Counseling & Human Services
Michael Ruffin
Education & Professional Studies
Beth M. Tremblay
Nursing
Virginia Tucker
English
Lucinda R. Wittkower
University Libraries
Suzanne M. Wright
Nursing
Steven J. Zeil
Computer Science
RFP Evaluation Committee
Dave Hamel (co-lead)
ITS
Kate Hawkins (co-lead)
Academic Affairs
Lynn Wiles
Nursing
Mark Rehfuss
Counseling and Human Services
David Chapman
Public Service
Jim Van Dore
Philosophy & Religious Studies
Johnathan Lester
Engineering Technology
Tatyana Lobova
Biology
Kelsey Kirland
Institutional Assessment
M'Hammed Abdous
CLT
Chrysoula Malogianni
CLT
Ashraf Amrou
ITS
Rusty Waterfield
ITS
Tomeka Wilcher
CFD
Robert Doherty
CEPD
Esther Dodge
HR
RFP Usability Testers
Tester
Department
Amber Hunt
College of Health Sciences (DNTL)
Charlie Kirkpatrick
Strome College of Business
Debbie Couch
Human Resources
Felecia Commodore
Darden College of Education (EFL)
Janice Hawkins
College of Health Sciences (NURS)
John Lopez
Information Technology Services
Jonathan Gedamu
Student
Jori Beck
Darden College of Education (TL)
Joseph Sidlo
Student
Julia Romberger
College of Arts & Letters (ENGL)
Kelsey Kirland
Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment
Krystall Dunaway
College of Sciences (PSYC)
Leanne White
College of Health Sciences
LeWei Chen
Strome College of Business (MGMT)
Matthew Beale
College of Arts & Letters (ENGL)
Michele Weigle
College of Sciences (CS)
Mike Stein
Strome College of Business (ACCT)
Milena Mektesheva
Information Technology Svcs
Przemyslaw Bogacki
College of Sciences (MATH)
Robert Strozak
College of Sciences (MATH)
Steve Hsiung
Batten College of Engineering & Technology(ET)
Steve Zeil
College of Sciences (CS)
Tian Luo
Darden College of Education (STEMPS)
Faculty Champions
A handful of early adopters (Faculty Champions) are teaching courses using Canvas in Spring 2022. These faculty are helping us iron out the migration process in preparation for full Canvas adoption beginning with Summer 2022.
Faculty Champions (listed below) are the only instructors teaching with Canvas this Spring. Other faculty can log in and get familiar with the platform, but they should prepare their Spring courses in Blackboard.
Course migration will begin in late November 2021 for Faculty Champions teaching in Spring 2022. All other faculty will have access to their migrated courses in January 2022 to begin reviewing and updating them for use by Summer/Fall 2022.
We are looking for a small number of Faculty Champions ( < 50 courses).
Faculty Champions should be nominated by their departments.
Faculty Champions should be those willing to frequently communicate with CFD, CLT & ITS over their experiences and their students' experiences using the new LMS.
Faculty Champions should be those willing to document and share their tips and best practices with other faculty to improve content delivery and the student experience.
Those creating an entirely new course might as well do it in Canvas and consider being a Faculty Champion.
Faculty Champions could be those taking over an existing course who do not plan to reuse Blackboard content from the previous incarnation.
Faculty Champions may be those who already have experience with Canvas .
Everyone. The existing Blackboard contract will expire June 30, 2022, stopping access to all existing courses/data in that Blackboard Learn and Blackboard Collaborate.
Current plans will migrate the most recent version of all active courses to Canvas in early spring, providing faculty with access to existing content.
We will be archiving all existing courses in Blackboard Learn to ensure content or grade data is not lost. These can be restored on demand to capture information which can be proffered through a CSV file in the event of a legal grade request or dispute.
The Center for Learning and Teaching is working on a migration plan for PLE courses, but we don't have a timeline for the deprecation of PLE yet. In the meantime, courses taught in Canvas will have links to PLE, just as Blackboard has now.
Only the most recent version of each course you teach is being planned for migration to Canvas.
A list of Blackboard courses for migration was derived by searching for all active courses and Organizations in Blackboard. That list then had all duplicate courses removed for each faculty member where the most recent course was selected to arrive at a recommended course migration list.
We will provide a UI shortly to enable faculty to review which courses are planned to be migrated.
The UI will also enable faculty members to swap out a course from the list and select a different course for migration if needed.
All faculty should plan to review and validate their course content and how it is delivered, make any required changes, and reuse the updated course content as needed.
Due to multimedia storage constraints in Canvas, all multimedia content (.mpg, .mov, .mp4, .wav etc.) should be stored in Kaltura. Make sure the media content is uploaded to Kaltura and is linked to or embedded in your Blackboard course prior to the migration. There will be a 2 GB multimedia file limit set per course in Canvas.
In the management of any course, instructors may come across students who are unable to complete a course. This typically results in a grade of "I" being submitted to Banner. Previously in Blackboard, instructors typically allowed the student to complete the course in the existing course shell they started in.
As we transition to Canvas, the process for provisioning course content that will allow students to complete their coursework will be slightly different.
Faculty that have incompletes should minimally export the gradebook for the course prior to the discontinuation of Blackboard.
Faculty that know they have courses that have student incompletes where students will be returning can request the course content be migrated to Canvas prior to the discontinuation of Blackboard.
If courses need to be recovered after the discontinuation of Blackboard, email itshelp@odu.edu to request to have the course restored. ITS will notify you once it is restored.
If the course that has the incomplete uses PLE, please contact the Center for Learning and Teaching (email clt@odu.edu or use the Faculty Help Request form) so they can assist with migrating that content.
Because Blackboard will not be available after June 30, 2022, there would be no place to reload course archives. Faculty should instead consider downloading individual content items and information from their courses if they wish to keep a copy.
ITS is planning to have all courses archived to the K16 Scaffolding product where content can be pulled from when needed.
There is no concept of an 'organization' currently in Canvas. All existing organizations will be migrated as Canvas courses. More information about this transition will be published soon.
Courses that are cross listed in Banner will show up just as they do in Blackboard, as a single course based on the lowest CRN. Although a cross listed course in Banner has multiple sections, it would count as only a single course in Canvas (or Blackboard).
Faculty should make every effort to work with their department scheduling office and the registrar's office to cross list courses in Banner.
When a course remains unpublished, students do not have access. A course must be published for students to see it on their Dashboard, assuming it is being published within the term dates set in place. Once the course is published, you can determine how much content you want students to view. Once the instructor has graded a submission, they will no longer have the option to unpublish the course.
Students will be able to access the course immediately after publishing, assuming it is within the start and end default term dates. Also, please note that you will be unable to unpublish a course if you have graded an item in the gradebook.
When creating content within your course, you have the option to publish that content immediately or leave it unpublished until you are ready for the students to view it.
We are limiting Faculty Champions to one course as we continue to test our confidence in the large scale operation of the new system. We may uncover issues that were not readily apparent in the beginning, and we need to minimize the impact of unforeseen hiccups.
The courses selected by the Faculty Champions will not impact the migration of courses from Blackboard to Canvas. All teaching faculty will be receiving an email in the very near future where they will be able to review all the courses that are currently planned for migration. It will be during that review where faculty can provide us feedback on course needs.
Canvas has many of the same features as Blackboard, but not all. There are some new features and some familiar ones, such as discussions, groups, gradebook, modules, etc. Please refer to the Blackboard to Canvas Equivalencies chart, which compares the features and provides links and information for each.
Zoom has been defined as the University standard for web conferencing.
The conferencing tool that is packaged with Canvas is Big Blue Button. It does have several limitations. These include recordings that are only kept for 2 weeks (14 days) and are not downloadable, attendee limit of 24 etc. Additionally, video recordings are not automatically transferred to Kaltura.
Users can upload an image to display behind the course card in the Canvas Dashboard. Accepted images include JPG, JPEG, GIF, and PNG files. For more information on how this is done, see the Add an Image to a Course Card page.
Canvas Self-Enroll is being evaluated and how we would approach using that option. We believe that Canvas Catalog is a viable solution and will be providing more information on that in the near future.
Yes, there are student and instructor mobile apps available for iOS, iPadOS, and Android. Announcements, Discussions, Quizzes, Assignments, and Grades can be accessed from the student app. The instructor app allows annotations in the Canvas DocViewer. For more information, go to Canvas Apps 101.
Canvas is built to be an accessible platform, but development of accessible content within a course is the instructor's responsibility and still needs to adhere to university accessibility guidelines. For more information, please refer to Educational Accessibility Resources for Faculty and Staff.
Instructure has stated that the Rich Content Editor's accessibility checker tool is an ongoing project, and they are continuing to improve the 11 different checks that it currently performs. More information can be found in the Canvas Community.
The ITS eLearning staff will be migrating all current integrations in Blackboard over to Canvas before making them available to faculty and students. Most third-party apps and publishing integrations that work in Blackboard will work similarly in Canvas.
All Zoom cloud recordings are currently being copied to Kaltura and can be accessed through "My Media" in Canvas. From there, you can embed Zoom recordings.
Yes. The conferencing tool that is packaged with Canvas is Big Blue Button. It does have limitations, though. For example, meetings are limited to 24 attendees, recordings are only kept for 2 weeks (14 days) and are not downloadable. It is highly recommended that faculty use Zoom, the University's standard web conferencing tool.
Kaltura videos that already exist in your My Media can be embedded into Canvas. The same Kaltura Mediaspace is accessible in both Canvas and Blackboard at ODU.
You can choose from a few options for displaying test/quiz results - on a certain date, after it has been graded, etc. Here you will find the different options for setting up a quiz.
Columns in the Gradebook are only created by adding an assignment in Canvas. If you need to create a column in the Gradebook to use for manual grading, you can create a No Submission or On Paper assignment.
This capability is being migrated from Blackboard to Canvas and will be completed before the start of the Fall 2022 semester. Until then, the process will be very similar to pulling grades from Blackboard for import into Banner.
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