The Road to Canvas
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Please visit the Canvas Faculty Support page.
Please visit the Canvas Student Support page.
Migration Run 1: On Schedule
- Status: Complete and went well.
- Next Steps: The next migration run will be complete by late December. If you are interested in adding a populated course (no empty ones, please) to the list, please navigate to the LMS Master Migration List and do so. Select Run 2 (Ready Fall 25) so it won’t get overlooked.
Course Template:
To ensure all courses include the elements required by law, accrediting agencies, and/or best practices, the Center for Academic Innovation developed a basic template that can be customized to fit the needs of each faculty and discipline. Although you may choose not to use it, or you may want to revise it, this template serves a couple of purposes:
- Consistency: Provides a consistent course format that meets internationally recognized standards of best practice in online course design.
- Compliance: Provides information to students that is required, sometimes by law, sometimes by general best practices and standards of quality (including Quality Matter, OLC, and the MUS principles of Quality).
You can learn more about the templates on the CAI Template webpage.
Canvas Course Access:
If you put your courses through for the first migration – and they had any content in them – you can access them at mtech.instructure.com. Logging in creates your account, and any courses you are in as an instructor will appear on the first landing page.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The content of the courses was just migrated over. It did NOT overwrite anything or go into the sections that I created in the modules. I am working on trying to clean things up a bit, and I am creating some “how-to’s” so faculty can work on their own as well. Please do not panic if it doesn’t look right.
- Concerns: If you are concerned about something you see, please reach out to me using the Canvas Initial Course Revision Form, and I will respond directly to you.
- Self-Editing: If you would like to edit/clean up your course yourself, please feel free! Please keep three pages – the Home page, the Start Here, and the Campus Resources that is part of the Start Here module (this is not the same as the Resources page on the Home Page).
Training:
Training opportunities have been and continued to be scheduled. These will be announced via the Weekly, the Tech calendar, and targeted emails. You can access our own CAI Faculty Training Course in Canvas. This is modified from the Instructure general training, so it is not exactly like our instance, but it is close enough to be usable to get started.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns about this project, please contact Kat McCormick at #4189 or kmccormick@mtech.edu or reach out to IT via the Helpdesk. We will be happy to help in any way we can!
Master List: Migrating Courses
Adding Courses for Migration 2
Please add courses for Migration 2 by following the directions below. Run two will be completed by late December.
To access this form, please follow these steps:
- Navigate to the LMS Migration Master List.
- Select Edit in grid view at the top left of the page.
- Fill in all the information you can at the bottom of the list, to the best of your knowledge:
- Under Instructor, enter your name.
- Enter the 5-digit CRN number (or METAcode).
- Enter the name of your course.
- Enter the last semester and year in which it was taught.
- Indicate that this is for Run 2, so it isn’t overlooked when we move forward.
- Select Exit grid view.
A notification will be sent to CAI letting us know that content has been added, so that’s all you need to do! If you have any questions or problems entering your information, please contact me at kmccormick@mtech.edu or cai@mtech.edu.
Currently, Montana University System (MUS) institutions use three separate Learning Management Systems (LMS). These systems have been in place for over a decade, during which time teaching methods have evolved, faculty use of LMS tools has increased, and the variety of available solutions has grown significantly.
In November 2021, the Board of Regents tasked the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education with identifying a single LMS vendor for the MUS. In Spring 2022, an Advisory and Steering Committee was formed, including faculty, staff, students, and administrative leaders from across the system. This group conducted a needs analysis, which informed a request for proposals launched in late Spring 2023.
During Summer 2023, vendor proposals were evaluated by a team of IT professionals, LMS administrators, and faculty. Two vendors, D2L and Instructure, were selected to proceed to a demonstration phase. A 14-member panel assessed the finalists based on faculty and student experience, administrative, IT, and analytics capabilities, and course migration fidelity. Cost and company profiles were also considered. Instructure (Canvas) emerged as the clear consensus choice.
For more information, visit the MUS Single Learning Management System webpage.
After an extensive vetting process, the Montana University System (MUS) selected Canvas by Instructure as its single Learning Management System (LMS). Canvas stood out to the evaluation team due to its:
- Ease of Use and Intuitiveness: User-friendly interface that simplifies navigation.
- Mobile Friendliness: Optimized for mobile devices, ensuring accessibility on the go.
- Strong Analytics: Easily accessible analytics for faculty to track and enhance student performance.
- Canvas Commons: Facilitates easy sharing of content within and across institutions.
- Flexible Interoperability: Seamless integration with external tools.
Transitioning to a single LMS vendor across Montana’s public colleges and universities will:
- Lower Ongoing Licensing Costs: Economies of scale reduce expenses.
- Provide Access to New Tools: Smaller institutions gain access to features like 24/7 support.
- Enhance Student Experience: Offers a consistent and improved learning experience across the MUS.
For more information, visit the MUS Single Learning Management System webpage.
Run 1:
Question: Will instructors still be able to use Moodle for courses this coming fall?
Answer: Yes. We will be 100% Canvas in Spring (January) of 2025.
Run 2:
Question: I do not have the Spring 2025 writing schedule together yet. Should I send you CRNs from the current spring semester instead?
Answer: Run two would be previous courses that don’t need to be ready by January, so yes, current semester or earlier.
Answer: Yes. Not only will on-demand training be available, but you will also be able to reach out to the Center for Academic Innovation for specific training needs. Additionally, there will be a Resident Expert Team (RET) composed of faculty and staff who will assist the Center for Academic Innovation in training and addressing immediate-need questions as we move forward.
Answer: Yes. We are working to continue as many third-party tools as possible. These include (but are not limited to) TurnItIn, Panopto, and Zoom. More information will be available as we move forward.
Other tools the committee is exploring include accessibility checkers, analytics tools, and credentialing (badges). Again, more information will be shared as it becomes available.
Answer: Yes. We are starting with 11 pilot courses to identify and resolve any issues. After these are approved, a mass migration will be conducted for all courses actively used in the past three years. Courses used solely for providing a syllabus or grades will be saved and archived to meet record-keeping requirements but will not be migrated as active courses.
Due to the monetary cost of migrating each full course, it is crucial to migrate only those courses with content that would otherwise need to be rebuilt. Determining which courses are “active” is challenging, even when checking backup sizes. To address this, a request will be sent to all instructors for a list of courses that definitely need to be migrated. This request will be sent out as we approach the migration date.
Please note that student information will not be migrated with the courses. Grades and other records will be archived by MT Tech to ensure they remain available and meet requirements.
This timeline is current as of March 27, 2024. Please note it may change as MUS needs evolve.
If you have any other questions or suggestions as we move through this project, please don't hesitate to reach out. This is a big lift, and we welcome any suggestions, concerns, or feedback that will help make it less stressful for all. Thank you in advance for your patience and your dedication to making Tech a better place to work and study.
ENGR Hall 207
kfitzgeraldmccorm@mtech.edu
496-4189