SMU’s transition to Canvas is rapidly moving forward. Formal weekly Canvas training workshops began in early January and will continue through September. Roadshow sessions and “convert to Canvas labs” will be offered throughout May and June and customized departmental Canvas training sessions may be requested. OIT’s embedded academic technology team, in partnership with the Center for Teaching Excellence, is gearing up to provide expanded support and instructional design consultation to assist and to ensure SMU’s educators can capably LEARN Canvas, PREPARE course materials, and BUILD courses with this exciting new SMU cloud system. If you are an instructor who has yet to begin preparations for using Canvas, the time to begin is now.
After the current term, SMU courses will be published exclusively for use within Canvas. Blackboard will no longer be available for open use after this semester. As of June 30th, 2016, Blackboard—and all course materials and information stored therein—will no longer be openly accessible to educators or students.
How should faculty proactively prepare for changing to Canvas?
Do not wait until the last minute. Prepare now. All educators currently have unrestricted and open access to previous course materials in Blackboard. However, waiting until the last minute will result in frustrations and challenges which are entirely avoidable and will result in unfavorable teaching experiences for educators and students alike. While SMU’s academic technology team, training team, help desk and instructional designers are available to assist educators and students through the transition to Canvas, educators must begin learning Canvas in order to ensure the best and smoothest experience in building out courses in the new system.
Canvas Preparation Elements:
- Learn Canvas
- Prepare Course Materials for Canvas
- Build Courses in Canvas
LEARN CANVAS. The more you learn about Canvas and its capabilities, the more Canvas can be used to serve you and your students in your classes. Though many faculty have already chosen to “jump in” and find Canvas to be highly accessible and intuitive, attending a training session, participating in an online Canvas class or watching self-paced online tutorials will help grow your own broad awareness of the powers (and subtle nuances) of SMU’s new LMS. Please take advantage of these resources:
| Workshops | Canvas Resources | Request Departmental Training |
| Online Training | Canvas Community | SMU Canvas Page |
We hope to see you at one of our workshops and labs soon!
Continue Reading: Preparing & Building Courses in Canvas.
02/12/2016: Post updated with reference to faculty.
03/10/2020: Updated course link(s) from Lynda.com to LinkedIn Learning
