Greetings
Happy New Year! We hope your holiday season was relaxing and fulfilling. With the Spring 2024 semester a month away, we’re sharing some updates to our learning management systems, concierge migration deadlines, workshops, and other resources to help you get ahead!
Important Dates for Instruction
- Winter 2024: Last day to drop with "W" or “DR” and select 'P/F' - Friday, January 12, 2024
- Holiday - Martin Luther King Day - Monday, January 15, 2024
- Winter 2024: Last Day of Classes - Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Moving to Canvas
As we move to 2024, there will be a few final opportunities to request concierge migration services to move your course from Blackboard or Moodle to Canvas, detailed below. A reminder that in June 2024, all remaining courses (those not using Concierge, content-copy, or manual migration) in Blackboard and Moodle will be moved, with the majority of courses being taught in Canvas for the Fall 2024 semester.
A detailed timeline of migration deadlines and an overview of the transition to Canvas is available on the Provost LMS transition page, as well as linked below.
We're here for you! Schedule an appointment with us, get help via email, and/or join our drop-in help sessions. Questions on Canvas? 24/7 live support via chat and phone are always available!
Canvas Support Chat: Available for Instructors and Students 24/7. Support phone Line: +1 (855) 219-3080
Appointments and email support: Monday-Friday 9am - 4pm. Zoom or Bartlett 319
Drop-in Support: Monday-Friday 10am - 3pm. Zoom or Bartlett 319
We have multiple workshops focused on topics to help you explore Canvas, build your courses, and get the most out of your courses. You can watch recordings of previous workshops here, or get ready to join us for a live Zoom workshop in the Spring! Upcoming workshops can be found on the events page.
Canvas Trainings and Resources
Need on-demand training? Or maybe you learn better through text documentation. Check out our UMass Canvas Training and Resources course, and practice what you learn in your Canvas Sandbox.
Read More about Accessing your Training and Sandbox Course
Canvas Bi-Weekly Updates
We have optional emails to keep you up-to-date about news around Canvas, highlight new features and tools in the platform, let you know the latest in training, support, and experience updates in Canvas.
New in Instructional Design
Pearson/Embanet is ending their 24/7 Support Service for Blackboard effective at the end of December 2023. For those using Blackboard during this time, the UMass Amherst IDEAS Team will be extending support to include instructors and students for help with Blackboard. For Blackboard related issues starting in the Winter 2024 term, instructors and students should contact @email.
While support options in Blackboard will be updated to reflect this change, we recommend reviewing course materials and updating support options to reduce any possible student confusion.
This month's faculty spotlight highlights Dr. Dandan Xu, lecturer in the Department of Engineering. Seeking to engage students more meaningfully and inspired by the fast-paced, high-stakes environment of 'Shark-Tank', Dr. Xu created a 5-minute pitch talk competition for the senior design project. This approach fostered the development of presentation skills and deeper peer-to-peer learning. Check out the article below for more information about Dr. Xu's innovative work!
Learning Management System Updates
Course Requests Open in SPIRE
Winter and Spring 2024 course requests are open in SPIRE. Don’t forget need to request a Canvas course for each class you plan on using it to teach.
For step by step instructions on requesting a Canvas course see: Request a Canvas Course in SPIRE
Thinking about Summer Migration
UMass Amherst has partnered with a third-party vendor to migrate courses from Moodle and Blackboard to Canvas. Spring 2024 course migrations are on schedule. There will be several more opportunities for migrating content. If you are teaching in Canvas in Summer 2024, you can request concierge migration for your courses.
Teaching in Summer 2024
Submit requests by January 5, 2024
Note: Requesting course content migration from Moodle or Blackboard to Canvas is a separate process; you still need to request your course in SPIRE to be able to teach in Canvas in Fall 2023
Requesting concierge migration of course content does not mean you must teach in Canvas for that semester. However, if you plan on teaching using Canvas in those semesters, make your request early to ensure your course is migrated and you have time to get familiar with it.
Canvas Tip of the Month - Sending Bulk Feedback to Students
One of the most requested features in Canvas is the ability to send bulk feedback to students. While we hope this tool will be added to Canvas soon, there is a workaround that allows you to send individualized, bulk feedback to students. The steps include exporting the gradebook list to an excel file, then using Mail Merge in Microsoft Word to send individualized emails to students in one action. These three items are detailed below with support article links for detailed instructions.
- After logging into Canvas and clicking on the course in which you would like to send Bulk Feedback, navigate to Grades and export a list of students in a Canvas course to a .csv file. For more information: How do I export grades in the Gradebook? - Instructure Community - 809 (canvaslms.com)
- Create a new column in the CSV file for your feedback, then enter your feedback for each student.
- Use the Mail Merge tool in Microsoft Word to import data from the CSV file and send an individualized email to each student.
More information: Mail merge using an Excel spreadsheet - Microsoft Support
Canvas Updates
Canvas has a number of planned updates to help enhance you and your students experiences. You can read more about them in the recent Canvas Release Notes.
In addition to the recent updates for New Analytics and New quizzes, coming up is adding Answer Frequency Summary for Additional Question Types. This update will display the total number of correct responses, incorrect responses, and no responses in the Item Analysis report. The goal is to help you find patterns and determine appropriate interventions to assist your students in reaching your goals and outcomes.
Planned Downtime
There is no planned downtime for Canvas this month.
Course Requests Open in SPIRE
Winter and Spring 2024 course requests are open in SPIRE. Don’t forget need to request a Moodle course for each class you plan on using it to teach.
As part of a multi-year process the campus will be moving to a single LMS – Canvas. You can request a Canvas course instead of a Moodle course in SPIRE. Some useful information for making this decision:
The IDEAS Team is running a series of webinars to introduce Canvas and give you hands-on experience and practice.
All instructors have access to a Canvas Sandbox course and Canvas Training and Resources Course.
For step by step instructions on requesting a Moodle course, see:
Planned Downtimes
If you suspect an unplanned outage, you can check the status of Moodle, Zoom, and other supported teaching technologies on the IT Services Status for Remote Teaching and Learning page.
Scheduled routine maintenance windows for UMass Amherst Moodle in the Cloud are Thursdays 11pm-12am (ET). Regular maintenance is a necessity for a stable, secure, and improving service. Many of these maintenance windows will not actually have the site unavailable for more than a few minutes, but it is still not advised to plan activities or set due dates during maintenance windows.
Course Requests Open in SPIRE
Winter and Spring 2024 course requests are open in SPIRE. Don’t forget need to request a Blackboard course for each class you plan on using it to teach.
As part of a multi-year process the campus will be moving to a single LMS – Canvas. You can request a Canvas course instead of a Blackboard course in SPIRE. Some useful information for making this decision:
The IDEAS Team is running a series of webinars to introduce Canvas and give you hands-on experience and practice.
All instructors have access to a Canvas Sandbox course and Canvas Training and Resources Course.
For detailed instructions in requesting and using Blackboard, see:
Pearson Ending Blackboard 24/7 Support
Pearson has ceased its 24/7 support service for Blackboard. To fill this gap, the IDEAS team will provide assistance to both instructors and students using Blackboard while the campus transitions fully to Canvas as a single LMS. For support, please reach out to instruct@umass.edu.
Blackboard support links have been updated. We ask that you update any existing course materials you share with students to include @email as a contact point for help using Blackboard.
Planned downtimes
There are no planned downtimes for Blackboard this month.
You can check the status of Blackboard, Zoom, and other supported teaching technologies on the IT Services Status for Remote Teaching and Learning page.