Spring is right around the corner, which means it's nearly time to request your Fall courses. Read on to find more information on:
-
Update on Moodle and Blackboard access in the 2024-25 academic year
-
Upcoming migration opportunities to Canvas
-
Echo360 and Blackboard changes
…and more!
Important Dates for Instruction
- Spring recess begins - Sunday, March 17
- Classes resume - Monday, March 25
Moving to Canvas
In conjunction with existing language on the migration to Canvas, and as outlined last week in a communication from the Provost’s office, the majority of courses are to be taught in Canvas beginning in the Fall 2024 semester. A small number of courses may be taught in legacy LMS platforms under exceptional circumstances. Migration services, detailed below, continue to be available for moving content from Moodle or Blackboard to Canvas. For more information, please refer to the Provost LMS Transition page.
If you’d like to request concierge migration of your Moodle or Blackboard course to Canvas for the Summer 2024 session, please submit your request today through the link below.
Following today’s deadline, instructors will have until May 3, 2024 to request concierge migration for the Fall 2024 semester and beyond. After this date, a best effort process will be undertaken to move the remainder of courses from Blackboard and Moodle to Canvas.
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
Echo360 is rebranding to EchoVideo. This rebranding is already underway, and will come with some minor visual updates to the interface, updated icons and color schemes, and the streaming player. Echo360 will be renamed to EchoVideo in all learning management systems, and documentation will be updated to reflect the new branding.
Anthology, the parent company of Blackboard, and other vendors have removed or limited some functionality from the platform at UMass Amherst. This includes Turnitin's move to feedback studio, disabling iClicker integration, the UMass Course Evaluation Tool, among others.
These vendor-driven changes will continue into Summer 2024, including a mandatory change from Classic to Ultra which will result in significant user-interface and functionality changes, the removal of popular LTI tools including Echo360, McGraw-Hill, and changes to critical features.
The Instruct blog, https://blogs.umass.edu/instruct/, has moved to the IDEAS website. Access to the blog will continue through the end of May 2024. Existing content items, such as Instructional Innovation Fellowship posts and Canvas announcements, have been moved to the news section of the new site. Be sure to update your bookmarks!
Continuing from the Fall semester, IDEAS and the CTL are hosting discussions with faculty and staff from across campus around navigating AI in education. Come ask questions, share your experiences, and learn from your colleagues. The next session will be AI Syllabus Statements in Practice: Enhancing Compliance and Navigating Implications in Your Course, on February 15, 2024 at 11:30am.
Learning Management System Updates
Summer 2024 Course Requests Open in SPIRE
Summer 2024 course requests will open in SPIRE on March 18th. 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 March 1, 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 Summer 2024.
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 Tips of the Month - The Gradebook!
Applying a Missing Submission Policy in the Gradebook: Instructors can add a missing submission policy that allows students who haven't submitted an assignment to notice the impact on their grade sooner rather than later.
Support Article: How do I apply a Missing Submission policy in the Gradebook?
Message students from the Gradebook: Looking to send a message only to students who haven't submitted an assignment? Canvas allows instructors to send targeted message to students directly from the Gradebook based on specified criteria.
Support Article: How do I send a message to students from the Gradebook?.
Planned Downtime
There is no planned downtime for Canvas this month.
There are no updates planned for Moodle in the Cloud this month.
Summer Course Requests Open in SPIRE
Summer 2024 Course Requests will open in SPIRE on March 18th. 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.
Summer Course Requests Open in SPIRE
Summer 2024 Course Requests will open in SPIRE on March 18th. 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:
Blackboard Changes and Removal of Features
Anthology, the parent company of Blackboard, and other vendors have removed or limited some functionality from the platform at UMass Amherst. This includes Turnitin's move to feedback studio, disabling iClicker integration, the UMass Course Evaluation Tool, among others.
These vendor-driven changes will continue into Summer 2024, including a mandatory change from Classic to Ultra which will result in significant user-interface and functionality changes, the removal of popular LTI tools including Echo360, McGraw-Hill, and changes to critical features.
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.