UMass Lowell Moving to Canvas as Our Learning Management System (LMS)

06/27/2024
By Joseph Hartman

As you are probably aware, the Learning Management System (LMS) that we are currently utilizing, Learn by Blackboard, is being retired. After a yearlong pilot with feedback from involved faculty and students, open forums, discussions with faculty and administration, and recommendations from the Academic Technology Committee (ATC), Graduate Online & Professional Studies (GPS), and Information Technology (IT) teams, we have selected Canvas by Instructure as our next generation LMS.

We will transition to Canvas in four phases by college according to the following table. Colleges will remain using the Blackboard LMS until they transition. We plan to start the two-year LMS transition in fall 2024 and complete the transition by fall 2026.

Fall 2026 - all courses will be taught in Canvas.

We have subcontracted a service to copy courses from Blackboard to Canvas. As each college transitions, we will copy three previous semesters, including summer, and the transitional semester (3 + 1). The courses will be migrated to ensure that links, pages, and course structure will transition to the best extent possible. Faculty will still need to prepare their migrated Canvas courses as they did in previous semesters, by updating dates, syllabi, and fixing any content that could not be migrated. Faculty will have the choice to migrate content from a previous semester, begin developing instructional content from “scratch”, or a hybrid approach. Detailed information about this will be available in the coming months.

We will communicate with faculty and administration from each college as they begin the transition. Additionally, students will be provided communication and support services as they transition. We know this will be a large undertaking, but we feel this transition will improve the student experience and provide a more robust LMS for the campus.

We plan to license Canvas Studio as part of our Canvas adoption to ensure that faculty have tools to develop courses that meet the needs of our learners. Canvas Studio is a communication tool that allows instructors and students to actively collaborate through video and audio media. Students can also submit their own video creations in Studio and offer feedback on each other's work.

Faculty workshops will be readily available as each college transitions.

Canvas LMS, Studio workshops, and course development options for faculty will be readily available:

• Self-paced Canvas modules – faculty will be automatically enrolled (asynchronous – available 24/7)
• Virtual workshops – offered regularly throughout this transition
• Recorded workshops – offered 24/7
• GPS/IT Instructional Support and Design Consultations – available upon request
• Canvas Support – offered 24/7 by phone or chat

Canvas student support will also be readily available:

• Self-paced Canvas Modules – students will be automatically enrolled (asynchronous – available 24/7)
• FAQ – available 24/7
• GPS/IT Instructional Support and Consultations – available via phone or email
• Canvas Support – offered 24/7 by phone or chat

• Yuko Oda, Associate Professor, Art & Design, FAHSS
• Jill Pruett, Associate Teaching Professor, English, FAHSS
• Michelle Scribner, Clinical Professor, School of Education, FAHSS
• Raj Kumar Gondle, Associate Teaching Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, FCE
• Jay Park, Associate Professor, Plastics Engineering, FCE
• Leslie Farris, Associate Teaching Professor, Chemistry KCS
• Mike Lucas, Sr. Director, Instructional Technology Support, Computer Science, KCS
• Lisa Panagopoulos, Adjunct Faculty, Computer Science, KCS
• Erica Yankowskas, Associate Teaching Professor, Mathematical Sciences, KCS
• Deborah Casey, Associate Teaching Professor, MEI, Manning
• Tony Gao, Associate Professor, MEI, Manning
• Brent Shell, Associate Teaching Professor, Biomed & Nutritional Sciences, ZCHS