Blackboard to Canvas Crosswalk

• Test questions/pools and content stored in Blackboard Learning Modules transfer extremely well from Blackboard to Canvas.
• Announcements, content items, and files are transferable, but often appear in a different order or format than expected. We have found it easier to first build out your course structure in Canvas (Modules), download only the necessary content out of Blackboard, and drop it into Canvas to ensure you don’t lose any of your work. View detailed course migration instructions.
• Once you have a course built out in Canvas, it will be much easier to copy that content over into a new Canvas course site at the start of future semesters.

• Canvas courses exist in three states: unpublished, published, and concluded. Once set to “concluded,” the course becomes read-only (grades cannot be changed).

• Can opt to receive weekly notifications.
• Chosen settings apply to all courses within Canvas – cannot choose one set of settings for one class and another set of settings for a different class.
• Notifications via Twitter and other social media outlets available.
• Can add a text (SMS) contact method for notifications.

• View or add a personalized profile picture.
• Upload personal files – no need to carry a thumb drive!

• Student View allows instructors to upload materials, take quizzes, and navigate the course as a “test student.”
• The test student will appear in the Gradebook for assessment when instructors leave Student View.

• The App center allows you to configure third-party tools for your courses.

• Drag and drop to make changes.
• Assignment due date changes made in your Calendar are automatically updated everywhere else in the course.
• One-way sync of Calendar feed from Canvas to external Calendars like Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, etc.

• Instructors can view student progress for required content within Modules.
• For more detailed information, instructors can view Student Analytics and a Course Access Report.

• Used for synchronous class meetings, virtual lectures, virtual office hours, and available to student groups.
• Can accommodate a maximum of 50 users at one time.

• Create Group Sets within People section.
• Ability to drag/drop students into groups, allow self-assign, or randomize group enrollments.
• Can optionally assign a group leader if desired.
• A group workspace is created where students can create Pages, Announcements, Collaborations, Discussions, Calendar events, and chat in real-time.

Users

• View interactions between student and instructor.
• View last time student accessed the course and total time spent in the course.
• Includes access to Student Analytics, Course Access Report, Outcomes, and Grades. (For more information about grade information, please see the Grades section below.)
• Manually add users to your course.

• Built-in messaging tool.
• Send messages to individual students or the entire class from the Global Inbox. Users can reply to messages.

• Similar to Blackboard’s announcements, except that students can reply to announcements unless instructor turns off that feature at course or announcement level.

• You can use the course discussion board to create a thread for each student to post his or her blog in, or you can create group discussions and assign them to certain students in your course.

• Cleaner design on Modules Index Page. (Click here to learn how to use the Modules Index Page.)

• There are three types of files in Canvas: Personal files, Course files, and Group files. Files link on the course navigation menu displays only course-related files. Files within the Account section display all files for all courses you are part of, all files for all groups you are part of, and your personal files.
• Course files are visible and accessible to all users in the course by default in Canvas – including students. We strongly recommend that you restrict student access to your course files folder by removing the course files link from your course navigation menu.
• We recommend making course-related files accessible to students via Modules or Pages.

• There are two levels to Discussions in Canvas: create a topic (like creating a forum in Blackboard), and reply to a topic (like creating a thread or replying to a thread in Blackboard). Replies are then threaded within the topic. You can reply to the main topic post or an individual’s comment.
• Can create group discussions, require that students reply to a discussion before viewing other students’ replies, and allow students to create a course discussion.

• Similar to the Word document/PDF syllabus you have been uploading to Blackboard, except it is more interactive for students (e.g., students can click on specific assignment titles and be taken to that Assignment page in Canvas).
• Automatically syncs with Calendar to display assignment dates.
• Can be displayed as the Course Home Page.

• Can add a file to a Module in the same way that you could add files to content areas and content folders in Blackboard.

• Can make pages editable only by instructors, both instructors and students, or by everyone in the course.
• Link to Assignments, Quizzes, Files, etc., by using the content tools in the sidebar.

• Assignments can be set to allow multiple submission attempts and can easily be used for a weekly reflection journal.

• When creating a page, you can choose whether it is editable by instructors only or both instructors and students.
• There is no Gradebook integration for wiki pages in Canvas, so grading students’ wiki page contributions will have to be done manually.
• Collaborations allow students to collaborate in either a synchronous or asynchronous fashion using a Google Doc.
• Limit of 50 users that can collaborate on a single Google Doc, and all users can view and edit the document at the same time.
• Using Collaborations in your course will require that each collaborator have a Google account and connect Google Drive as a registered service in Canvas.

Content availability rules

• Restricted Access
• Availability Dates
• Prerequisites
• Requirements

• Restricted Access available for course files.
• Quizzes and Discussions can include Availability Dates. Modules can be locked until a specified date.
• Prerequisites can be set on the module level (unlocking an entire module based on certain conditions), but there are limited options for prerequisites at the assignment level. Requirements can be used to make students progress through module assignments in a particular order by organizing assignments in the desired completion order within the module.

• Four Quiz types are available: practice quiz, graded quiz, graded survey, and ungraded survey.
• Quiz Statistics include student and item analysis.

• Multiple submission options: text entry, file upload, media recordings, or URLs.
• Can set up peer review assignments.
• Includes all graded items (graded discussions, quizzes, submitted items, etc.) on this page.
• Combine assignments to include % of total grade (e.g., Quizzes, Other, Assignments). “Assignment Groups” are similar to Blackboard’s Grade Center “Categories.”
• Grade Center setup/weighting happens here.
• Ungraded Assignments create a deadline in the Calendar and Syllabus, but do not create a column in the Gradebook.

• Teacher can enter grades and comments directly in Grades or SpeedGrader.
• Gradebook is automatically populated with columns corresponding to items in the Assignments list.
• Muting an assignment allows you to hide grades from students until you have finished grading.
• Students can figure out hypothetical “what-if” grades.
• Sort columns easily by due date or assignment category.
• Late student submissions are highlighted in red.
• SpeedGrader displays submitted assignment, grading rubric, and media comment options all on one page.
• SpeedGrader allows you to add audio or video comments directly to assignments from within Canvas via a microphone or webcam.
• SpeedGrader app available for iPad and Android devices.

• Can be used both for grading or feedback only.
• Easy setup – just click to add columns.