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Canvas Merge Project

Overview

In March of 2021, the presidents and chancellor made the decision to merge the three eLearning teams. Though merging Canvas has been in discussions for several years, this move to a single team provided the resources necessary to bring the project to fruition. 

Impact & Reasons for the Merge

By combining our three Canvas sites into a single site, we provide

  • A single entry point for all courses at Seattle Colleges.

  • A reduction of multiple accounts for students and faculty across the colleges.​

  • The ability for eLearning to provide faster support to students, faculty, and staff.

  • Greater consistency across student and faculty experiences in Canvas.

Project Overview Video

Watch a video where our Executive Director of eLearning, Kevin Bowersox-Johnson, provides general information about the project.

Usability Testing

The eLearning Team is starting usability testing in the new Canvas site. Testing includes developing scenarios based on user roles and making sure they work correctly in the new site.

For example, A faculty member wants to assign an incomplete (I) grade to a student and allow that student the ability to complete their work after the course ends and the course is created in one of the old sites.

We have several scenarios for faculty that include situations such as:

  • Importing/Exporting Content from one or more of the old sites to the new one.
  • Using Panopto videos in the new site that have created in one or more of the old sites.
  • Accessing grades and other student information from the old site.
  • Creating a quiz in the new site using text bank questions created in one or more of the old sites.

If you have scenarios you'd like us to test, please complete our Faculty Questions and Scenarios to Test. 

Request a Meeting

We understand most of your questions will be individualized to your situation. Therefore, we are committing to individual appointments to address questions and concerns. Complete the Canvas Merge Request Submit Form to set up a meeting.

Though we are working to minimize disruption to teaching and learning experiences with this transition, we have identified a few concerns that we want to address sooner than later. Please set up a meeting with us, especially if any of the following apply to you:

  • ​You use 3rd-party software (LTIs) such as publisher materials, etc. ​

  • You use Canvas for Student Community Shells that require manual enrollment.​

  • You use Canvas for Administrative Purposes within your division/department/program.​

  • You have courses that do not start or end on the standard quarterly schedule (e.g., Self-Paced, Continuing Education, Employee Training, etc.).

FAQs

Review some frequently asked questions about the project.

A: August 2022. On August 1st automatic updating of summer classes in the current Canvas sites will stop. Any adds or drops needing to be done can be done manually. On August 15th Fall classes will be available in the new Canvas site. 

A: No, nothing will be shut down, so the transition will be smooth. 

A: No, the current three Canvas sites will be kept active, so all content will remain accessible to you. And, you will be able to import/copy content from your current/prior shells.

A: Yes, these can be processed through our ticketing system. eLearning is working on a new support request form that will ask specific questions about your support needs and act responsively to ask the questions needing to be answered to fulfill your request. The goal of this form is to reduce the time and energy it takes to send emails back and forth between you and the support team - speeding up the resolution time.

A: Yes, we will be able to divide courses by college through the use of Sub-Accounts. Each college will have a sub-account that will be branded using college colors and logo. Each sub-account can have its own announcements. So, district wide announcements will be on the home-page and cascade to college sub-accounts and college announcements will be made within their sub-accounts. 

Students and faculty will continue to have access to eLearning support via our ticket system, phone, and drop-in hours:

Testing

Title

College-Specific Announcements

Screencast

Scenario

An announcement needs to be made for all users at South inside of Canvas.

  1. Log into (canvas.seattlecolleges.edu) using an administrator account with permission to create announcements. (Success)
     
  2. Create District Announcement
    1. Navigate to the District's Announcement page.  (Success)
    2. Create a District-wide Announcement viewable by all users.  (Success)
       
  3. Create South-Specific Announcement
    1. Navigate to South's Sub-Account Announcements page. (Success)
    2. Create a South-Specific Announcement viewable by all South users.  (Success)
       
  4. Create North-Specific Announcement
    1. Navigate to North's Sub-Account Announcements page. (Success)
    2. Create a North-Specific Announcement viewable by all North users. (Success)
       
  5. Create Central-Specific Announcement
    1. Navigate to Central's Sub-Account Announcements page.  (Success)
    2. Create a Central-Specific Announcement viewable by all Central users. (Success)
       
  6. Log out of Canvas.  (Success)
     
  7. Test South Faculty Member
    1. Log into (canvas.seattlecolleges.edu) as a South faculty member.  (Success)
    2. Confirm District-wide Announcement displays. (Success)
    3. Confirm South-Specific Announcement displays. (Success)
    4. Log out of Canvas. (Success)
       
  8. Test North Faculty Member
    1. Log into (canvas.seattlecolleges.edu) as a North faculty member. (Success)
    2. Confirm District-wide Announcement displays. (Success)
    3. Confirm North-Specific Announcement displays. (Success)
    4. Log out of Canvas. (Success)
       
  9. Test Faculty who has Central and North courses
    1. Log into (canvas.seattlecolleges.edu) as a faculty who has courses at both Central and North. (Success)
    2. Confirm District-wide Announcement displays. (Success)
    3. Confirm Central-Specific Announcement displays. (Success)
    4. Confirm North-Specific Announcement displays. (Success)
    5. Log out of Canvas. (Success)

Test Information

  • Tester: Kevin Bowersox-Johnson
  • Test Date: June 17, 2022

Things to Do/Update

  • None

Additional Notes

  • If the user is only enrolled in a course in only one of the college's sub-account, Canvas uses that sub-account's theming.

  • If the user is enrolled in courses from multiple colleges' within our district, Canvas will default to the district theme.

Title

Faculty: Create Course By Copying From Older Site

Video

Scenario

A South faculty member copies a course from the old site to the new site.

  1. Create Faculty Account  (Test TR-015) in the old South site (canvas.southseattle.edu) (Success)

  2. Create Faculty Account  (Test TR-015) in New Site (canvas.seattlecolleges.edu). (Success)

  3. Create a course in the old South site (canvas.southseattle.edu) aligned to Winter 2022. (Success)

    • Create Course (TST-South-Academic-Course-Old-Site) aligned with Summer 2022.

    • Add Content (6 Content Modules w/ Supporting Modules). (Success)

    • Add internal links using RTE (Several Internal Links). (Success)

    • Add External links using RTE (Several External Links). (Success)

    • Add calendar items (Assignment Deadlines). (Success)

    • Add Redirect Link on Course Navigation Bar (Zoom Room Redirect). (Success)

  4. Enroll faculty member in the course as Teacher. (Success)

  5. Create an empty course on the new site (canvas.seattlecolleges.edu). (Success)

  6. Log in as a faculty member (Test TR-015). (Success)

  7.  Navigate to an empty course. (Success)

  8. Copy content from the old site to the new site.

    • Review Course Content. (Success)

    • Review Course Navigation. (Success)

    • Review Internal Links created using RTE. (Success)

    • Review External links created using RTE. (Success)

    • Review Calendar Items and Shift of Dates. (Success)

    • Review Link on Course Navigation Bar. (Success)

Test Information

  • Tester: Kevin Bowersox-Johnson

  • Test Date: June 20, 2022

Things to Do/Update

    • None

Additional Notes

  • None