Transitioning from Blackboard 8 to Canvas
After Jan. 31, 2013, CMC’s Blackboard 8 system was taken offline. If you need to access an older Blackboard course, please contact the Office of Innovations in Teaching and Learning at innovations@coloradomtn.edu. The Office of Innovations in Teaching and Learning maintains archives offline of all CMC Blackboard courses.
How do I copy my Blackboard course into Canvas?
CMC's Blackboard 8 system is no longer online. Please contact the Office of Innovations, which maintains offline archives of all past CMC Blackboard courses, for assistance at innovations@coloradomtn.edu.
Your Converted Blackboard Course in Canvas
For guidance, please consult this page. It describes the results you can expect if you upload a Blackboard course export .zip file into your Canvas course in order to transfer course materials from Blackboard 8 to Canvas.
Differences between Blackboard 8 and Canvas
Blackboard and Canvas vary in important ways. This table will give you an idea of how a tool you are used to using in Blackboard 8 translates to a tool or area or feature in Canvas. Click here to view this table as a PDF, or right-click on the link to download the PDF.
Course Cartridges in Canvas
Textbook publishers commonly provide "course cartridges", "e-packs" or other supplementary materials. Since Canvas is still a fairly new LMS, you may have to ask your publisher if they are producing supplementary materials in a Canvas-readable format. This page from the Canvas wiki documents compatibility and possible workarounds for different publisher materials. First and foremost, faculty should ask the publisher if they can or will provide a Canvas-compatible course cartridge. Even if you know they don't have one, this kind of feedback may encourage the publisher to embrace Canvas.
If a Canvas cartridge is not available, try to import a Blackboard or Angel format cartridge into your Canvas course with the Course Import Tool, as Canvas supports both of this course package types already. Please see this tutorial on the Course Import Tool. You can also ask the publisher if a "Common Cartridge" format package is available. Common Cartridge is a global format for learning materials packages and Canvas accepts Common Cartridge. Finally, you could ask for a cartridge format that is compatible with Blackboard since sometimes the Blackboard format will work with Canvas, though probably imperfectly.
I need help with the Files area of my Canvas course.
Uploading files into the Files area of your Canvas course is pretty straightforward--but for help learning how to reorganize files in the Files area and how to make full use of the features of the Files area, please view this video tutorial.