For many of you, your first experience with Canvas may have left something to be desired. When you open your course in Canvas, you imagine the course you had in RamCT, and when it looks nothing like the course you expect to see, you may feel disoriented. This leaves you with a bad first impression, which is unfortunate. Canvas is a great system, but the transition, and the initial disorientation, can be a real turn off.
The truth about both systems is that they have similar tools, and those tools have the same purposes. For the most part, the tools in each system have only superficial differences. Each system has a different architecture that uses different naming conventions, but the overall purpose of the course tools is the same. The trick then will be learning how to operate the tools in the new system. It’s a bit like driving a new car. You have the knowledge and the skills, but you will need to make a few adjustments.
For example, in RamCT you create your exams and quizzes with the “Assessment” tool. In Canvas you create them using the “Quiz” tool. In RamCT you created and organized your lecture content and readings in the “Content Area” and you used “Learning Modules.” In Canvas, you will create and organize that same content using “Pages” and “Modules.” In RamCT you used the anti-plagiarism software SafeAssign. In Canvas, you will use the anti-plagiarism software called VeriCite. The migration can also be compared to moving into a new house. At first, you won’t be sure where your things are and where they need to be, but once you have identified all of the new spaces, you will soon make them your own again.
In some cases, the course tools and content areas are the same. Both RamCT and Canvas have “Files,” for example, and the file structure in Canvas is similar enough to that in RamCT that you will be able to decipher how it works. In a few cases, the tools and content areas are completely different. The best example is RamCTs Glossary. RamCT has a Glossary tool, and that tool does not exist in Canvas. If you had a RamCT Glossary, each entry of your Glossary migrates to a separate “Page” in Canvas. If you had a glossary of 10 terms, you will end up with 10 individual pages, one for each term. If you had a glossary of 100 terms, then you will have 100 separate glossary pages, and so on. In an extreme case like this, we don’t expect you to easily figure out what to do. If your content seems to be completely gone or broken, we want you to let us know so that we can help you.
While the news about content migration is generally good, which is to say that most of your content will come over from RamCT to Canvas intact, there is some bad news. Here are the things that will not migrate from RamCT to Canvas:
• Blogs, Journals, and Wikis
• Quiz feedback
• Quiz questions that use the following types:
o Hot Spot
o Either/Or
o Quiz Bowl
In addition, matching questions may not migrate well. You will want to examine these and redesign if needed. You also will want to review point values and other quiz settings; they may need to be reset. Finally, Announcements, Groups, Glossary, and Rubrics migrate, but not well. You may have to adjust this content. Regardless of the system, student data and interactions do not migrate from course to course.
Just remember that every learning management system is fundamentally the same. They all provide you with the ability to manage and administer courses by way of a student roster, grade book, and various communication tools (announcements, email, comments). They all provide you with a calendar and an assignment tool, including an assignment drop box. They all allow you to create and monitor discussions and most of them provide group tools that allow students to work together. All LMSs provide a central location for you to organize and present your content to students, and they all give you a variety of navigation options.
The challenge in the migration from RamCT to Canvas is one of discovery. You will have to look for your content, and once you find it, you will have to realign your thinking to the structure of the new system. Once you are familiar with how Canvas is designed, you will be able to focus on operating the tools to revise old content and create new content. Over the next several months, I will make sure you have access to tool-specific guides and training.