Canvas Resources for Instructors

Faculty and Staff

Faculty and staff can log in to Canvas at canvas.ohio.edu . All instructors have one test course automatically created in their Canvas account to explore features or build content for future courses.

Students

All admitted OHIO students can access Canvas. Students are added to courses two weeks prior to a course's start date. Students will only be able to see courses in Canvas that instructors have published.

The transition of live courses to Canvas is complete. For fall 2025, 100% of courses are in Canvas and no further instruction will occur in Blackboard. Blackboard will be retired in June 2026 following the archival of academic records. Learn more about our approach to content retention in Blackboard .

Phase 1 of the Canvas implementation took place in the Spring 2024 semester and included about 100 live courses, specifically chosen to represent a diverse cross-section of disciplines and teaching styles. 

Each participating college collaborated with OIT to pinpoint faculty and courses that best fit the objectives of Phase 1 , which include finalizing the platform setup, enhancing the student and faculty experience, and gauging training and support resources. There were approximately 100 courses in Canvas and 56 faculty participated in Phase 1. OIT is working with academic leaders to prepare for future terms to ensure students have a streamlined transition to Canvas so they are not operating in multiple LMSs for an extended period.

The decision to transition to Canvas has been made after careful consideration of its many advantages and potential for enhancing teaching and learning experiences at Ohio University. Further information about the selection process and its outcomes can be found in our Summary Report .

Once you're ready to begin, follow the steps outlined in the Canvas Faculty Hub for setting up your course .

It is important to be aware that Canvas has a course size limit of 2GB, which is different from Blackboard. There are a tips to reduce your files sizes, if needed, on the preparing your course for Canvas page. This is helpful if you are encountering difficulty with file size as you transfer content to Canvas. 

There are two main ways to migrate your Blackboard course content to Canvas: Working from an OHIO template in Canvas, or importing full course content from Blackboard. Step-by-step instructions for both options are detailed in the Moving Course Content from Blackboard to Canvas help article .

Access 24/7 Canvas support via phone, chat, and email right inside Canvas . Log in to Canvas at canvas.ohio.edu and select "Get Help" from the left navigation menu. The University also offers individual consultations, departmental workshops, and a diverse range of self-guided training. View the Canvas Training webpage for more information.

Yes. Canvas uses only one container type, courses, but settings can be adjusted to replicate Blackboard Organizations within Canvas. Learn more about Organizations in Canvas . When you're ready, submit a request a for an organization-type purpose by selecting 'I am requesting a manually created course' in the Canvas request form and provide as many details as possible about your organization so we can set the course up in the appropriate area within Canvas.

Instructors will have access to Blackboard until June 2026. In June 2026, to support the transition from Blackboard to Canvas, the University will retain all academic courses from the past seven years (dating back to June 2019) for two years (until June 2028). For more information, review Retaining and Retrieving Previous Course Content .

Academic courses are defined as courses generated from our Student Information System (PeopleSoft) for academic credit. This does not include Blackboard organizations, test courses, or any other kind of manually created courses. Instructors must save this type of content on their own if they wish to retain it. Please review the Blackboard Retirement page for a complete timeline on when different content will be deleted.

After June 2028, all Blackboard academic course content will be deleted.

Term-based courses load to Canvas eight-weeks prior to the start date of the course. This means instructors will have access to begin setting up their course that will later have students enrolled. Students will be enrolled in courses two-weeks prior to the start date of the course. Courses will only be accessible to students when instructors publish the course. 

If you are unable to see or access a course in your Canvas Dashboard, view our Troubleshooting Course Access help article.

Students will be enrolled in courses two-weeks prior to the start date of the course. When a student adds or drops a course after this time, their course enrollment will be updated during the next Canvas data update, which runs three times per day. Courses will only be accessible to students when instructors publish the course. 

Manually created courses that have no activity for a period of two years will be eligible for deletion. OIT will notify the instructor of the course at least 30 days in advance of the planned deletion to provide an opportunity to retain their content outside of Canvas. Learn more about content retention in Canvas .

Delivering an accessible course is essential to providing a learning experience that meets the needs of all students. OIT's Digital Accessibility Network (OHIO-DAN) developed an excellent Faculty Checklist for Accessible Content resource that is a great starting point. This document outlines document types that are most accessible, as well as recommendations for delivering accessible multimedia content. Consider joining the OHIO-DAN to learn more about accessible teaching and learning practices through regular conversations and resource sharing.

The easiest thing instructors can do is to let students know on or before the first day of class how to access course materials online. Consider sharing a link to Canvas to get students started and letting them know they can get technical support directly within Canvas 24/7 by visiting the "Get Help" menu. 

Instructors can also leverage these student-facing resources to help communicate with their students. These resources require your OHIO ID to view. They are view-only, so you will need to either download the documents to your device or copy/paste the content into your own materials.  

Canvas offers many similar features to Blackboard with key differences. Explore our Canvas vs. Blackboard comparison chart for detailed information and suggested workarounds.

OIT's using third-party integrations in Canvas page provides details about integrations (external tools applications) that are available in Canvas. Please read the installation instructions on the third-party integrations help page to access the desired tool.

By the end of August 2025, all Panopto content created in Blackboard by active users will be available in Canvas's instance of Panopto after account merging activity in summer 2025. Please visit the Sharing Panopto Content Between Blackboard and Canvas help article for more information.

There are differences between question pools, banks, and blocks, which are often used interchangeably. We expect most content types to transfer to Canvas. If you have any difficulty with a specific file type during the import process, please seek help within Canvas. You can start a chat or call their hotline by logging into Canvas at canvas.ohio.edu and selecting "Get Help" from the left navigation menu. OIT can also support you through a consultation to discuss your individual needs for moving course content. You can schedule a consultation through the Canvas Training and Resources webpage .

Before requesting an integration, check the list of current third-party integrations to ensure it is not already available. 

To request a feature or a new integration (external application or product) in Canvas, please submit a ticket through the Canvas Ticketing Page for feature and integration requests and review the vendor Technology Review process. In the "What kind of Canvas request are you making?" field, select "I am requesting an integration in Canvas".

Proctortrack , an online proctoring solution, is available within Canvas. Proctortrack does have a fee associated with use (either department-pay or student-pay). To learn more about Turnitin, OIT's supported plagiarism detection tool, review Creating a Turnitin Assignment in Canvas . Top Hat also supports monitored exams , as a solution that may align well with in-class exams. You can see a full list of third-party tools available within Canvas on this webpage .

Turnitin will check submissions made through Turnitin assignments from both Blackboard and Canvas. In Canvas, we will have Turnitin available as the academic integrity product since SafeAssign is a Blackboard-specific feature. To learn more about Turnitin in Canvas, review Creating a Turnitin Assignment in Canvas .

In Canvas, course owners and faculty have the ability to add and remove Designers, Teaching Assistants (TA), and Instructors (which Canvas calls Teachers), and the ability to add but not remove Students from their courses. The reason behind not allowing students to be removed is to prevent students from being accidentally removed from a course that they should be enrolled in and to prevent the potential loss of their submitted data. If a manually added student needs to be removed from a course, that can be done through a request to the OIT Service Desk.

We do not have plans to push grades from Canvas to the Faculty Advising Center. 

Instructors can add or remove instructors, TAs, and designers from Canvas courses. They can add students to courses as soon as they are admitted, but instructors will not be able to remove them. This is to prevent the accidental loss of data. If a manually added student needs to be removed from a course, instructors can submit a Canvas ticket to OIT for assistance.

Yes, instructors can post class announcements in their Canvas course. An additional feature in Canvas announcements is that instructors can allow students to comment or like announcements and can schedule an announcement to post later. However, instructors cannot force an email message to students regarding announcements and cannot set an expiration date for announcements. 

Instructors can copy course content such as assignments, modules, pages, and discussions from an existing Canvas course into new or empty courses. Directions for how to copy course content is available in the online Canvas guide. 

Yes. In Canvas this process is referred to as Cross-Listing rather than merging. Directions for Cross-Listing are available in the OIT Knowledge Base.  

The Canvas calendar is populated based on dates added to courses by the course instructor, such as assignment/quiz due dates, and to-do items. Both students and instructors have access to the calendar feature for all their enrolled courses and groups. An Instructor Guide to the Calendar is available in the online Canvas guide.  

Instructors cannot add a manual grade column directly to the Gradebook in Canvas (as you could in Blackboard). You must create a new assignment, and in the “Submission Type” settings, set to “No Submission.”

The Canvas and Blackboard Comparison chart shows a list of features without a direct equivalent, as well as suggested workarounds where possible for items such as glossary, journals, and wikis. This page is no longer updated since 100% of courses will leverage Canvas in fall 2025.

Yes, Turnitin is OIT's supported tool for plagiarism detection. Turnitin can be used in different ways within Canvas based on your instructional goals. Check out Creating a Turnitin Assignment in Canvas to learn more about your options.

Instructors can re-organize and hide items on the Course Navigation menu. However, navigation menu items cannot be renamed or added in Canvas. You can organize your course's menu by selecting "Settings" in your course menu and then choosing the "Navigation" option on the top menu. On this page, you can drag to reorganize tools from your menu.