Blackboard to Canvas Migrated Course Cleanup Guide

Many Blackboard courses are being moved to Canvas via the Automated Migration Process. Once your courses are in Canvas, there will be some cleanup involved. You can perform this cleanup in the migrated course and then later copy it to your live Canvas semester course once it is available.  

To use this guide, you should already have some knowledge of Canvas, either from previous experience or through Mason’s Canvas Training options.  

Migrates well to Canvas Migrates well but may require updating Needs to be recreated/relinked (does not migrate)
  • Assignments
  • Audio & Video Content
  • Course Content & Files
  • Content Folders
  • Discussions
  • Groups & Group Sets
  • Grade columns & categories
  • Kaltura Media
  • Learning Modules
  • Tests, Surveys, & Pools
  • Announcements
  • External Tools (LTIs)
  • Publisher Links
  • Rubrics
  • Wikis, Blogs, Journals
  • Test Directions & Options
  • Adaptive Release Rules
  • Grade Center Settings
  • Large (500 MB+) non-Kaltura Video
  • Weighted & Calculated Grade columns

 

General Post Migration Cleanup Tips 

Begin by looking at the Modules page which will include all your content, including documents, text, and links to assignments, discussions, tests, etc. The content folder/learning module structure in Blackboard converts to Canvas in the same sequence, and any text descriptions of folders and items become unique pages within a Module. Each text item or image in Modules is now a Canvas “Page.” You may want to combine multiple pages into one by copying the contents of one page to another existing page, especially when some contain more decorative elements such as images. 

  • A Course Migration Log is available in every migrated course. You may want to consult the log if you believe there is an issue or something missing. Most items in the log are informational only and are not issues. In your Bb Migrated course, click “Pages” on the course navigation, then the View All Pages button at the top. The first page should be “000-Migration Exception Log.”
  • Remove any references to Blackboard. Any Blackboard guides and tutorials should be removed from the course. Review any directional text (“click on the link above”) as well as references to colors like (the “red link above to submit”) to ensure they are still accurate. Take the opportunity to update or remove any outdated information regarding computer hardware, software, or browser plugin requirements.
  • Common Tool changes: Tests which required Respondus Lockdown Browser will need to use Honorlock. Assignments which required SafeAssign will need to use Turnitin. Meetings with used Collaborate Ultra need to use Zoom. See information below under Assignments and Tests.
  • “Stub” indicates a link to Blackboard or a Blackboard tool that could not be migrated to Canvas – it is for your awareness only and can be deleted.
  • Test links to third-party/external tools (publisher content, Gradescope, Harmonize, LinkedIn Learning, etc.).
  • Some areas (Files, Discussions) may list “Mason Instructor” as the author. This will change to your name when you copy/import the migrated course into your actual semester course.
  • Run the Course Link Validator, under Settings in the course menu, to identify any broken links.
  • Review the Blackboard-Canvas tool comparison chart and the Blackboard to Canvas integrations list
  • Use the Stearns Center Course Readiness Checklist on the Online Course Quality site for Canvas as a resource to help focus on key elements before publishing your migrated Canvas content.

Specific Post Migration Cleanup Tips 

Blackboard   Clean-Up Recommendations  
Accessibility  
  • All items in migrated courses should have the same accessibility, such as image descriptions and video captioning, as in Blackboard. Check any accessibility notes that appear.
Adaptive Release 
  • In Canvas, adaptive release rules will all need to be recreated as Prerequisites and Requirements. We recommend referring to your course in Blackboard or taking notes on where adaptive release is applied and the criteria.
Announcements 
  • Announcements will have “Mason Instructor” as the author, but this goes away when you copy the migrated course into your live semester course. 
  • All announcements were copied to Canvas but will show to students if copied to a live semester course. Because there is no way to hide announcements like there was in Blackboard, you may not want to copy Announcements to your live course but rather use announcements as a reference.
Assignments 
  • The Canvas Assignments page includes ALL graded items (including quizzes, graded discussion, etc.) in the course. Each section on the Assignments page is used to set up category weighting.
  • Verify that assignments, prompts, points, and settings are up-to-date; specifically, look at the “Submission Type” section and choose appropriate options. 
  • Confirm group assignment designations were correctly migrated. 
  • Assignments that used SafeAssign for plagiarism will need to be set up with Turnitin. Refer to your Blackboard course to determine which assignments used SafeAssign for plagiarism detection. 
Blogs, Journals and Wikis 
  • Canvas does not have Blogs, Journals, or Wikis. Blogs and Journals were converted to Discussions. Wikis were converted to editable pages (students can edit the page).  
  • You may also want to consider alternative options such as Harmonize or Microsoft Collaboration tools. 
Content Folders / Learning Modules 
  • All content will be moved to the Modules page. However, Canvas does not allow for nested folders. All content will be displayed as grouped modules. You may wish to combine or rearrange module items. 
Content Collection / Files 
  • All course files were migrated to Canvas. These files are available to students on the Modules page. Files also live in the “Files” menu area which is hidden from students by default (like the Content Collection in Blackboard). Any course content that was housed in non-course Blackboard Content Collections (like a shared institutional Blackboard folder) was moved directly into your course.
Course Menu 
  • Instructors cannot rename or add new areas to the Canvas course menu, as you could in Blackboard. There are course menu items hidden by default, which can be viewed and added to the course menu, by going to the course’s Settings – Navigation page. 
  • Instructors can add web links to the course menu using the Redirect Tool. 
Discussions 
  • While discussions are all moved to Canvas, they may be out of order on the Discussions page. Re-order as needed.
  • Canvas Discussions are structured as Discussions > Topics > Replies. Directions are the first topic post. 
  • The Discussion Forum description/instructions in Blackboard are now the first post in the Canvas discussion topic. The post will list the author as “Mason Professor” which occurs during the migration process. Once you copy a migrated course into a live term Canvas course, the post will be in your name.  
  • If you had posted a starter post in a Blackboard thread, this was not copied over and will need to be recreated. 
  • Group discussions appear on the main Discussion page and each group’s page.
  • Any journals or blogs in Blackboard became discussions.
Grades 
  • Grade columns that were hidden from you (as the instructor) in Blackboard will be visible. Columns hidden to students will still be hidden.
  • Calculated columns (averages, total, weighted totals) do not convert to Canvas and will need to be recreated.
  • Weighted totals are not set up in Grades; set them up on the Assignments page. You can then set up the course’s final grade column using these weights. 
Groups 
  • Groups and group sets are migrated to Canvas and are available on the People page
  • Canvas courses can also use sections to limit content and add different due dates.
Rubrics 
  • Canvas rubrics only use points. Blackboard rubrics that used percentages were converted to points. You can choose to enable a point range. Rubric guide
  • Blackboard rubrics that had no point/percentage value are converted, but the columns are listed alphabetically in Canvas instead of in the order in Blackboard. Currently there is no way to reorder these columns in Canvas, although it is a planned feature (with no timeline yet).
Tests, Surveys, and Pools 
  • Ensure that test descriptions and instructions are correct and review all test settings. 
  • Blackboard Quiz Bowl questions are not copied to Canvas. 
  • Auto-submit is always on for a timed tests in Canvas. 
  • Blackboard surveys will appear at the bottom of the Quizzes page in the Canvas course.
  • Tests that required Lockdown Browser in Blackboard will need to be set up with Honorlock. Be sure to change the test name to remove the “Requires Lockdown Browser” text.
  • Note: Canvas has two types of quizzes (Classic and New). All Blackboard tests were converted to New Quizzes. However Blackboard surveys are Classic Quizzes.
Videos & Kaltura Media 
  • Most video and audio files, whether uploaded directly to Blackboard or to Kaltura, were migrated to Canvas. 
  • Exception: Video uploaded directly to Blackboard that was 500MB or larger was not copied directly to Canvas. Instead, the video was moved to Kaltura and a note was added to the Migration Exception Log. Instructors with 500MB+ videos in their courses will also receive an email with more information. These videos will need to be placed in the correct place in your course using Kaltura instructions for Canvas. Kaltura videos are not affected by this, only videos that were uploaded directly to Blackboard in the same way you would have uploaded other files (Word, PDF, etc.).
Publisher Content & Third Party Tool Integrations 
  • ​​Contact your publisher representative if you require any assistance with migrating content to Canvas and receiving directions on how best to link to publisher content in the new LMS. 
  • ​​Identify any 3rd party applications that have been integrated into your class (ex. Publishers, Voicethread, iClicker, etc) and test links and embedded content.
Last modified: June 24, 2024