Over the last few months, teams across the UW-System have been working on getting the new Learning Management System ready for access.  We are happy to announce that all instructors now have access to the Canvas platform!  Instructors have access to start trying things out, migrating their course materials and mocking up content.  Here are a few important things to keep in mind:

• Setup and Configuration Ongoing.  We are still working on configuring and testing integrations such as TurnItIn, Respondus Lockdown Browser, Redshelf, textbook publisher integrations, and more. These will be made available as they are tested and implemented by UW-System.
• User roles are not yet determined.  There is a team at UW-System that is working on finalizing the roles (Student, Graduate Assistant, Grader, Reviewers, Guest Lecturers, etc) that will be available to our campus.  As soon as we receive that information, we will pass it along.
• Course Complexity Analysis.  UW-Whitewater and UW-Superior were part of a team to develop a tool to help you analyze your existing Desire2Learn course. The goal of the tool is to provide some estimates on what areas of your existing course will require the most focus and time for migration.  This tool is available at http://dl.uwsa.edu
• We have 24/7/365 Email, Phone and Chat support included with the new Canvas platform.  This is available today!  As you are testing things out, please reach out via those channels as a first line of defense. Questions that they cannot answer will be escalated to the Canvas Support Team here at UW-Whitewater.
• Blank Courses for Migration.  All users who have taught in the last year have been setup with 3 blank courses in Canvas. These courses are there for testing, or starting to migrate and setup your actual courses. Just like in Desire2Learn, these courses would be copied into the actual timetable course once those are available. If you need more test courses, please reach out to Canvas Support.

The official login page and support channels for Canvas are located at http://uww.edu/canvas.

What’s next?
We are currently in the process of meeting with each college to discuss the overall migration and training plans.  Once those plans are set, they will be published on the Canvas Transition Website. In the meantime, you can start reviewing the FAQs and training resources on the website.   Access the Canvas Transition Website here: http://go.uww.edu/canvas-transition

When can I start using Canvas for my courses?
The first opportunity for courses in the Canvas platform will be the Fall 2018 semester.  We are targeting to have all course migrations completed before Summer 2019.

If you have any questions or concerns about the transition, please reach out to the UW-W Learning Technology Center.