ReggieNet to Canvas Course Site Migration Information

The following message was emailed to current course instructors on 02/03/2023

Back to archive

Dear Colleague,

Behind-the-scenes preparations are complete, and the University is now ready to accept requests to have a limited number of ReggieNet courses migrated to Canvas.

There are almost 135,000 course sites currently in ReggieNet, dating back to 2012. It would be impossible to transfer all of that data to the new system. As a result, the University will proceed to migrate courses incrementally, with this first round concentrating on the most recent semesters after the return to campus following the COVID-19 shift to remote learning. Requests must be submitted no later than 4:30 p.m. on Monday, February 13. Requests will not be accepted for this round after that date. Additional migration opportunities will be announced later in the spring.

Migrated Courses vs. Course Shells

Migrated courses are different than Fall 2023 course shells, the empty sites which you’ll configure and teach with starting next academic year, just as you’ve done in ReggieNet. These shells will be automatically added to Canvas in early March—no action is needed on your part. Instructors who wish to use Canvas for summer courses will be contacted separately in a few weeks.

Do You Need to Migrate?

Migration is designed to copy old courses which will be offered again and feature complex structures. However, based on feedback from faculty in the current pilot program, we’ve learned that migration is neither the only way, nor is it always the best way, to save your data in ReggieNet for future classes. Consider these two options:

• Backup – this is the best option for most situations, and it can be done by you right now. You can download documents, gradebook information, quizzes (including question pools), and other types of files from your ReggieNet course sites and save them on your Illinois State OneDrive. You can later upload only what you need into Canvas’s centralized Files system and begin building out your Fall 2023 “course shells” at your leisure, once those become available. Visit the Center for Integrated Professional Development’s Canvas support hub to get started.
• Migration – this takes a whole ReggieNet course and converts its structure into a format usable by Canvas. This is a complicated solution best suited for courses that use a lot of tools or include a lot of assessments. Once the course is migrated, you will need to make additional changes to align the course content with how various tools work in Canvas. You will then import the data from the migrated course into your Fall 2023 course shell, much in the same way you populate new ReggieNet courses with previous ones.

Important: Migration does NOT include student data. If there are student assignments or grades you wish to keep for your records, you’ll need to backup those data yourself.

Scope

This first round of migrations will be limited as follows:

• Instructors may request the migration of one version of each course taught from the spring of 2021 through the fall of 2022, including summer and winter courses.
• Migration requests must be made by the instructor of the course site.
• In order to identify courses properly, requests must include the ReggieNet Site URL. Instructions on how to copy and paste this information are included on the request form. You will need to have your ReggieNet course site open in a separate browser tab to pull do so. 

Make Your Migration Requests

You will need to complete this brief form for each course fitting the above criteria. You will be asked to sign in with your ISU username and password.

Migration Request Form – February 2023

Upon completing the form, you will receive an email receipt with your answers to your ISU email account. Please keep this in case you need additional support.

Access to Canvas

Instructors will be able to access both their migrated courses and their empty "course shells" for the Fall 2023 semester by the week of March 6. Professional development on setting up and teaching with Canvas, both in the form of self-paced, online lessons and traditional workshops, will be offered starting after spring break.

Need Help?

If you are unsure whether a course should be migrated or not, please email the Center for Integrated Professional Development at ProDev@ilstu.edu. Our support staff will be able to look at your existing ReggieNet course sites and make recommendations.