Canvas options for Summer 2023 instructors

The following message was emailed to Summer 2023 instructors on 02/28/2023

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Dear Summer Instructor,

You have an important decision to make: Do you want to use Canvas, our new learning management system, or do you want to stick with ReggieNet for your summer courses?

If you’re not ready to make that choice yet, that’s okay. A plan has been developed to give you maximum flexibility in making this decision. It all kicks off next week, the week of March 6.

The Options

Course shells will be provided to you in both ReggieNet and Canvas:

• ReggieNet course shells for summer are already available. If you wish to use ReggieNet this summer, you can proceed as you normally would—no additional action is needed.
• Canvas course shells for summer will be available the week of March 6, along with any migrated courses requested earlier this month. You can access Canvas through Canvas.IllinoisState.edu.
• Your students will see a link to whichever shell you decide to publish through the My.IllinoisState portal.
• Please note: If you choose to use ReggieNet, make sure you do NOT publish your Canvas summer shell, as this will override the “ReggieNet” button.
• As the summer term approaches, we encourage you to communicate with your students and inform them which LMS you intend to use, so students can log into Canvas and become familiar with the system. Student support will also be available through the Technology Support Center.
• If you choose to use Canvas, you should plan to populate your course shell in that system. It will NOT be possible for you to build out a ReggieNet Summer 2023 course shell and have it migrated to Canvas. Opportunities to migrate older ReggieNet courses will be announced after spring break.

Grade Reporting

Technology staff are working on the final configurations for grade reporting at the end of the summer term. Plans call for grade reporting from Canvas courses to work similarly to the current method used to pull final grades from ReggieNet. More information will be shared with all instructors once plans are finalized and tested. A reminder, all grade reporting for summer courses occurs in August.

Learning to teach with Canvas

In addition to course shells, learning to teach with Canvas beings in March.  This will allow you to make a more informed choice about which LMS to use this summer.

• Instructors will have the option to enroll themselves in a self-paced “Canvas Fundamentals” course, which teaches about features found in Canvas while also allowing your to see the student experience. This will become available the week of March 6.
• Registration is now open for 90-minute Canvas short courses, which begin the week of March 20. These include workshops to help you manually transfer materials from old ReggieNet sites into Canvas.
• Extensive support documentation is also available on the Center for Integrated Professional Development’s Canvas Support for Instructors pages.

Plugins, LTIs, and additional support

Technology support staff continue to install and test certain third-party plugins in Canvas (often called LTIs; for example, add-ins offered by textbook publishers). This is being done as a part of the ongoing Spring 2023 pilot program. A list of available plugins will be released later this spring.

In the meantime, if you have a question about a particular LTI, or if you need a consultation to determine which LMS best fits your teaching goals for this summer, please email ProDev@ilstu.edu.