FAQ’s
How long can I continue to use Moodle?
Although we encourage you to adopt Canvas for your fall 2021 courses, we realize that timeframe may not work for everyone depending on sabbaticals or other scheduled research. Moodle will continue to be available for teaching through the spring 2022 term.
Beginning on Sept. 1, 2022, Moodle will be put into “archive mode” and will continue to be accessible by faculty until Sept. 1, 2025. This will allow faculty to login to Moodle to retrieve course materials and backup a course and restore it to Canvas. You must be on campus and using a Lawrence-owned computer to access Moodle beginning on Sept. 1, 2022.
How soon can I teach in Canvas?
Faculty with no prior Canvas experience should plan to wait until fall term 2021 after taking advantage of training opportunities over the summer.
We have also created a “sandbox course” for each individual faculty member so you can get in and explore at your convenience.
When will training opportunities be available?
The first Canvas workshops will be held during finals week of spring term 2021 and will continue throughout the summer. See the “Canvas training” on the main Canvas info page.
How will my Moodle stuff get into Canvas?
If you would like to have a course exported from Moodle and imported to Canvas, contact Jedidiah Rex. You can also watch this video to learn how you can do this yourself. As of September 2022, you must be on campus to access Moodle.
Which Moodle items will be converted?
Uploaded documents, links, Assignments, Forums, Pages, and Quizzes will all be converted to their Canvas equivalent.
This document is a good resource on this topic.
What new features are available in Canvas?
A few of the more exciting new features include:
* a video/screencast recording tool built into Canvas
* an interactive video tool (pause video at a certain point, pop up a quiz question, student responds, video continues to play, quiz results flow to the gradebook)
* a mobile app for instructors (there is also an app for students)
* a feature called the “Speed Grader” that has a more efficient grading workflow compared to Moodle
* change assignment due dates by a simple drag-and-drop on the Canvas calendar
* a simple way to create office hours or advising appointment slots that students can sign up for
* better communication options including SMS messages to students (if they opt in to the feature)
* one-click course analytics to identify disengaged students
* a peer review assignment feature that is much simpler to setup and use than the Moodle workshop
* 24/7 phone or chat support for faculty and students
What Moodle features will we lose by moving to Canvas?
Some custom quiz question types that we had added to Moodle for Chemistry and Music Theory. We are currently exploring alternatives.
Canvas quizzes cannot be set to be “adaptive” (immediately allow re-attempts on individual questions if a wrong answer is selected). We are currently exploring alternatives.
H5P is not built in to Canvas, but we will offer an integration for those faculty that have invested time building a library of H5P exercises. (As mentioned above, Canvas has a built-in interactive video tool which is one of the more popular H5P activity types.)