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Teaching Resources

Prepping Your Course For Our Move to Canvas

While preparing and teaching your final few semesters in Moodle, a little prep work will make the move to Canvas more more smooth.

In this article

Why prepare now?

Moodle and Canvas organize course content and activities differently, and not everything in your Moodle course will appear in or function in  Canvas in the same way.  Some activities may need to be recreated or replaced, and other content may need to be reorganized.  

Step 1: Getting the big picture

A good place to start is with your course’s Canvas Migration Report. The report scans the content in your Moodle course and shows how the activities and resources you use may translate to Canvas. For each type of content found in your course, the report identifies: 

  • Whether an equivalent or similar feature is available in Canvas;
  • Whether the content will import into Canvas;
  • Links to relevant Canvas documentation; 
  • Notes for more detailed information or actions you may need to take.

Step 2: Use the checklist to prepare your course

Once you have reviewed your Migration Report, use the Prepping Your Moodle Course for Canvas Checklist to identify and track preparation tasks for your course. One thing to note is that very large courses (>2 GB) will need to be downsized to import any of their content. 

We suggest that you make a copy of the checklist for each Moodle course you plan to prepare.  Then, use the document’s tabs to work through the different areas of your course (general course preparation, content and materials, quizzes and question banks, and assignments and activities).  

Things to know and do for each item listed in the table:

  1. Use the Audit / Inventory column to indicate what is in your Moodle course.
  2. Review the Potential issues column to understand how the items you use may differ or behave in Canvas. This language will parallel what you saw in the Migration Report.
  3. Review the suggested tasks in the To-dos column, and use the status dropdowns to track your progress.
  4. Add information specific to your course in My notes.
Example of the course preparation checklist showing the Audit/Inventory, Potential issues, To-dos, and My notes columns. Dropdown menus allow instructors to indicate whether an item is used in their course and track the status of preparation tasks.

Conclusion

By investing time in taking stock, planning and preparing, you’re ensuring that preparing your course for it’s first semester in its new Canvas home will be as smooth as possible.