UMass Boston

Migration Guide

A few notes: 

  • Check your course import statuses, for any “issues” during the import process.
  • Content from third party tools such as VoiceThread, Echo360, YouTube, publisher content, etc. will need to be relinked. This content resides on separate servers and it will not be lost, but the linking within Canvas modules needs to be done anew. If you’re using the Embed option, you do not need to re-embed.
  • While we recommend that you update most of your course in the “migration” section before copying over to the official WISER course, some items can only be updated/set up in the live shell.

List of Content to Update

Following is a list of items to check after importing content from Blackboard to Canvas.

VoiceThread

Echo360

To embed videos individually, use the RCE option as illustrated in this article.

If using Classroom Capture:

Zoom

Turnitin

Files

  • Organize (Rename and/or Move) files into folders based on how you would organize your course. 
  • Clean up Blackboard-specific language.
  • Delete old/unused files.
  • Create folders for images used in quizzes, assignments

Assignments

Discussions 

Modules 

  • Organize your content in modules
  • Use a suitable naming convention with numbers and labels
  • Drag-and-drop and reorder existing Pages, Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes etc. in the right module  
  • After you get the order set, then work in each individual element. 

Check for Broken Hyperlinks and Images

Quizzes and Question Banks

  • Review each quiz activity to ensure the settings are correct.
  • Visit Canvas Community resources for “Is it possible to make a Canvas quiz into a Canvas question bank?
  • The following question types will not migrate to Canvas and will need to be recreated in a different type:
    • Matching
    • Hot Spot
    • Quiz Bowl
  • Images embedded in questions may not migrate over to Canvas if your content collection is larger than 2.5 GB, plan to re-upload and re-embed. 

Groups

  • Groups do not transfer over when you import your content from one course to another.
  • Wait until you copy the content into the official WISER course before creating groups.

Gradebook

  • Go to “Assignments” to set the grade weights. Finalize it in the official shell.
  • Delete empty assignment groups

Copy Content from Migration Course to the Official Course Shell

After you clean up your migration courses, you have the option to copy content from the migration course to the official course shell. Content can be also be copied gradually, module by module.

Finalize and Publish Content and Course

Finally, after you have copied over the desired content, complete the following last steps to get the course ready for students: 

  1. Create group sets and groups within each set as needed.
  2. Bulk update assignment due dates
  3. Publish your assignments
  4. Publish your modules
  5. Finalize Gradebook policies.
  6. Publish your course. 
    • Please note that once the University completes the migration to Canvas, by SU 2025, all courses will be published by Administrators on the first official start date of the semester + any preview days. 

Visit the Canvas Training and Resources pages for more tips on working with Canvas.