Christ College’s First Year Program Transitions to Canvas

By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL 

Sam Graber, Director of Christ College’s First-Year Program (FYP), oversaw the program’s move from Blackboard to Canvas this past fall.  This article, based on an interview, describes that transition, and how Canvas is working for the program. 

The CC First-Year program’s core courses, Texts and Contexts I and II (CC 110 and 115), are not a single class but rather a collection of classes taught by different instructors, much like VUE (and Core before it). This fall there were four sections of CC 110, but there are usually 6-8. 

Putting FYP online has always been challenging because this collection of classes is so unconventional. There are some activities that include the entire group, such as the first-year theatrical production and the Oxford debates. But in most other ways each class section functions independently. 

In Blackboard they handled this dichotomy by building a separate class for the whole group labeled “Drama Workshop.” This became the only avenue for all information related not only to the first-year theatrical production but also to all sections of CC100 and 115. As a hack it worked OK, but it was not ideal. 

These and similar frustrations with Blackboard made Sam eager to see whether Canvas could serve their needs better. In Canvas Sam has administrator access, so it is easy for him to create announcements that go out to students in every section of the class, and there was no need to build a separate class for the entire group. Sam also thinks that the Canvas model for organizing course materials is at least as good as with Blackboard.  

Simple Syllabus is still the official syllabus, but Canvas also allows him to create a template for the more substantial parts of FYP’s  traditional common syllabus, materials that almost amount to a full textbook. This “Reader’s Guide”  includes introductions to each author, discussion questions, shared assignments, and a handbook for writing. This shared template, located in the Canvas Commons, allows individual instructors to port material from the “Reader’s Guide”  directly into the modules for each class section. Although all sections share this common template, faculty have full rein to add their own materials as well.

Note: Canvas Commons is a shared repository of course materials, modules, and assessments. Faculty can choose how to share content (locally or with all Canvas users). If you would like to know more about commons, visit What is Canvas Commons?

Whenever Sam needs to update a module or assignment, due to a snow day or a special plenary lecture, for example, he does not have to go into each section to make the change. Instead, he changes the shared template in the Canvas Commons. Then individual faculty can go to Commons, see that there is an update available, and reload the new content.  So far these updates to the common template do not seem to undo each professor’s original material. Sam noted that sometimes the order of materials can change with the updates, but that’s been easy for individual instructors to correct.  

The shift to Canvas went well in the fall semester. As with any new system, there were some small glitches, but far fewer than expected. Because he had no technical expertise himself, Sam worked closely with Ed Finn and CITAL on this project. He valued their help in avoiding and solving technical problems and would recommend CITAL to others making this transition.

Overall the FYP  faculty are relatively happy with Canvas. Sam was glad that Christ College decided to do the move to Canvas early. By uploading everything now, it will save work for the next director, since many of these texts will be taught again; their supporting materials are now archived in the Canvas Commons where they can be marked for “publication” whenever they are needed in the future. 

Since this transition has been relatively painless, Sam is looking forward to making more use of Canvas’s features next year in more advanced classes to do things that Blackboard could not.