News Bulletin

In early October, the first of three planned technical releases was successfully completed, providing system access to a select group of identified users. Currently, colleagues involved in Transnational Education, the Global MBA, and Executive Education have priority access due to their non-standard teaching schedules. Within our faculty, a small number of staff members have also been granted early access to explore the system and support the broader implementation process for the benefit of all staff. 

Should you be one of our lucky early adopters, a reminder that the team can be contacted here for any questions that you may have, and we will do our best to answer as we work through the intricacies of the system ourselves. Keep an eye out for our Getting Started with Canvas course which is expected to launch by the end of November, and will guide you through the Canvas essentials prior to you embarking on your course building journey. 

Data Migration 

The data migration process is well underway, in collaboration with K16 Solutions, a third-party company specialising in content migration. Our teams are working closely with K16 to understand how course materials from Blackboard will appear once transferred to Canvas. Through iterative testing of sample courses, we are gaining valuable insights into the migration process. Once testing is complete, a detailed framework will be established, outlining what content will and will not be migrated to Canvas. 

The current plan is to migrate course content in two stages. Semester 1 courses are expected to be transferred in February, with Semester 2 courses following in June. As these migrations are scheduled after teaching has concluded, no further changes to existing courses are expected needed at that stage. 

If you wish for a course unit to be migrated differently, you will need to fill out this request form before Friday 25th October 2024. You will need to be logged in to complete the form, and your name will be automatically recorded. 

Visit Our Dedicated Page for the Canvas Transition 

Hopefully, you’ll have encountered this page already, but if not, take the time to visit the FBMH eLearning team’s internal page for Canvas-specific guidance and resources. Here, you’ll find some useful guidance, key information, and some videos detailing our 5 favourite things about Canvas.

Following a successful pilot that began in 2021, the Cadmus online assessment platform is now available for use across all Blackboard course units. 

Cadmus streamlines the entire assessment process, from designing assessments to releasing grades and feedback. It also provides valuable insights into student engagement throughout the duration of an assignment. In addition, Cadmus offers immediate and guidance for students on key areas such as good academic practice while they are completing their submissions. Feedback from students in the pilot phase has been overwhelmingly positive, with 90% of users rating their experience as good to excellent. 

We are currently working alongside school Assessment & Progression staff to identify their needs within their roles, and how best we can support them going forward. The output of this will be the production of some FAQs and short format guides. Watch this space! 

How Can I Start using Cadmus? 

If you are interested in using Cadmus for your assignments, you can access more information on getting started with Cadmus here.  Alternatively, get in touch with the team and we will be happy to advise. 

If you are interested in attending future Cadmus training events, you can sign up to training today.

Creating and delivering teaching that caters to the needs of all students is essential to fostering an inclusive and equitable learning environment. By embracing accessibility, we not only support diverse learners but also enhance educational outcomes across the board, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to succeed. 

To help you integrate accessible practices into your teaching, we’ve consolidated all of our accessibility resources in one convenient location on our website. Whether you’re seeking to understand why accessibility is crucial or exploring the specific ways we can assist you in making your materials more inclusive, we have a wealth of information and support available. 

Visit the page below to access guidance, tools, and strategies designed to ensure that your teaching is accessible to all. 

FBMH eLearning – Accessibility Resources

In recent weeks, you may have encountered an error message when trying to open TurnItIn assignments in Blackboard. The good news is that this issue can be easily fixed by changing one setting—having the assignment open in the same window. 
 

For detailed instructions and the quick fix, read our guide below

TurnItIn ‘Invalid or Missing State’ Error

By now, you should be able to access your Blackboard courses for editing, but if not, get in touch with us or your course administration team. If you’re looking for some guidance on setting up your course, we have information that covers refining your course’s structure to best meet the needs of your students, through to reviewing your assessment information.

Visit our Quick Checks pages and SOY Rollover Checklist for help, and if you have any questions, get in touch with the team today.

Following increased expressions of interest at the recent FBMH teaching and learning symposium, we’re pleased to share news of some new training dates for the above courses. These sessions will give you hand-on, practical experience in using the tools in your teaching and learning delivery. The upcoming training dates are:

– Mentimeter: 25/09 (in-person session) and 20/11 (online)
– Nearpod: 30/10 (in-person session)
– Camtasia: 11/12 (in-person session)

Each of the above courses can be booked via our central training page, where you’ll also find a range of asynchronous training materials to work through in your own time.

Cadmus training, delivered by Cadmus representatives, is also now available to book. Each session will guide you through the process of setting up an assessment, through to releasing it to students and marking. To book on to these online sessions, visit the university training catalogue.

As you might expect, we’re fielding lots of questions from faculty staff relating to the implementation of Canvas in September 2025. We’ve picked out a couple of frequently asked questions below, and summarised the answers for you as concisely as possible. If you’re interested in reading more, take a look at the central digital learning environment webpage.

Submit your Canvas-related questions to the eLearning Team today, and we’ll provide you with an answer in due course. We’ll also include frequently asked questions and their answers in our monthly bulletin to ensure everyone stays informed

Q: I’ve signed up for early access – when will this happen?

A: The project team will be in a position to grant early access requests following technical release 1, planned for this month. Those who have requested early access will be contacted by the team once this is ready.

Q: What will Canvas training look like?

A: While the specific details of training are still being coordinated by faculty implementation groups, the working plan is that staff will have access to both asynchronous training materials via an introductory Canvas course, as well as online help pages, and dedicated in-person training sessions delivered by your eLearning etam.

Q: Are we expected to manually transfer all of our teaching content from Blackboard to Canvas?

A: In short, no. K16 Solutions (a third-party data migration company) are currently working with UoM colleagues to devise a process to transfer the relevant content of each course to a holding-space in Canvas. Once that process has been finalised, colleagues will be advised of the steps that they need to take.

In recent weeks, we released a short series of videos covering some of our favourite things about the new Canvas system. From the calendar tool, through to modules and Canvas Studio, these short videos give you a taste of what you’ll be able to work with once the time to build your courses comes around.

To watch the videos, head over to the Canvas 5 Things page.

AppsAnywhere is a central software portal for accessing teaching and learning applications, now available on all university PC clusters. It automatically launches at startup and functions like a digital ‘app store,’ enabling students to stream apps from the cloud, rather than having to locate a specific PC containing their software. Further information can be found on the dedicated IT services webpage. Please note that support for AppsAnywhere is provided by IT Services rather then eLearning, and as such, any queries should be directed towards IT Services.

SEAtS is the university’s new tool for logging student attendance, launching for the start of the 2024/25 academic year. At the start of timetabled, on-campus sessions, the SEAtS system allows teaching staff to generate a time-limited code that students can use to ‘check’ in to the session via the dedicated mobile app. Alternatively, the system can be used to generate a digital register for smaller face-to-face sessions. For more information, and for support, visit the SEAtS sharepoint site. Again, please note that support for this tool comes from central IT services rather than eLearning teams. Please direct any queries to the following email address: engagementanalytics@manchester.ac.uk