Office of Instructional Design offering Canvas transition support workshops, resources for OHIO faculty

The Office of Instructional Design (OID) is assisting with the transition from Blackboard to Canvas by offering a suite of resources, including workshops, one-on-one consultations, virtual office hours, and comprehensive guidance materials.

The Office’s Instructional Design team is facilitating bi-weekly/weekly workshops that will be conducted to support faculty throughout the transition and ensure effective use of Canvas and help faculty members familiarize themselves with the new capabilities of Canvas. Faculty can participate in these workshops to gain practical insights and strategies for a successful transition.

The Office of Instructional Design currently has several workshop offerings for OHIO faculty.

Current Workshops

Transition Your Course to Canvas: Are you interested in learning how to efficiently move your Blackboard course into Canvas? This workshop will equip you with the necessary tools, knowledge, and resources to start working in Canvas. You will have time to create your courses with assistance from instructional technologists and instructional designers.

Building a New Course in Canvas: This workshop will equip you with the necessary tools, knowledge, and resources to start building your course in Canvas. You will have time to work on your course with assistance from instructional technologists and instructional designers.  

Assessments in Canvas: This workshop will guide instructors through the process of transitioning formative and summative assessments from Blackboard to the new Canvas LMS. Attendees will gain insights into effective strategies for a smooth transition, learn best practices for preparing their course content for similar and/or equivalent experiences, and get a broad understanding of grading functionalities in the new Canvas environment.

Course Design and Layout Consideration for Canvas: This workshop covers essential aspects of designing courses in the Canvas LMS, including an overview of design principles and course organization strategies. Participants will learn about course information, content organization, assessment strategies, and accessibility considerations with hands-on activities and a Q&A session for practical engagement.

Designing for Student Engagement in Canvas: This workshop explores effective strategies for enhancing student engagement in the Canvas LMS platform. Participants will engage in hands-on activities while learning to create interactive, inclusive, and stimulating content. Emphasis is on practical techniques for designing courses that captivate students and foster involved, high-touch learning. The workshop covers Canvas tools for collaboration, assessment, user analytics, and effective multimedia integration, providing instructors with the skills to transform their digital classrooms into dynamic learning environments.

Canvas Group Consultation: Get your canvas course ready for delivery.  This studio-style work session will provide you with the opportunity to work on your course with instructional designers and technologists to provide hands-on support and make strategic course experience decisions. Participants are assigned a dedicated time slot during the session to address their specific pre-identified needs. Participants also get the opportunity to share perspectives with other faculty.

How to Get Started

Associate/Assistant Deans and Departmental Chairs: The Office of Instructional Design is ready to attend your departmental meetings to provide an overview and hands-on demonstrations of teaching within Canvas. This approach allows faculty to experience the LMS's features in real time and check out some of the new features available in Canvas while having an expert in the room to help them along the way. Fill out the workshop request and invite OID experts to do a departmental workshop for your faculty. 

Individual Faculty: Ready to begin working with OID on transitioning to Canvas? The following resources are available to you:

• How to documentation: browse the official OID help documentation. 
• Workshops: sign up for scheduled workshop offerings. 
• Consultations: Faculty will have the opportunity to schedule in-person or virtual consultations with the support team. During these consultations, OID experts will guide faculty through the Blackboard to Canvas migration, as well as address any specific questions or concerns faculty may have. The support team can also help faculty determine how to best meet student learning outcomes using Canvas features. Please visit this website to book a consultation.
• Virtual office hours: the OID team is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. via Microsoft Teams chat to answer questions. To chat with the OID team, use this Teams Chat link.

The team of instructional designers is eager to collaborate and demonstrate the versatile design features, pedagogical features, and seamless integration options that Canvas offers — all designed to elevate your teaching methods and maximize your students' academic success. Reach out to oid@ohio.edu to learn how the OID team can support you.

Additionally, the OID collaborates with partners in the Center for Teaching, Learning and Assessment (CTLA) and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) to offer joint workshops. Explore the partner workshops at the following websites:

• CTLA Workshops
• OIT Workshops