SLU news
The end of the Canvas project is approaching
Published: 19 June 2019
The Canvas project has been running at full speed during the academic year. As of 25 March this year, no new content has been created in Fronter. Instead, all new course rooms are created in Canvas, SLU’s new virtual learning environment. As of 27 July, Fronter will only be available in read mode. This means that no rooms can be created or edited, and no new users can be added.
During the year, we have offered a number of training and support sessions on all campuses to ensure that everyone gets Canvas up and running. The support sessions have been appreciated and a good opportunity for teachers to work uninterrupted with their courses in Canvas, with hands-on help available if needed. The feedback has mostly been positive. A lot of you find that Canvas is a tool that is easy to use, has many advantages and offers a number of possibilities.
The advantages include making teaching methods more efficient and offering teachers and students a modern tool for interaction and communication. Canvas is an open system, which means it can easily be integrated with other systems and products.
One integration we have tested during the year is with Kaltura. Kaltura is a media service for recording lectures with an associated quiz and showing this in Canvas in an easy way, creating new opportunities for student-activating teaching methods.
During the summer, no work will be done on the project which will enter its final phase in autumn. Many of you have already made the transition to Canvas, but we believe many more will join us as new courses start after the summer. To meet the demand for support, further support sessions will be arranged during the autumn semester. New dates will be added to our calendar.
After the summer, we will also look into the process for creating Canvas course rooms. We are hoping to automate this process, automatically creating course rooms for all established courses. We will also be looking at other systems that may be integrated with Canvas, such as TimeEdit (in Swedish), SLU’s new system for digitally managing schedules, services, course planning and exam management.
Fronter will close on 20 December. Before then, everyone who has a course room in Fronter needs to go over their Fronter material to see if there is anything they want to reuse in Canvas. Please spread this message to everyone concerned!
Last but not least, we are happy to hear that Uppsala University will also be switching to Canvas. We look forward to fruitful cooperation and a rewarding exchange of experiences.
If you have questions about the transition to Canvas, contact canvas@slu.se. If you need a new course room, contact IT support, it-stod@slu.se.