Changes to Canvas in May of 2022 - For Faculty
The “New LORA” and Changes to Canvas (For Faculty)
Starting with the Summer Semester of 2022, courses, users, and enrollments are being loaded into Canvas from Loyola’s New LORA system (Ellucian Colleague). You will notice a few changes in Canvas as a result:
Terms
The names of terms (semesters) will be slightly different, such as 2022SU instead of 22M. In addition, each term will now have a start and end date set in Canvas. If the instructor goes to the settings page of a course and sets course participation to “Term,” students will be able to submit work only between the dates defined in the Term. This is not recommended for most courses. By default, the course is set to allow student participation within the start and end date of the individual course, and this default should usually not be changed.
Courses
New Courses will be created in Canvas with a status of Published, a course start date set to one day before the start date listed in New LORA, a course end date set to 90 days after the end date listed in New LORA, and with participation set to “Course.” With these settings, students will be able to submit work between the start and end dates as recorded in the individual course in Canvas. Changing these settings in Canvas is not recommended, because any subsequent changes to the course in New LORA will overwrite these settings in Canvas.
Students Viewing Content
If you want to prevent students from seeing the content of a course before the start date, go to the course settings page and check the box labeled “Restrict students from viewing course before course start date.” You can uncheck that box at any time, if you want to allow students to see course content before the start date. If you leave that box checked, students will automatically gain access to view course content and submit work once the start date arrives.
Leave Courses Published
There is no longer a process that automatically publishes courses one day before the course start date. Marking a course "unpublished" in Canvas is NOT recommended because students will remain locked out if the instructor forgets to publish it again. In addition, any change made to the course on New LORA might result in an automatic and unexpected update to Canvas that sets the course status back to Published.
Enrollment Drops from New LORA
All enrollment drops recorded in New LORA, regardless of type, will result in the student being removed from the course in Canvas, rather than being marked inactive. If you need to examine grades and submissions from a student who has been removed from a course, email onlineed@loyno.edu to request a temporary reactivation of the enrollment.
Cross-Listing (Merging) Courses
Two or more courses that are listed separately on New LORA can be Cross-Listed ("merged"). Cross-Listing creates a single course shell on Canvas that combines the student enrollments from the separate courses into one. Some Cross-Lists are planned for administrative reasons and some are created for the convenience of the instructor(s). University policy regarding cross-listed courses is documented HERE.
IMPORTANT: Cross-Lists should be created as early as possible, before the scheduled start date of the involved courses. Cross-listing a course after content has been built on Canvas can separate students and instructors from that content. After student submissions or grades have been entered in a course, that course MUST NOT be added to a Cross-List. Doing so is likely to cause grades and submissions to disappear. If these problems occur, email onlineed@loyno.edu to request assistance.
Cross-Listing on New LORA (Planned Cross-Lists)
Planned Cross-Lists are distinct courses that are taught by the same instructor on the same schedule and in the same location. Courses within a Planned Cross-Lists have distinct course IDs for administrative reasons, such as separately reserving seats for online and on-the-ground students in an online course, a course identified with different subject codes for students in different programs (such as "SOCI" and "PSYC"), and courses of different academic levels that meet together (honors with non-honors or graduate with undergraduate).
Whenever possible, Planned Cross-Lists should be created on New LORA. The Cross-List will be forwarded automatically to Canvas, creating a new and empty course shell with enrollments from the originally separate courses combined.
Cross-Listing on Canvas (Convenience Cross-Lists)
Convenience Cross-Lists are those created to make it easier for the instructor to manage two or more sections of a course, typically sections that meet at different times. Such courses cannot be cross-listed on New LORA because of the potential for presenting misleading information to students about meeting schedules and available seats. FERPA rules and university policies regarding instructor workloads place restrictions on what courses can and cannot be cross-listed for convenience.
To request a Convenience Cross-List, the dean of the college responsible for the courses should email onlineed@loyno.edu, granting their approval and specifying the courses to be cross-listed.
How Students Find Courses
Prior to the course start date in Canvas, students will not see upcoming courses on the Canvas Dashboard page. Students will be able to see upcoming courses in Canvas by clicking on Courses > All Courses, then scrolling down to Future Enrollments. Students will be able to open courses listed there and examine their contents, unless 1) the instructor has checked the course setting box labeled “Restrict students from viewing course before course start date," and/or 2) the instructor has marked the course "unpublished."
Preferred Pronouns
In New LORA a user can set their preferred pronouns, and these will be forwarded automatically to Canvas. Users can also set their preferred pronouns directly in Canvas, but this is not recommended, because the setting in Canvas could be overwritten anytime changes are made to the user’s account in New LORA.
Preferred Names
Each user can also specify a chosen name in New LORA, and the entered value is forwarded to Canvas as the user’s name.
Help
For help troubleshooting any issues related to the above, please email onlineed@loyno.edu.