Blackboard, KU’s prior learning management system, was fully retired on September 30, 2023. It is possible that content from this system can be restored into Canvas by working the the KU IT Educational Technology team. Learn more at blackboard.ku.edu. While Blackboard and Canvas are both learning management systems, they deliver courses differently. It's possible to get content from one system into the other, but it will take some time and effort to clean-up imported content, and then re-think and rebuild a course. Review the guide below to understand how content from that system transitions into Canvas.

What course content in Blackboard can be transferred into Canvas?

Announcements in Blackboard will be moved to the Announcements section in Canvas.
Assignments in Blackboard will be moved to the Assignments section in Canvas.
Discussion Forums in Blackboard will be moved to the Discussions section in Canvas.
Files and Folders in Blackboard will be moved to the Files section in Canvas.
Tests and Test Pools in Blackboard will be moved to the Quizzes section in Canvas.

What course content in Blackboard does not transfer well (or at all) into Canvas?

Blogs and Journals in Blackboard will not import to Canvas.

- Students can create their own Discussions in Canvas, which can provide similar functionality to Blogs in Blackboard.

- Creating Assignments in Canvas can facilitate private back-and-forth communication, which can provide similar functionality to Journals in Blackboard.

Course Menu and Content Areas in Blackboard will be re-created within the Modules section in Canvas.

- Not all course menu items will be re-created.
- It is best to review the Modules section in Canvas after importing course content and materials.

Content Items in Blackboard (these combine a variety of materials to view together, such as text, multimedia, and file attachments) will be moved to the Pages section in Canvas.

- If the Content Items contain file attachments or links to webpages, they may break upon import and will need to be reestablished.

Discussion Responses in Blackboard will not import student discussion responses to Canvas.

Groups in Blackboard will be moved to the People--> Groups section in Canvas.

- Group shells will be created in your Canvas course, but group settings and enrollments will not import.

- It’s recommended to create course Groups from scratch in Canvas.

Grade Weights in Blackboard will not import to Canvas.

- To weight final course grades, Assignment Groups can be used in Canvas.
Links to web content outside of the course should be reviewed and relinked after importing into Canvas.

Manually created Gradebook columns in Blackboard will not import to Canvas.

- It is recommended to create new "manual" Grade columns using Assignments in Canvas.

Third-Party tools (Examples: Embedded Kaltura videos, VoiceThread links and publisher tools) will not import into Canvas
- You will need to re-embed Kaltura content and re-establish links to VoiceThread activities
Rubrics will not import correctly into Blackboard and should be reviewed after import.

Student Submissions in Blackboard will not import to Canvas.

Wikis in Blackboard will be moved to the Pages section in Canvas.

- By default, a Page in Canvas does not give student's editor rights.
- For students to contribute and modify their entries on a Page, instructors will need to edit the Page and allow student editor access.

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This Canvas Resource was based on material provided by our colleagues at Georgetown University.