Are you ready for Canvas?
28 Aug 2025
Message from Jenn Hallam, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Student Experience
It’s great to be starting the new academic year in my new role this year as Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Student Experience. I am looking forward to continuing and expanding on the great work delivered by April Mcmahon.
I’m coming in at an exciting and important milestone for the University and I get to be part of the rollout of our new central learning environment, Canvas - a significant step forward in how we support teaching, learning, and collaboration across our entire university community.
I’m grateful to everyone who has contributed to the development, testing, and training efforts so far. Your time, feedback, and energy has been invaluable and demonstrated a genuine ‘One University’ mindset.
It’s vital we’re ready to begin teaching with Canvas from September
Thanks to everyone who has already engaged with and built their courses in Canvas.
Courses due for teaching this semester must be built and published by Monday 8 September. Colleagues involved in creating and delivering courses must complete this as soon as possible. If courses are not published by this date, your local leadership team will engage directly with the relevant areas to understand the challenges and support timely resolution.
What do I need to do?
We’ve made it as easy as possible for you to build your courses.
We have created University specific course templates, developed Course Unit Canvas Standards to ensure we create a more equitable and effective learning environment and migrated your Blackboard data for you to repurpose in your new courses.
You now need to:
- Log into Canvas and build your courses using the agreed Course Unit Canvas Standards.
- Access training and support from your eLearning team - Contact your eLearning team through the microsite pages or raise a ticket via Connect.
- Support and encourage your colleagues in building courses and accessing support.
Feedback from colleagues has already been positive. Colleagues have told us the training and support provided by eLearning teams has helped them understand Canvas and prepare for the transition from Blackboard.
As with any major change, we recognise there will be challenges along the way. We have been mindful to consider all colleagues and students throughout the planning and implementation process and have taken steps to manage these challenges. However, we also know things won’t be perfect from day one. Some issues may only become visible once we’re live, and we will learn and improve as we go.
What’s important is that we move forward together with a positive, solutions-focused mindset. Your flexibility, creativity and mutual support will make all the difference as we embed the new system into our daily work. Please continue to ask questions, share ideas, and raise concerns constructively – your input will help shape an even better experience for everyone. http://uom.link/canvas-contact-us
Our use of Canvas will evolve over time based on our collective experience, and we are committed to continuous improvement. I’m excited for you to begin teaching using Canvas and am confident that through our combined efforts we will thrive together successfully in this transition.
Thank you again for your support.
Jenn Hallam
Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Student Experience