Canvas

Learning & Professional Development content will be delivered via the Central Learning Environment from academic year 2025/26 onwards.

Moving to the Canvas ecosystem will bring a number of benefits to colleagues, including a new seamless experience for browsing, enrolling, completing and certificating learning and professional development activities.

What is Canvas?

Canvas is a powerful and modern learning environment equipped to power learner study for all learners across The University of Manchester; undergraduate, postgraduate and colleagues. It is deeply integrated into our learning technologies and infrastructure. Academic colleagues and professional services have been working hard to prepare learning for the beginning of academic year 2024/25 when Canvas will be made available.

Canvas will replace Blackboard as The University of Manchester's Central Learning Environment. Blackboard will be decommissioned in October 2025 after 12 years of operation.

More information about Canvas and its roll out, as well detailed information regarding Faculty support, can be found via the Canvas Microsite link below.

Accessing colleague development opportunities

Colleagues will be able to browse and search for all their training and development opportunities via the new colleague training & development catalogue, MyDevelopment. This utilises part of the Canvas ecosystem called Canvas Catalogue and allows lightening fast search-to-enrol functionality within Canvas as well as enrolment into programmes (collections of courses via a single enrol).

When you have completed your course, your certificate will be automatically generated and displayed within the colleague training and development catalogue. If a training course is time specific, for example 2 years, you will see an expiry on the certificate and will be notified in advance of its expiry so you know you need to refresh your training.

Please use the MyDevelopment catalogue link below to access the catalogue.

Can I use Canvas for my course?

Course leads who have had previously had colleague-facing training and development content on Blackboard have been contacted and all known courses have been migrated to Canvas to ensure continuity for colleagues. However, we know that mistakes can happen and after 12 years of using Blackboard, some courses might have been missed. If this has happened, the team can assist you in ensuring colleague-facing training and development courses are available on Canvas.

If you have a colleague-facing training & development course which hasn't been transferred to Canvas, or if you have a course available on Canvas and wish for it to appear on the MyDevelopment catalogue, please use the link to the form below to speak to the Talent Development team.

If you are an academic or professional service colleague who is engaged in teaching & learning of students (undergraduate or postgraduate), you will need to speak to your Faculty or Business Area eLearning Team who will be able to provide assistance. You can find more information relating to support via the Canvas Microsite and contact them via Connect.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I log into the colleague Training & Development catalogue?

The colleague Training & Development catalogue, MyDevelopment, can be accessed via the button above or via the URL https://mydevelopment.manchester.ac.uk.

If you have already signed into another University of Manchester application you will be automatically be able to access the catalogue. If you have not signed into another University of Manchester application, select login via UoM authentication. You will then be asked to authenticate.

How do I access my current and past development on MyDevelopment?

You can access your current and past development on MyDevelopment by selecting your name in the top right hand corner and selecting student dashboard. You can use the URL https://mydevelopment.manchester.ac.uk/dashboard/in-progress to access this directly.

Within the student dashboard, through the various tabs, it will display your current & in progress courses, your completed courses including any certificates earned, and any courses you have not completed. Not completed are courses you have dropped previously or the time has expired on that courses and you have not completed all the necessary criteria to successfully complete the course.

If you would like a PDF download of your training history, you can select the PDF transcript button in the top right hand corner of the student dashboard. You can also use the URL https://mydevelopment.manchester.ac.uk/transcripts/transcript.pdf to access this directly.

Why does it say student dashboard? I am not a student

This is an unfortunate naming convention which is inbuilt into the wider technology. The underlying technology - Canvas Catalogue - is used for a wider array of learning and development activities across the university including the LifeLong Learning Portal. Indeed, Canvas itself groups individuals into either Student (someone who completes a course) or one of the various roles which denote non student, such as administrator, course builder, observer, teacher, etc (someone who contributes to its creation).

We know for colleagues development learner would be more appropriate terminology. However, at this time we are unable to be in a position to make the change whilst we establish the technology.

Can I still access my previous training history?

Yes, all colleagues will be able to access their previous training history via the Training Catalogue. Training Catalogue is not being switched off and all content will remain.

Please visit the My Training & Development page on the Training Catalogue to access your prior training.

Blackboard training history

All training and development history on Blackboard will be archived and deleted. Blackboard will not be available from October 2025 onwards.

If you have previously completed a course on Blackboard, your training history should have been recorded on Training Catalogue.

I have a new starter...how do they access Essential Courses?

New colleagues joining The University of Manchester will be able to access Essential Courses for All Colleagues via Canvas. A link on the colleague training & development catalogue will enable them to enrol into all of the essential courses with a single click. Upon completion, they will be presented with time specific certificate and will need to refresh their training in 24 months time.

I enrolled into a course directly into Canvas LMS and it’s not showing in MyDevelopment

If you have previously enrolled directly into a Canvas course and it isn't appearing in the MyDevelopment catalogue, navigate to the course in the MyDevelopment catalogue and enrol into the course. You will not lose your progress or have to re-complete any content. Your progress, including if you have completed the course, will be recorded in the learner dashboard.

I have a colleague facing training or professional development course. How can I make it available on MyDevelopment Catalogue?

If you have a colleague facing course or programme which you would like to add to the MyDevelopment catalogue, please use the above Request/Support form and a member of the Talent Development team will be able to assist you.

All courses on the MyDevelopment catalogue need to have standard labelling to ensure colleagues know what to expect from a course and who should undertake it. Course leaders and support will need to be identified as well.