End of Year Back-Up Procedures

What a year this has been ... although this doesn't really look like a typical "last week of school," we're here. One of the most important things on everyone's to-do list is to back up computer files. It is up to YOU to be sure your digital files are saved in a format where you can access them next year.

Please review the following information to help you close out the 2019-2020 school year.

End of Year Back Up Procedures

The end of the year is quickly approaching (like we have to tell you, right???) One of the most important things on everyone's to-do list is to back up computer files. It is up to YOU to be sure your digital files are saved in a format where you can access them next year.

Please review the following information to help you close out the 2017-18 school year.

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Canvas Course Clean Up This Summer

This summer, all Canvas courses that were auto generated from teacher grade books will be removed. This will allow us to start the 2017-18 school year with a more organized Canvas environment, which will make it much easier for teachers and students to manage course content.

Although the courses will be deleted, there are two simple options for teachers to save course content for future use. It is the teacher's responsibility to create back-up copies of any desired courses prior to July 1.

Click here to learn more about the two types of Canvas Courses that can be found in our Canvas instance.

OPTION 1: CANVAS COMMONS

Commons is a cloud-based, digital library that allows educators to find, import, and share resources. When you share resources in Commons, you can choose to share with other Canvas users, with educators in our district or campus, or with only you.

NOTE: Courses shared to Commons do not include backups of student interactions or grades.

From the Home page of a course,

• Settings > Share to Commons (right column)
• Select and complete appropriate settings for this course
• Sharing and License - You determine if you want the course (or course content) to be available to only you, anyone in your school (sub-accounts), anyone in your district, or any public Canvas user.
• Title, Description, Tags, and Image are required fields
• You can also include Grade levels and Outcomes.
• Click Share.

Repeat this process for each course.


OPTION 2: EXPORTING CANVAS COURSE TO A FILE

You can export a Canvas Course to a file that can be shared with another Canvas user or saved for your own current/future use. This file will need to be saved to a secure location (OneDrive) in order to be imported into any future courses.


NOTE: Canvas exports do not include backups of student interactions or grades.

From the Home page of a course,

• Settings > Export Course Content
• Select Course or Quiz
• Create Export
• After your content has been exported, click Download Link

Repeat this process for each course.

This video demonstrates both options. 

Closing out the Year with Canvas

The 2015-16 school year is quickly coming to a close. If you've been using Canvas this year, we've got GOOD NEWS.

There is very little a teacher must do to close out the year in Canvas, but it is advised that teachers review the End of Year Best Practices below.

Courses that were created by our Student Information System (Skyward) will conclude at the end of the grading term. Once a course is concluded, teachers will no longer be able to participate in the course. This includes modifying grades or accessing the assignment submissions, discussion threads, or other student interactions. A Read-Only version of the course will be available under Past Enrollments.

If you're looking ahead to 2016-17 already, rest assured that you will be able to copy or import content from concluded courses into your new courses for next year. We still advise backing up course content to a file or into Commons.

End of Year Best Practices (Optional, but recommended)

Click the links below to access the video tutorial for a desired process.

This document provides step-by-step instructions and the video tutorials for each of the processes below.

• Export Your Course Content to a File
• Share Your Canvas Course to Commons
• Download Grades from Canvas
• Download Assignment Submissions
• Download Quiz Statistics
• Saving Announcement or Discussion Replies

What are your Canvas-End-of-Year Questions?

We want to be able to answer all of your questions about how to wrap up our first year with Canvas. Please add questions in the comments below (if you're reading this on the blog), to our Social Media pages (Facebook or Twitter), or email your Instructional Technologist.

Be on the lookout for a FAQ post soon!

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 Download the Canvas End of Year Best Practices document now!