Enhancing Our Learning Management System
Welcome to the LMS Transition page. This page is your go-to resource for everything related to the LMS transition, including timelines, training opportunities, support documentation, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Our Objective
Learning Technology Solutions will enhance the educational experience for students and faculty by adopting a modern, accessible, and user-friendly learning management system.
We are committed to facilitating a seamless transition to Canvas for students, instructors, and staff. To accomplish this, we will implement the following strategies:
- To ensure alignment and support, foster collaboration and transparency with colleges, faculty, and students.
- Prioritize the delivery of a consistent and high-quality teaching and learning experience.
- Provide instructors with the necessary time and resources to effectively leverage the capabilities of Canvas.
Schedule Office Hours with Instructional Designers
Academic Timeline
Throughout the year, we will begin copying master courses from Blackboard’s Original and Ultra formats to Canvas. These courses will be categorized into four buckets: No Touch, Light Touch, Medium Touch, and Hard Touch. The instructional design team will select courses from each category to be restructured and made accessible. We will benchmark the time required for these processes.
Once this is complete, we will be reaching out to specific colleges/departments throughout Fall 2025, Spring 2026, Summer 2026, and Fall 2026, to let you know that your school’s courses are ready to be restructured. Below is a potential timeline outlining what this process will look like.
Academic Timeline
2025-2026 Academic Year Timeline
Communication Plan
The communication plan below will share important dates, resources, and progress updates for this project. The chart will link to website pages providing access to meeting minutes, recordings, newsletters, and updates. For example, after our two Townhall webinars, the dates will become active links to the recordings, for those who couldn’t make it to view.
Communication Plan
| What | Audience | Purpose | When / Frequency | Type / Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note from Provost, CIO, and CIO | UIC | To share with the university the new LMS we will be transitioning to, and next steps. | One time email once the decision has been made | Email April 10th Link |
| Present to the UIC Senate and Deans Council | Faculty and Deans | To inform them of the transition, to help identify stakeholder and players from each college that will support this project (communication, course remediation, etc.) and become part of a committee. Give a specific date when identified staff have been notified. | Quarterly | Presentation April 24th May 13th September 25th |
| Quarterly Townhalls | UIC | To share the transition plan and document concerns | 1 lunchtime session, 1 evening session done quarterly | Zoom Webinar April 28th link, May 1st link, Nov 13th link, Nov 14th link |
| Kick-off Meeting (LTS and Instructure) | LTS | The main goal of the program kickoff meeting is to familiarize the team with the transition project, review the goals and milestones, receive buy-in from all project participants. Future meeting schedules and frequency will be defined and discussed. | Project Initiation | June 27th via Zoom |
| Technical Scoping Meeting | LTS Infrastructure | Discuss Expectations, Timeline, and Onsite Visit | Once | July 7th via Zoom |
| Internal Transition Team Meetings | LTS, all IDs working on project, college identified staff | Project updates, changes, new implementations, check-ins, etc. | Bi-weekly | August 7th, Sept 24th |
| Canvas ID Training | LTS, all IDs working on project, college identified staff | Train-the trainer and course building | Once | Sept 8th, Sept 9th |
| Fall 2025 Fall Migration Cohort | LTS, college department reps | Transition plan overview and workflow briefing to share with departments migrating courses in Fall 2025 | Once | Sept 19th |
| Migration Update | LTS, college department reps | Communication to college dept reps regarding Canvas transition. | Monthly | Nov 2025 Update Dec 2025 Update, |
| Faculty Access to Canvas | canvas.uic.edu | Sept 30th | ||
| Start of Fall Migration to Canvas | Oct 1st | |||
| IT Governance | UIC reps | Provide update on project. | Monthly | Meeting |
| Newsletters | UIC | Provide project updates and guidance, dates and deadlines | Bi-Monthly | Email, website |
| Workshops | UIC | Delivered by vendor and IDs. These will be ongoing throughout the transition. | TBD | Live and Over Zoom |
What to Expect During the Canvas Transition
As part of our transition to Canvas, each course will receive support from our LTS Learning Design. This team includes instructional designers (IDs), teaching assistants (TAs). Here’s what you can expect:
- LTS learning designers assigned to your college or department will send you a survey prior to the start of restructuring your course, review your course, suggest structural improvements in Canvas, and help align it with best practices. Your active participation will help ensure a successful transition.
- A teaching assistant working with the instructional design team will help identify and update inaccessible course materials (e.g., PDFs, images, documents).
- The TA will prepare a summary of the accessibility updates made and note any items that still need your attention.
- Once instructional design and accessibility updates are complete, you’ll receive a summary of the revised course structure and accessibility improvements. You’ll be responsible for reviewing the updates and determining whether any final changes are needed.
Semesters Colleges will be asked to Begin the Canvas Transition
To monitor the course migration process, our LTS will collaborate with multiple colleges simultaneously to restructure the courses in Canvas for each college. The table below outlines the semester when each college will be contacted and the estimated duration for migrating the college’s courses.
College Transition Timeline for LTS
| Institution Name | Fall 2025 | Spring 2026 | Summer 2026 | Fall 2026 | Spring 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Arts Sciences | x | x | x | x | |
| Engineering | x | x | x | ||
| Applied Health Sciences | x | x | x | ||
| Nursing | x | x | |||
| ArchitectureDesign the Arts | x | x | |||
| Education | x | ||||
| Urban Planning Public Affairs | x | ||||
| VP for Global Engagement | x | ||||
| Honors College | x | ||||
| Social Work | x | ||||
| Graduate College | x | ||||
| SVP Acdmc Prgrms Stdnt Succ | x | ||||
| Library | x | ||||
| VP Undrgrd Affrs Acdmc Prgms | x | ||||
| Armed Forces | x | ||||
| Provost VC Acad Affairs | x | ||||
| College of Medicine | x | x |
Info on Colleges with Their Own IDs
Other colleges—such as Law, Business, Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, Public Health, and Extended Campus—will proceed at their own pace, supported by their own instructional designers and planning teams.
LMS Transition Contacts
| Institution | Contact | |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Arts Sciences | Lead: Victoria Bolf | vicbolf@uic.edu |
| LAS: Anthropology | Brian Bauer | bsb@uic.edu |
| LAS: Biological Sciences | Kate Warpeha and Andrew McDevitt | kwarpeha@uic.edu and amcd@uic.edu |
| LAS: Criminology, Law, and Justice | William McCarty | mccartyw@uic.edu |
| LAS: English | Mark Bennett and Karen Lieck | mbenne2@uic.edu and kleick@uic.edu |
| LAS: History | Kevin Schultz | schultzk@uic.edu |
| LAS: Latin American and Latino Studies | Jonathan Inda | jxinda@uic.edu |
| LAS: Literatures, Cultural Studies, and Linguistics | Claudia Fernandez, Patrick Fortmann, and Susanne Rott | cferna5@uic.edu, fortmann@uic.edu, and srott@uic.edu |
| LAS: Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science | Martina Bode and Billy Jackson | bodem@uic.edu and bjjack06@uic.edu |
| Urban Planning Public Affairs | Ning Ai Jiaqi Liang | ain@uic.edu liangj@uic.edu |
| Social Work | Cassandra McKay | cmckay@uic.edu |
| Pharmacy | Mary Kopale | mkopale@uic.edu |
| Nursing | Jason Richards Dawn Sarginson | jasonr@uic.edu dsargins@uic.edu |
| Medicine | Cheryl McKearin | hitosis@uic.edu |
| Library | Quincy McCrary | qmccrary@uic.edu |
| Law | Christopher Bevard Anthony Jeswald David Whelan | cbevard@uic.edu ajeswal@uic.edu wheland@uic.edu |
| Honors College | Michele McCrillis | mmccrill@uic.edu |
| Graduate College | Jonathan Art | jart@uic.edu |
| Engineering | Simona Narubin Durbin Jim Kosmach Zhinan Wang | snarub2@uic.edu kosmach@uic.edu znw@uic.edu |
| Education | Claire Grimmenga Courtney Luedke Lali Morales | claireg@uic.edu cluedke@uic.edu zitlali@uic.edu |
| Dentistry | TBD | |
| Business | Trischa Duke Michael Michela | tduke3@uic.edu mmichela@uic.edu |
| Architecture Design the Arts | Jahnvi Patel | jpate201@uic.edu |
| Applied Health Sciences | Yemi Akinola Kirsten Straughan Eric Swirsky | oakinola@uic.edu kstrau1@uic.edu eswir@uic.edu |
| Public Health | Derrick Stevens Mike Yen | dmsteve2@uic.edu myen@uic.edu |
| Extended Campus | Nicole Messier | nmessier@uic.edu |
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions and answers related to the LMS transition.
LTS sent me a survey about moving to Canvas, but I'm not ready to teach in Canvas. Can I ignore the survey?
No. Even if you plan to continue teaching in Blackboard for now, completing the survey is important. LTS works with colleges on a scheduled basis and will move on to support other units as the transition progresses. Once LTS has moved on from a college, the full level of instructional design support will no longer be available, and faculty will be responsible for completing more of the migration and course preparation work independently.
Completing the survey does not commit you to teaching in Canvas this semester. It helps ensure your courses are included while full instructional design support is available and allows LTS to plan transition work and support timelines across colleges.
If I start working in Canvas now, will I have to redo this work later?
No. Work completed in Canvas remains available and can be reused in future semesters. Preparing your course in Canvas earlier can reduce workload later as the transition progresses.
How do I know whether I’m teaching in Blackboard or Canvas?
Through Fall 2026, faculty may teach in either Blackboard or Canvas. You are responsible for choosing which LMS to use and clearly communicating that choice to students. If you have not actively worked on preparing your course in Canvas, you should plan to teach the course in Blackboard for the current semester.
Because Blackboard will retire on December 31, 2026, all courses taught in Spring 2027 and beyond must be taught in Canvas.
What will happen to my courses in Blackboard?
Blackboard courses will be transferred to Canvas, while all other courses will be archived for four years. If you need access to an archived course, you can request it emailing lts@uic.edu, which creates a support ticket. Student data from Blackboard will be archived as well.
What can I do in my courses to prepare them for the move to Canvas?
- Review your courses taught in Blackboard Original and Ultra and delete or download and archive any unused content. For step-by-step instructions, consult this quick guide: Downloading and Deleting Files from Blackboard Original Courses or view this video: Downloading or Deleting Files from Blackboard Original Courses.
- Download content specific to your course or section to personalize the source version of the course.
- Begin accessibility remediation of any content in your courses.
Who do I contact to become an early adopter, or have specific questions or concerns that I want answered?
You can submit a ticket at https://learning.uic.edu/about/contact/. Please provide as much information as possible, and someone will respond with the next steps.
Will my Blackboard content automatically move to Canvas?
No. Course content does not move automatically. Content must be copied into Canvas either by requesting a course copy from Blackboard to Canvas via lts@uic.edu, or by working with an instructional designer as part of the transition process.
Once my course content has been copied into Canvas, am I ready to start teaching in Canvas right away?
Copied content should be considered a starting point, not a finished course. In most cases, materials copied from Blackboard into Canvas will require some cleanup and restructuring to ensure the course is organized, functions as expected, and is ready for teaching in Canvas.
Faculty may either:
- work with an instructional designer to review, organize, and prepare the course for teaching, or
- take responsibility for reviewing, organizing, and preparing the materials themselves.
Regardless of the support path, faculty should plan time to review the Canvas course before teaching to confirm content, links, assessments, and settings are ready for students.
I’m not ready to move to Canvas yet and I don’t want my materials deleted from Blackboard. What happens to my content?
Your course materials are copied, not moved or deleted, when a course is migrated to Canvas. The original content remains in Blackboard during the transition period.
Blackboard will remain available through December 31, 2026. After that date, the ability to edit Blackboard courses will cease, and your Blackboard courses will be available only in read-only or archived format. To continue teaching and updating courses, materials must be moved to Canvas before Blackboard retires.
When will I have access to Canvas?
All faculty have access to Canvas from September 30, 2025. Access Canvas at canvas.uic.edu using your UIC credentials.
I want to start working on my courses in Canvas. How do I get started?
If you’re ready to start working on restructuring a specific course or courses in Canvas, email lts@uic.edu with the course title, term, and CRN/section to have the course(s) copied from Blackboard. You can also request a test prep site in the same message if you’d like to start building a new course from scratch.
Note: sending an email to lts@uic.edu automatically creates a ticket.
I use tools like Echo360 and MatLab in my course, will these be available in Canvas?
Yes. These tools are known as Learning Tool Interoperability (LTIs). All the LTIs currently used at the university will be accessible in Canvas. Some tools may require updates to their latest versions to ensure Title II compliance and proper functionality within Canvas.
Information about available tools, update status, and Canvas integration is maintained on the UIC LTI Catalog.
I’m confused about the difference between teaching in Blackboard and Canvas. What’s different?
In both Blackboard and Canvas, courses are scheduled in Banner, and that scheduling information feeds into an empty course shell for the active term. These course shells include the correct instructors and enrolled students but do not contain course content.
In Blackboard, faculty are accustomed to copying content from a previous Blackboard course into the active term shell. The process in Canvas is similar, but because Canvas is a new LMS at UIC, a Canvas course starting point must first be created. Course content needs to be copied from Blackboard into Canvas and then used as the starting point for future Canvas courses. Blackboard course materials cannot be copied directly into an active Canvas course without first creating that Canvas version of the course.
What resources will be available to my college during this transition?
Each college that does not currently have one will be assigned an Instructional Designer (ID), along with graduate students and/or TAs. The ID and TAs will reach out to you for a consultation once your course or courses are ready to be restructured and remediated. They will handle most of the work, while faculty will be involved at various stages to edit and approve the course or courses.
What support is available after LTS has finished working with my college/school/department?
After LTS moves on to support other colleges schools/departments, faculty will still have access to self-paced resources, workshops, and general support. However, the full level of one-on-one instructional design support will no longer be available.
What resources will be available for Title II remediation?
LTS uses YuJa Panorama in Canvas to help identify and remediate accessibility issues directly within the LMS. This tool allows faculty, instructional designers, staff, and TAs to detect common accessibility problems and address them within their courses.
Workshops and documentation are available to support faculty in using YuJa Panorama and understanding accessibility expectations.
Where can I get information on University Protected Health Information (PHI) Policy for Learning Applications
On our LTS website you can get information on PHI as it relates to the LMS and learning applications on our page titled “University Protected Health Information (PHI) Policy for Learning Applications” additional information can be found at University of Illinois System Privacy Statement – EVPAA