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Access Canvas and book on to the first phase of Canvas training now

Canvas logo

All Learning and Teaching colleagues can now log in to Canvas, our new Virtual Learning Environment, which will be replacing Blackboard from 1st August 2020. This is an exciting milestone as we transition to Canvas and with access to a personal sandbox (practice) course and an online Canvas Orientation course, colleagues have an early opportunity to familiarise themselves with the platform.  

How do you get access? 

Go to https://canvas.ncl.ac.uk and log in with your nid@newcastle.ac.uk account. Once you have access you will see your personal sandbox (practice) course and the Canvas Orientation course on your Canvas dashboard. Please do not use Internet Explorer as this browser is not supported by Canvas. 

What training and support is available? 

To support you with the transition from Blackboard to Canvas and to help you to get the most out of Canvas, a comprehensive suite of training has been developed including Canvas Fundamentals, Professional Service sessions, Assignments and Quizzes and more. 

Sessions taking place throughout April-June are now available to book. There will be further sessions released in March to run from July 2020 onwards.  

If you are based at our London, Malaysia or Singapore campuses and are unable to attend face to face training sessions in Newcastle, we are working with colleagues at each campus to organise suitable sessions, which will be communicated to you shortly.  

Further information regarding PGR access to training will also be communicated soon. 

In addition to training, the following support is available: 

  • Access to the 24/7 help from Canvas. This is a fantastic resource and is available to all staff and students. You can contact Canvas via live chat, from within the platform, phone or email for all of your ‘How do I’ questions. 
  • The online Canvas Orientation course accessed from the Canvas dashboard. This has been designed to support you in using the key features and tools in Canvas and there are a number of self-check quizzes for you to check your understanding as you work through each section.  
  • A comprehensive library of Canvas step-by-step guides and video tutorials. These can all be accessed via the digital learning website or the Canvas Community or from the Help Menu within Canvas. 
  • The digital learning website. This is a key source of information with answers to FAQs, upcoming events and project timelines. 

If you have any queries about any of this information or would like to speak with a member of the project team, please contact canvas@ncl.ac.uk. 

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New Digital Learning Website

Student working on laptop

We are excited to announce the launch of a new Digital Learning website go.ncl.ac.uk/digitallearning

This new site brings together the digital learning activities taking place across the University, providing you with information, step by step guides and ideas to help you to get the most out of digital technologies for learning, teaching and assessment.  

Visit the site to find out about: 

Canvas– the University’s exciting new Virtual Learning Environment replacing Blackboard from 1st August 2020. Staff and students can find project updates, information about the support available, answers to FAQs and upcoming events. 

TEL Services, lots of information about our centrally supported technologies and systems, digital exams and access to TEL guides providing you with step by step instructions. 

Blended Learning, if you want to explore online educational materials and collaborative learning opportunities with traditional face-to-face delivery, visit these pages for inspiration and support. 

We will be continuing to update the site with resources so please let us know if there is anything else you would like to see that can support you in your role. Get in touch at LTDS@ncl.ac.uk. 

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Canvas Roadshow Events – 20th-22nd January 2020

Canvas logo

Have you heard Canvas is coming to Newcastle?

Canvas is the University’s new Virtual Learning Environment replacing Blackboard from August 2020. This Roadshow event will showcase this new platform and the benefits it offers to students and colleagues.

This is your opportunity to meet Canvas colleagues who will be on-site for this event, see live demonstrations of the fantastic features Canvas provides and get involved in discussions with the Canvas and Newcastle University Project team.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions during the sessions, but if you wish you can also pre-submit any questions you would like the teams to answer by emailing canvas@ncl.ac.uk.

Some of the sessions are tailored to specific audiences so please sign up to the most appropriate session for you.  Please register now to attend.

The lntroduction to Canvas sessions will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. You can access the livestreaming links below:

Introduction to Canvas, 20th January 2020 10:00-11:00
Introduction to Canvas, 21st January 2020 9.30-10:30  
Introduction to Canvas, 21st January 2020 14:00-15:00
Introduction to Canvas, 22nd January 2020 10:00-11:00

We really look forward to seeing you at one of these events.​

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Canvas december update

Canvas logo

The project team have been busy over the last couple of weeks and early adopters of Canvas have now been confirmed. The team have started delivering training to make sure that early adopters get the most out of this new University Virtual Learning Environment which will launch across the whole University for the 2020/21 academic year.

We are also pleased to announce that the Canvas team will be here on the 20-22 January delivering a number of roadshows giving  you the chance to see the new opportunities that Canvas brings and ask any questions that you might have. We are looking forward to sharing more details about this in the next couple of weeks. To find out more about the transition to Canvas please visit the Digital Learning Website If you have any questions or would like to invite the project team to speak to colleagues in your school/service, please email canvas@ncl.ac.uk

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Numbas and Canvas

It’s recently been announced that Newcastle will replace Blackboard with Canvas as our main virtual learning environment from the 2020/21 academic year. We’ve had a few questions from colleagues about how this will affect Numbas, so this is a short note to say, in essence, it won’t.

Numbas is currently linked to Blackboard using the LTI standard, which Canvas also supports. When we switch to Canvas, links to Numbas will work the same way.

This is what adding a Numbas resource in Canvas looks like.

Multiple institutions around the world are already successfully using Numbas with Canvas. We will of course do our own testing before the switch happens.