Email to faculty teaching in fall 2025
Dear Colleagues,
Canvas is now the official Learning Management System for George Mason University. Access to Blackboard ended July 15, 2025. Canvas is available at https://canvas.gmu.edu.
New to Canvas?
If you’re transitioning from Blackboard, here are some helpful resources to get started:
- Migrated Courses: Many Blackboard courses were automatically moved to Canvas. You can use these as a content source to copy into your fall Canvas courses. Use the Blackboard Migration Course Cleanup Guide.
- Key Differences: If you previously used Blackboard, read the Top 10 Differences to get you in the Canvas mindset.
- Training: Visit the training page to learn Canvas, including self-paced options and the schedule of upcoming live trainings.
Start of the Semester Canvas Guides
Make sure your courses are ready with these essential guides:
- Copy/Import a Canvas Course: Step-by-step instructions to import content into your course. Many previous courses from Blackboard are available in Canvas for you to copy into your fall course.
- Combine Canvas Courses: Unlike Blackboard, you can easily combine multiple sections/courses on your own.
- Add Tools: You can add integrated tools to your course menu such as Zoom, Attendance, Publisher content, etc.
- Note: Canvas uses Turnitin (replacing SafeAssign) for plagiarism detection and Honorlock (replacing Lockdown Browser) for test integrity
- View the complete list of third party integrated tools
- Communicate with Students in Canvas: Canvas is the easiest way to send emails and announcements directly to students.
- Publish Your Course: Like Blackboard, when you are ready, you must publish your course to make it available for students.
Need Help?
The Help menu on the Canvas login page and in your Canvas course offers 24/7 phone and chat support as well as links to Canvas guides.
LMS Implementation Committee
George Mason University