After retirement: Can I use Canvas to package projects and quizzes. My CSU account ends next week.

[lotter]

I would like to package Canvas-based projects and quizzes for other instructors, but I won't have a CSU account after next week.

I exported my course, but will need to access Canvas in order to do those things.  Please advise.

Don Lotter

formerly part-time instructor, CSU Sacramento, Biology

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @lotter,

If you don't have a login anymore, it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to use your former Canvas instance.  Rules around this vary from school/institution to school/institution, so you could always contact someone at CSU to verify that you can't access their Canvas anymore.

Now for the good news...  Instructure offers a "free for teachers" Canvas instance which anyone can access independently from a school/institution.  You can sign up for an account on this Canvas instance and use it to develop content (and then export it to share with others).  You'll probably see a few differences/limitations on this Canvas version compared to what you had at CSU, but basic functions should all be there.

Hope this info helps!

-Chris

[Hildi_Pardo]

Hi @lotter 

At my K12 district, when a teacher leaves and no longer has access, but a school wants access to their course, a System Administrator is able to make a copy of the course (like a sandbox course), and we call it "Copy of Lotter's 2023 XYZ course" and give certain teachers access so they can pull the info they want.   Once they no longer need it, we can certainly delete the copied course.

Know that your institution does have a way to access your content and share it.

Enjoy your retirement!!

[paul_fynn]

Just a word of caution - what appears to be deleted in Canvas is normally just an asset (Course, file, etc.) being marked as deleted through a status flag. Some content can be accessed via API or report even with the delete flag in place, and content can usually be restored by removing that flag. Essentially that is how undelete works. I haven't examined the course purge button, but typically in the UK we have a six years academic record obligation, which includes the LMS.

If sensitive content needs to be permanently removed, it would probably take a conversation with Instructure to achieve that.

I do generally recommend to colleagues on any LMS that they make a habit of downloading their own SCORM export of their site for 'later career use' and in the case of Canvas a SCORM download from an institutional course can normally be reloaded to  'free for teachers'.

@lotter I'd recommend that you have a discussion with your school or department to see if a colleague is comfortable downloading your old courses as scorm packages and sending them to you (this doesn't include student work or grades unless you have 'hard copied' old student work into your content). It may be that the permissions haven't been set to allo that, but your School may be prepared to have a discussion with Canvas Admin/ IT to facilitate that.