Blackboard Classic to Canvas Migration

[rgibson1]

Colleagues,

Although I have been through this migration many years ago and under different circumstances, I'm back at another institution that is considering a switch from Blackboard Classic to Canvas. There are options for migration from Instructure itself (1,000 courses for free.). There is also a company called K16 that does this, but they are super expensive.

What can we expect in terms of course fidelity if we license Canvas and choose one of these two migration options?

I recall when I went through this in 2014 that it was basically a course re-build. Files came over, but the course structure was essentially useless. Many of the tools were not even the same. That can be an opportunity to reset, of course, but it is a ton of work.

Guessing....I'll bet that hasn't changed much in nine years.

I look forward to hearing your experiences and suggestions...

Thank you!

[ProfessorBeyrer · Accepted solution]

Your question, @rgibson1, brought back some memories for me with a similar timeline. I found a document in my archives with the following comments about converting a course from Blackboard to Canvas: 

Considerations when importing from Blackboard 9:

• Generally imports come over well. 
• The way Blackboard attaches files rather than embeds them means that some files may be misplaced after importing.
• Certain folders in Blackboard are redundant. Canvas attempts to clean these, however some dummy folders in the files section may be created after importing. 
• Since a Blackboard course can independently have Content Areas, Learning Modules, and other objects, most of these learning objects import properly.
• Links to objects may not preserved from the Bb Content System.

Blackboard Content	How it Appears in Canvas
Announcements	Announcements
Assignments/SafeAssignments	Assignments
Course Calendar	Calendar
Course Files	Files
Documents, Images & Other Media	Files
Test, Surveys and Pools	Quizzes
Group Discussions and Wikis	Files
Tasks	Pages
Glossary	Pages
Discussion Board and Forums	Discussions

I'm going to mark my response as a solution, but there can be more than one. I hope our colleagues here in the Community can share their experiences too.