During this two-day window I am looking for things I can do to carry on the continuity of working with students. While I expect to continue using FFT when it returns, I also know what it is like to need something right now.
I have a little bit of experience with Google Classroom (mostly through being a parent of a child using Google Classroom), and I decided to go through all the steps possible. I found a tool that I thought would help ease a move from Canvas to Google Classroom, and I hope that my experience is helpful for those considering a similar move. This does give me hope others with the combination of skills, intent, and time might be able to make this transition easier
What I'm Moving
I explored using a FFT course that has ten students, one content module with ten content pages, two quizzes, a graded survey, one graded discussion, and four assignments. One of the assignments is a text-entry submission, the other asks for a file upload, and both have rubrics. The remaining two assignments have a link out to a Google Form. The two quizzes are classic quizzes and use question groups to give each student a random selection of three out of eight multiple choice questions. All but one content page have either an embedded YouTube video or a link out to a chapter in my textbook.
The students have submitted some assignments and some have engaged in the discussion. Some of their submissions have been graded and some have not.
Moving Material from Canvas to Google Classroom
The first thing I did was create a course export package from Canvas and download it to my local computer. I needed a place to put it, so I created a class using Google Classroom. I used a personal Google account. Google Classroom does not have a way to import an IMSCC file, which is the file type that the Canvas course export process creates.
I did a search in DuckDuckGo and found the Common Cartridge Classroom Converter. This is an online tool that connects to Google Classroom and converts an IMSCC file into various Google Classroom items. It was created several years ago and works in that I was to move material from a Canvas export file into a Google Classroom. In this process I learned about the differences between Canvas and Google Classroom.
Module
This was the best part of the conversion process. The Canvas module became a topic in Google Classroom, and all of the items within the module were within the topic. They were in a different order and required clicking and dragging to reorder them. I also noticed that all of the items were in draft status. There is no bulk publish option, which meant that I needed to view each item before making it visible. That was when I realized how much work I had in store,
Content pages
Each of the content pages within the Canvas module converted to a Google Classroom assignment. That’s right, it is not Material, which looks to be the equivalent to Canvas content pages. The content of the content page is duplicated - it is present within the description of the assignment but without formatting, and a Google Doc is also linked to the assignment. The embedded YouTube videos became links to YouTube videos, and the links out to my textbook chapters are present in the new Google Doc for each “assignment.” There are some big changes I would need to make before I could share these with students, likely by re-creating them as material.
Quizzes and survey
Both quizzes and the survey became assignments without instructions or questions. Google Classroom uses Google Forms to meet the same interests as quizzes. Google Forms does not have a way to directly import QTI files, so I would need to export those from Canvas, convert them to CSV files, and then upload those CSV files to Google Drive so I can create a Google Form and then attach that as a quiz assignment in Google Classroom. (The previous sentence is what Duck.ai reported when I searched DuckDuckGo for “import qti to google forms.”)
Discussion
This conversion worked in that Google Classroom converted the discussion to a Question. I was able to make it work like a discussion, but there are no threaded replies (only one level of replies to replies) and there is no formatting in the replies to the question. Also, the points or rubric did not come through.
Assignments
These became assignments but had no points and were missing the rubrics that they had in Canvas. Like items that were content pages in Canvas, the assignment instructions were duplicated: unformatted text within the description, and formatted text within a linked Google Document. One thing I like about Google Classroom assignments is that the linked Google Document can be automatically copied for each student in the class. This is helpful for things like cloze tests or otherwise highly scaffolded assignments.
Enrolling Students
With a personal Google account, there are two ways to enroll students in Google Classroom - via email or via a class code / invite link. This is similar to FFT Canvas, and since FFT Canvas displays the email address on the People page it is easy to scrape those emails to enroll students. The best way to bulk enroll students in Google Classroom is via email.
Transferring Grades
Canvas course exports do not include grades (which can be separately exported) and Google Classroom does not have a way to import grades, so I did not need to worry about how I would match up the Google Classroom grade items with the export file. Google Classroom items have to be published before grades can be given and students receive notifications for each published grade item and each grade. Students also have to accept the course invitation (or join the course) before they can be given grades. Since grades have to be entered manually, students therefore received a lot of notifications as I reconstituted the gradebook.
Reflection
As is likely obvious, I do not yet have the combination of skills, intent, and time to make this transition easier. I lead Canvas training for a statewide project, and when we first transitioned we depended on the FFT instance for that training. This disruption would have had a severe impact on that part of our transition to Canvas, and I have great empathy for our colleagues whose need for the FFT instance today is as critical now as ours was back then.
I wonder what steps other FFT users are taking with their Canvas courses during this window, especially if their instruction would not benefit from waiting until the restored FFT possibly coming this fall.
