Learning Management System Maintenance Calendar Policy

Brief Overview of the Policy

This policy lays out the academic year timeline for adding courses, faculty, and students to Canvas as well as seeing course availability at the end of each term.

Reason for Policy

To identify a timeline for processes completed by Information Technology Services (ITS) Systems Administrators to support the College’s Learning Management System which is Canvas.

Scope of the Policy: Entities or Individuals affected by this policy

This policy applies to all academic courses created in the Canvas Learning Management System.

April or May	4 weeks before the first day of Summer semester	Add Summer courses and faculty to system
May	2 weeks before the first day of Summer semester and continuing through end of summer term	Add Summer students to courses
June	Second Monday in June (approximately 10 weeks before the start of Fall term)	Add Fall courses and faculty to system
	30 days after the end of the Spring semester	Conclude Spring courses in Canvas
August	2 weeks before the first day of the Fall Semester and continuing through the end of Add/Drop period	Add Fall students to courses
	30 days after the end of the Summer semester	Conclude Summer courses in Canvas
November	Second Monday in November or last day of Spring registration, whichever is later (approximately 5 weeks before the first day of the Winter term; approximately 10 weeks before the first day of the Spring semester)	Add Spring courses and faculty to system
December	2 weeks before the first day of the Winter term and continuing through the end of Add/Drop period	Add Winter students to courses
January	2 weeks before the first day of the Spring Semester and continuing through the end of Add/Drop period	Add Spring students to courses
	30 days after the end of the Fall semester	Conclude Fall courses in Canvas
February	30 days after the end of the Winter term	Conclude Winter courses in Canvas

Synchronization with Banner:

Data is pulled from Banner seven days per week, every four (4) hours beginning at midnight (midnight, 4 am, 8 am, noon, 4 pm, 8 pm). That data is uploaded to Canvas one (1) hour later (1 am, 9 am, 1 pm, 5 pm, 9 pm).

Course Creation – Course data for a term begins being uploaded per the scheduled identified in the timeline. Course data will be uploaded throughout the academic term. Courses are added to Canvas but not deleted unless ITS receives a request from the Registrar’s Office or a School Office to do so. If a faculty member requests that a course be removed, ITS will confirm with the Registrar’s Office before removal. This confirmation may be done through a check of Banner Self Service.

Instructor “enrollment” – Faculty will be associated with courses following the same timeline as course creation. Instructor “enrollment” will be uploaded throughout the academic term. If a change is made in Banner so that a faculty member is no longer associated with a course, they should send a request to the Help Desk (helpdesk@siena.edu) that they be removed from the course. ITS will then check Banner Self Service to confirm the change. If there are any instructor/courses mismatches, Banner Self Service will be checked to confirm course assignments.

Student “enrollment” – Students will be associated with courses beginning two (2) weeks before the start of the term. 

Adds – Student “enrollment” will be uploaded throughout the academic term.

Drops – Students who drop a course will be removed on a daily basis from Canvas through the end of the official Drop period. After that date, any student who drops a course (for any reason) will not be removed from the course but will be marked as “Inactive” within the Canvas course. This is done to prevent the loss of educational record information. Faculty may contact ITS to request that a student be “removed”. ITS will confirm the Drop within Banner and then mark the student as “Inactive” within the Canvas course. 

Part-term Courses – Part-term courses will be created through the same automated process that creates full-term courses. For courses that begin in the middle of the term, student enrollments (including drops) will be updated on the Friday before the standard part-term course begins. Requests may be made through the Help Desk (helpdesk@siena.edu) for enrollment updates as needed.

Course Conclusion – the default day for a course to conclude in Canvas is set to be 30 days after the end of the semester/term. Students and faculty will only have read-only access to the course after the course has concluded.

Exceptions

Exceptions can be granted by the Chief Information Officer based upon the needs of the College and upon the requestor’s written request, which may need to be reviewed and approved by the College’s Risk Officer. Unplanned service will be performed as needed in a timely way in order to address any urgent needs.

Adopted: 2/18/2013

Reviewed: 2/18/2013

Revised: 5/10/2019, 4/18/2023