Canvas Start of Term Setup

Announcement

Canvas logoUMAss Lowell has announced that Canvas will be our new Learning Management System (LMS)! You can read the announcement here. We will be transitioning to Canvas in a phased approach, by college.

For Spring 2026, the following schools and colleges will be using Canvas:

  • Manning School of Business
  • Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences
  • The College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (FAHSS)
  • Kennedy College of Sciences

Our transition from Blackboard to Canvas website has more information, including timelines for other schools, training and FAQs.

GPS will be holding a few Virtual Drop-In Sessions in January, around the start of the Spring 2026 semester.

The week-to-week calendars for Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 are down below ⬇️

Copy Course Materials Into Your Canvas Site or Start from Scratch

Spring 2026 Canvas course sites will be available for Manning, Zuckerberg, FAHSS, and Kennedy College faculty during the week of October 29, 2025. All online, CSCE, and Graduate instructors will have the following options for adding materials to Canvas:

  1. Copy an existing Canvas course into the new course (Most online instructors will want this option)
  2. Start from scratch with a blank Canvas site
  3. Import select materials from past course(s) into your upcoming course

Instructors are able to copy a previous term's materials, including an entire course, into your new course site right from Canvas*. It only takes a few clicks and minutes, and if you run into issues then we can assist. If you need support with this step, please contact onlinelearning@uml.edu and someone will be able to assist.

*Important Exception: if you are teaching a course using existing content and the original author of the content is teaching a section of the same course, your content will be copied automatically once the original course author updates their section. Alena Woods will be in touch about this.

Here are some additional set-up guides that may be useful as you start building your course:

Canvas Access and Support

YOUR CANVAS COURSE - If you are teaching Spring 2026, your Canvas course site(s) will be available for you during the week of October 29, 2025. If you don't see your course site in Canvas, please email onlinelearning@uml.edu and someone will reply to assist you.

LOGIN PROBLEMS – You can login to Canvas using your UML username and password. Retrieve your UML password or set your password retrieval security questions at the UMass Lowell MyPassword website.

STUDENT ACCESS TO CANVAS - Students will still be given access to Canvas courses on the first day of the term for GPS courses (all Online, Graduate, and CSCE courses). As an instructor, you will see students in your Canvas roster from the moment you have access to it and they are enrolled, but they will be coded as unavailable, and unable to access the course until the first day of the term.

TA, GRADER, and OBSERVER ACCESS to CANVAS - Faculty can request TA, Grader, or Observer access to their Canvas course site by filling out the Registrar's form. Once requested TAs and Graders are added to the course roster in SIS, they will have access to Canvas 15 minutes later. If you need assistance with this, please email onlinelearning@uml.edu.

MERGE COURSES - We will automatically merge all cross-listed courses in Canvas based on what is in SIS. Faculty can manually merge sections (excluding online sections) by logging into the the Canvas Course Management Website. or email onlinelearning@uml.edu if you need assistance.

DIRECTED STUDIES, PRACTICUMS, AND DISSERTATIONS - If a Canvas shell is needed for this type of course, faculty will see it in Canvas and can Publish the course to make it available to students. Email onlinelearning@uml.edu if you need assistance.

Weekly Course Dates for Fall 2025

Weekly Course Dates for Fall 2025 ~ Please make sure your course follows the GPS term start and end dates:   

8-week, 10-week, full-term    Dates (Monday-Sunday)   
Week 1    Sept 3 - 7  (Fall semester begins on Wednesday, September 3)  
Week 2    Sept 8 - 14
Week 3    Sept 15 - 21 
Week 4    Sept 22 - 28 
Week 5    Sept 29 - Oct 5  
Week 6    Oct 6 - 12
   Week 7    Oct 13 - 19
Week 8   Oct 20 - 26 (8-week I ends on Oct 26)     
Week 9    Oct 27 - Nov 2 (8-week II begins on Oct 27)
Week 10    Nov 3 - 9 (10-week session ends on Nov 9)  
Week 11   Nov 10 - 16
Week 12    Nov 17 - 23
Week 13 Nov 24 - 30
Week 14 Dec 1 - 7
Week 15 Dec 8 - 14
* Dec 15 - 19 Final exam period (Full-term and 8-week II courses end on Dec 20)

* Online instructors can decide how to use these extra days.   

For final grade submission dates and instructions, please visit GPS Grading and Exam Information  

Spring 2026 Weekly Dates

Weekly Course Dates for Spring 2026 ~ Please make sure your course follows the GPS term start and end dates:   

8-week sessions   10-week and full-term    Dates (Monday-Sunday)   
Week 1    Week 1    Jan 20 - 25 (8-week session I, 10-week and 15-week courses start on Jan 20)
Week 2    Week 2    Jan 26 – Feb 1
Week 3    Week 3    Feb 2 – Feb 8
Week 4    Week 4    Feb 9 – Feb 15
Week 5    Week 5    Feb 16 – Feb 22
Week 6    Week 6    Feb 23 – Mar 1
Week 7 Week 7    March 2 – Mar 8
Week 8 Spring Recess* Mar 9 – Mar 15 (8-week session I ends on March 15) 
Week 1 Week 8 Mar 16 – Mar 22 (8-week session II begins on March 16)
Week 2   Week 9   Mar 23 – Mar 29
Week 3   Week 10   Mar 30 – Apr 5 (10-week session ends on April 5)
Week 4  Week 11   Apr 6 – Apr 12
Week 5   Week 12 Apr 13 – 19
Week 6   Week 13 Apr 20 - 26
Week 7   Week 14 Apr 27 – May 3
Week 8   Week 15 May 4 – May 9 (Spring semester ends on May 9)

* 8-week session I online courses run through spring recess. 10-week and Full-Term courses should not have coursework during Spring Recess week. 

For final grade submission dates and instructions, please visit GPS Grading and Exam Information  

Technical Support