Announcement

Canvas logoFor Fall 2026, Canvas is our Learning Management System for all courses! 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
  • Francis College of Engineering

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 August and September, around the start of the Fall 2026 semester.

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

Copy Course Materials Into Your Canvas Site or Start from Scratch

Summer 2026 and Fall 2026 Canvas course sites will be available for all courses during the week of April 1, 2026. 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 Summer 2026, your Canvas course site(s) will be available for you during the week of April 1, 2026. 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.

Summer 2026 Weekly Dates

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

6-week sessions   8-week, 10-week and full-term    Dates (Monday-Sunday)   
Week 1    Week 1    May 18 – 24 (Summer Start I begins on May 18)
Week 2    Week 2    May 25 – May 31
Week 3    Week 3    June 1 - 7
Week 4    Week 4    June 8 – 14
Week 5    Week 5    June 15 - 21
Week 6    Week 6    June 22 – 28 (6-week session I ends on Monday, June 29*)
---- Week 7    June 29 – July 5
Week 1 Week 8 July 6 – 12 (Summer Start II begins on July 6)
(8-week session ends on July 12)
Week 2 Week 9 July 13 – 19
Week 3   Week 10   July 20 - 26 (10-week session ends on July 26)
Week 4   Week 11   July 27 – August 2
Week 5  Week 12 August 3 - 9 (Full-Term session ends on August 9)
Week 6 August 10 – 15 (6-week session II ends on Saturday, Aug 15)

 

* 6-week session I online courses end on Monday, June 29th. This is likely due to the two holidays that occur during the term.  

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

Fall 2026 Weekly Dates

Weekly Course Dates for Fall 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    Sept 1 - 6 (Fall semester begins on Tuesday, Sept 1)
Week 2    Week 2    Sept 7 - 13
Week 3    Week 3    Sept 14 - 20
Week 4    Week 4    Sept 21 - 27
Week 5    Week 5    Sept 28 - Oct 4
Week 6    Week 6    Oct 5 - 11
Week 7 Week 7    Oct 12 - 18
Week 8 Week 8 Oct 19 - 25 (8-week session I ends on October 25) 
Week 1 Week 9 Oct 26 - Nov 1 (8-week session II begins on Nov 26)
Week 2   Week 10 Nov 2 - 8 (10-week session ends on Nov 8)
Week 3   Week 11  Nov 9 - 15
Week 4  Week 12  Nov 16 - 22
Week 5   Week 13 Nov 23 - 29
Week 6   Week 14 Nov 30 - Dec 6
Week 7   Week 15 Dec 7 - 13
Week 8   Dec 14 - 19 (Full term* and 8-week II courses end on December 19)

* Faculty teaching full-term courses can choose to end their course at the end of Week 15, or use that extra week for additional time.

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

Technical Support