JOIN OUR PILOT PROGRAM
The Canvas Cloud Project Team is excited to announce the launch of our Canvas Cloud Pilot Program! We are recruiting instructors to participate in the pilot across different departments, course types, Canvas complexity.
This pilot program is a fantastic opportunity to explore new teaching tools and enhance the learning experience for your students. As an instructor, your participation will bring valuable insights to the new cloud platform and contribute to the success of this initiative.
To apply, complete this form before April 30, 2025.
For any questions about the pilot program, visit our Pilot Program FAQs or contact ceehelp@sfu.ca.
OVERVIEW
In alignment with What’s Next: The SFU Strategy and SFU’s digital transformation goals, SFU is transitioning to Canvas Cloud to provide a more innovative, reliable, and secure platform, ensuring continual improvement for teaching and learning.
This transition reflects SFU IT’s commitment to leveraging technology to enhance the university experience for students, faculty and staff. Most historic instructor-developed course content will be migrated by IT Services to the new cloud platform, ensuring a smooth transition for instructors in January 2026.
What’s Changing?
- SFU will transition over to Canvas Cloud gradually starting Summer 2025, with full implementation by January 2026.
- September 2025: Select courses will have early access to Canvas Cloud for a pilot program. Content migration will begin.
- January 2026: All courses will be using Canvas Cloud.
- See our detailed migration timeline.
- There will be no disruption to your access to course materials during migration.
- The new platform will offer enhanced features and learning technologies for instructors.
Who is Affected?
- Anyone who uses Canvas, including students, instructors, staff and lifelong learners.
Next Steps
FOR FACULTY AND INSTRUCTORS
- Please stay tuned for more information from IT Services. Instructors may be asked to create their Spring 2026 courses or review their migrated content on Canvas Cloud.
FOR STUDENTS
- Please stay tuned for more information from IT Services.
FAQs
MIGRATION
What is the migration timeline?
JAN-APR 2025:
- Preparation, planning and pilot group recruitment.
MAY-AUG 2025:
- Pilot onboarding and course development.
SEP-DEC 2025:
- Pilot courses live in Canvas Cloud.
- Development of Spring 2026 courses in Canvas Cloud.
- Canvas on-premises to cloud migration. Course shells for courses offering in Spring 2026 will be migrated first.
JAN 2026:
- All courses are live in Canvas Cloud.
- Courses offered in 2025 will be available as a resource for future course creation.
What are the differences between our Canvas on-premises and Canvas Cloud?
We are working to finalize this information. Please stay tuned.
What will or won't be migrated to Canvas Cloud?
We are working to finalize this information. Please stay tuned.
PILOT PROGRAM
How are participants selected for the pilot?
The selection process will involve a defined set of criteria that can best contribute to the pilot by trying new features on Canvas Cloud. The goal is to select a diverse mix of courses that provide the most valuable learning opportunities during the pilot when using the new Canvas Cloud platform. Insights gained from these courses will help inform future migration plans and support strategies.
To those who are interested, we appreciate your dedication to teaching and willingness to participate. However, joining the pilot program is not guaranteed as we can only support 20 courses during the pilot. If there are too many requests, regrettably, we will need to select courses that will most benefit the pilot program.
When will applications open/close? When will INSTRUCTORS be notified of acceptance?
The application for pilot program will open on March 26, 2025 and will close on April 30, 2025.
The Canvas Cloud Project Team will go through each respondent to determine eligibility and fit for the pilot program. Instructors who have applied will be notified by email in early May 2025.
What are the benefits to joining the pilot?
The benefits by participating are:
- Early access to the Canvas Cloud platform and the opportunity to be among the first to explore its features and capabilities, including new Quiz features, DocViewer and analytics tools.
- Provide valuable feedback that will help the project team to refine and enhance the platform to better meet yours and student needs.
- Work closely with our project team to receive training for Canvas Cloud and direct support to your course development.
What are the commitments as a pilot participant?
The commitments expected by participating are:
- Participants will be asked to attend training sessions led by the Centre for Educational Excellence (CEE) to onboard pilot instructors to Canvas Cloud, including creating their courses in the pilot environment. Training sessions for the pilot will happen during June 2025.
- There are some functional issues, such as using a unique Canvas weblink to access the pilot environment (including your students). CEE will provide support through these issues to ensure that your courses are ready by August 2025.
- At the end of the pilot program in December 2025, you'll be asked to provide feedback and insight about your experience with Canvas Cloud.
How will CEE assist instructors through this process? What support is available?
CEE will provide direct, hands-on support with pilot participants throughout the whole program (until December 2025). Training / pilot on-boarding sessions will be hosted by CEE and assistance with course creation on the Canvas Cloud environment will be provided to ensure that your courses are ready by August 2025.
How will students experience the piloted courses? Will they need additional support?
The student experience will be altered. The following changes are:
- Students, TAs and instructors will need to use a unique Canvas weblink to access the pilot environment. Your piloted course will not appear in canvas.sfu.ca.
- From the student's perspective, the most notable change on Canvas Cloud are the new Quizzes features or modules.
CEE will provide support through these issues to ensure that your courses are ready by August 2025.