When UMass Amherst transitioned to Canvas, the project was framed by many as a systems upgrade—a shift in platforms, tools, and workflows. But from the inside, what we were navigating wasn’t just technical change. It was policy change, pedagogy change, and cultural change all happening at once.
At the heart of that migration was a question I found myself returning to again and again:
How do we translate complex, often intimidating institutional and legal policy into meaningful, accessible guidance for educators—without overwhelming them?
That’s the lens I brought to this work. Because even the most elegant technology rollout fails if it doesn’t align with the compliance requirements and educational principles that ground our university’s mission.
What “Policy” Really Means in a Migration Context
When we talk about policy in instructional design, it’s easy to assume we mean bureaucratic hurdles. But during the Canvas migration, policy was the scaffolding that ensured:
- Equity (via accessibility and ADA compliance)
- Academic integrity (via assessment tracking and data management)
- Clarity of communication (via grading structures, attendance policies, and feedback expectations)
- Student privacy (FERPA, data storage, and platform permissions)
Each of these areas touched a different unit—academic affairs, legal counsel, disability services, IT—but the end user was usually a faculty member just trying to upload their syllabus and make sure students could see their grades.
So, my role became one of translation—interpreting legal, ethical, and institutional policies into functional design choices.
Designing for Compliance and Clarity
Here’s a look at some of the tools and deliverables I created to support this alignment:
Policy-Mapped Course Shell Template
One of the most effective deliverables was a Canvas course shell template (self-enroll in a copy of instructor training for an example of templates in action) that embedded compliance requirements directly into the structure.
Each module included:
- An overview page, clearly outlining:
- An introduction
- Objectives to be achieved
- What to read
- What to watch
- Overview of To Do’s
- A list of graded deliverables, including Discussions, Assignments, and Quizzes.
- A Recap page that could also be used to forewarn students of important deadlines coming up in future modules.
Faculty weren’t just given a blank shell—they were given a compliance-aware starting point. And they could immediately see how policy could support, rather than restrict, good course design.
Migration Checklist
We developed a detailed migration checklist that faculty could use to self-audit their transition. It included not only functional tasks (like importing quizzes), but policy-critical items, such as:
- Ensuring video materials were captioned
- Mapping old Blackboard attendance tracking to Canvas equivalents
- Reconfirming learning outcomes and how they aligned with assessments
This checklist also served as a conversation starter for instructional designers. It helped us build consistency and trust by guiding faculty through what to prioritize—and why.
Policy-Aligned FAQs
One unexpected success came from a simple tool: our FAQs, tailored for Canvas, that answered questions like:
- “Can I make ADA accommodations in Canvas?” (Yes—here are the step-by-step guides.)
- “Am I allowed to add TAs to my Canvas course?” (Yes, but please follow the correct steps for security.)
- “Where do I upload my required syllabus?” (To Canvas’ Syllabus tool, here’s how.)
From Adoption to Advocacy: Building Buy-In Through Policy Literacy
What I didn’t expect—and what made the experience so rewarding—was that faculty started asking more strategic questions once they had foundational clarity. Questions like:
- “What’s the best way to make this assignment more inclusive?”
- “Could this discussion be more accessible if we did it asynchronously?”
- “What’s my responsibility for digital accessibility with student-uploaded content?”
Those questions reflected a shift in mindset. We weren’t just reacting to policy. We were building shared ownership of it.
And that’s the goal: policy literacy as a form of faculty empowerment.
Lessons I Took with Me
This project taught me more than just how to manage a systems migration. It taught me how to lead with clarity in complex, cross-functional environments.
Some of the lessons I’ve carried forward include:
- Never separate policy from pedagogy. One informs the other—and learners benefit most when both are aligned.
- If it’s not easy to use, it’s not useful. Accessibility tools and compliance resources need to be embedded into design workflows, not added on top.
- Trust grows through transparency. When we explain why a requirement exists (not just what it is), we invite partnership, not pushback.
If you’ve ever led through a migration, you know how many tiny decisions hide behind every dropdown menu or checklist item. What I’m most proud of isn’t the number of courses we moved—it’s the clarity we gave to the process and the collaboration it inspired.
Because when policy is done right, it’s not a constraint. It’s a design tool—and a shared promise to our students.
