Canvas Administration

Global Announcements

The global announcements feature in Canvas is designated for system-related notices only, such as outage alerts or scheduled maintenance updates.

D2L Brightspace Archive Access

Canvas administrators maintain access to a D2L Brightspace archive containing course and student data from the Summer 2015 semester through the Spring 2025 semester. This archive exists to support institutional needs related to accreditation, academic grievances, and student appeals.

Due to the complexity of retrieving and interpreting data from the archive, requests must meet the following conditions:

• Serve a purpose directly tied to accreditation, academic grievances, or student appeals.
• Be formally submitted by Deans, Department Heads, or the Provost's Office.

Requests not aligned with these criteria cannot be accommodated.

LTIs

Montana State University (MSU) allows instructors to integrate publisher and third-party tools into Canvas to enhance courses. Requests for integrations should be emailed to canvas@montana.edu, detailing the tool and course specifics. Existing tools are processed quickly, while new tools undergo a vetting process, including vendor compliance with data security requirements, which can take several months.

Instructors should plan ahead, submitting requests well before courses begin—preferably 10 business days in advance. Integration timing aligns with semester schedules, and merges should be completed before requesting integrations. MSU assists with initial setup, but instructors and students are responsible for addressing specific tool functionality with the vendor.