Manual Creation Guidelines in Canvas

This guide outlines UIW’s approach to manually creating Canvas users and courses. These guidelines primarily serve the Office of Teaching, Learning, and Technology but are shared broadly to support others involved in course management.

Understanding Manual Course Types at UIW

At UIW, faculty may be provided with three types of manually created Canvas courses, each serving a distinct purpose: sandbox, development, and support courses.

Differences Between Sandbox, Development, and Support Courses

Sandbox Courses

Every instructor may request and receive one sandbox to test Canvas features. Sandboxes are resettable and low-risk, allowing for collaboration and experimentation over the user's time at UIW.

Development Courses

Used to build or test content for future academic courses. Faculty may request and receive multiple on an approved basis. These may be temporary and deleted after some time, but are renewable or preserved based on user request.

Support Courses

These are Canvas-hosted shells for academic endeavors, such as bootcamps or programs, where Canvas features (e.g., grades, assignment types) are essential. Courses intended for communication or Information needs are redirected to Microsoft Teams with file sharing through SharePoint.

The Sandbox vs Development Course Problem

Some individuals have previously been given multiple sandbox courses, many of which show no activity for years or were simply used to push content to a live course. This creates clutter.

When this happens, the primary sandbox (Or, a single course from the provided options) should remain labeled as such, while the rest should be renamed and treated as development courses for clarity or potential disposal. Improper labeling contributes to long-term disorganization and unnecessary data bloat in Canvas.

Course Creation Guidelines

Requests for manual courses (beyond basic test courses for administrators) should be forwarded to Canvas Support. This creates a documented ticket, ensuring the purpose and details are recorded and properly reviewed. While manual courses are typically created by the Canvas Administrator, this guide outlines the key fields needed for manual course creation and offers guidance on how to complete them. The same information is provided in both table and list formats for convenience.

Manual Course Fields - Table View

Field Sandbox Course Development Course Support Course Course Name First Last Name + "Sandbox"
(e.g., Jon Whitney Sandbox) Course Code + "Dev Course"
(e.g., CSCI-1011 Dev Course) User's preferred course name with proper formatting Reference Code (Short Name) username + "Sandbox"
(e.g., jswhitne Sandbox) Same as Course Name Same as Course Name Subaccount "Sandboxes" subaccount "Development Courses" subaccount Departmental subaccount
(e.g., OTLT Initiatives, Academic Support Courses) Enrollment Term "Sandboxes" term
(Unless testing a specific term) "Default Term"
(Tentative) "Default Term"
(Tentative) SID ID Leave blank for all manual courses. Leave blank for all manual courses. Leave blank for all manual courses.

Manual Course Fields - List View

Course Name:
- Sandbox: First Last Name + Sandbox (e.g., Jon Whitney Sandbox)
- Development: Course Code + Dev Course (e.g., CSCI1011 Dev Course)
- Support: User's preferred name for the course with proper formatting; admin adjusts if needed.
Reference Code (aka short name):
- Sandbox: username + Sandbox (e.g., jswhitne Sandbox)
- Development: Match Course Name
- Support: Match Course Name
Subaccount:
- Sandbox: Sandboxes subaccount
- Development: Development Courses subaccount
- Support: Appropriate departmental subaccount (e.g., OTLT Initiatives, Academic Support Courses, etc.)
Enrollment Term:
- Sandbox: Sandboxes term (unless testing a specific term)
- Development: Default Term (tentative)
- Support: Default Term (tentative)
SIS ID: Leave blank for all manual courses. This ensures they're easily distinguishable from academic courses for automation and data reporting.

Manual User Creation

At this time, all manual user creation requests should be sent to Canvas Support. While not all requests will result in account creation, submitting them ensures proper review and routing.

Why Share These Guidelines?

Our focus is to streamline and scale Canvas processes. These practices support better data hygiene, more consistent management, and improved reporting through tools like Canvas Data 2.

Clear naming conventions and structured course setup also reduce clutter and confusion in the long term, allowing for future automation and more accurate record-keeping. Many of the choices listed in this document allow the Canvas Administrator to act on data in bulk.

If you’d like to talk through any of these steps—or feel the guidelines are restrictive—please contact canvas@uiwtx.edu.