Requesting a Canvas site for a Wharton Course

This article will help you request a Canvas course site, review the new site for accuracy, and publish the site.

Before You Start

Wharton instructors may now make Canvas course site requests, as well as requests for Study.Net copyrighted readings and instructional consultations, through Wharton's Courseware Request Form. When filling out the form, if your course is not listed, select "my section is not listed." This is one of several teaching-needs forms and surveys also made available to faculty in Wharton Instruction Center (under the Tech Surveys menu choice).

Please note that as of summer 2023, student teaching assistants cannot currently access our form.

When preparing to submit either a Courseware Request Form or an emailed service request to courseware@wharton.upenn.edu, you'll want to gather the following information:

The course, section number(s) and cohort for any Wharton course (Lauder language course sites are treated as Wharton sites) and if the sections should be in separate Canvas sites or all in a single Canvas site.
If requesting content to be copied over, please provide the full course name, section, semester and URL, when possible. You can find a list of your past and current courses with All Courses.
If the course requires group work.
The PennKey username for any other instructors or TAs who need access (no passwords are needed)
If not using the Courseware Request Form, a syllabus or other guidance about desired features as described in Step 1 below.
See below for guidance on placing non-Course or non-Wharton requests for Canvas.

Guidance for Non-Course and Non-Wharton Canvas Needs

Starting in summer 2023, due to resource limitations, the Wharton Computing IDEA Courseware Team is unavailable to design new non-course Canvas sites, or to consult with staff seeking to establish these. Please also note that the Penn Libraries' non-course/special-use Canvas service offering is not available for Wharton School needs.

Staff in academic departments and resource centers may contact acs-support@wharton.upenn.edu to arrange a discussion with an academic Strategic Partner about non-course Canvas needs.
All other staff may contact admin-support@wharton.upenn.edu to reach an administrative Strategic Partner from Wharton Computing.

Faculty who teach for other Penn schools may request a course Canvas site through the following teams:

Graduate School of Education (GSE): email gse-help@lists.upenn.edu or use GSE's Site Request Form
Penn Carey Law: email itshelp@law.upenn.edu
For all other non-Wharton courses, please use Penn Libraries' Course Request Form.

Expect up to 3 business days for a standard Canvas site request to be completed (e.g., a single Penn Canvas site configured for a Wharton course). For specialized learning tool setup or in-depth feature configuration, we’ll extend best-efforts service; note that some setups will be identified as projects requiring a consultation followed by an agreed-upon project plan.

Step 1: Choose your desired structure and features, or request a consultation

The Courseware Request Form guides you through a series of simple questions intended to help you obtain the functionality you need for each course you teach. For most faculty using that form will be the easiest way to request Canvas on your own; however, please note that as of summer 2023, student teaching assistants cannot currently access our form.

If you prefer to continue requesting Canvas by email, or to have a staff colleague or TA request on your behalf, here's what to include in that email. Wharton Computing historically offers a choice of four standard Canvas site types, or configurations: template, starter, advanced and site copy. In addition to those standard types, specialized Canvas projects for teaching are usually planned by requesting an instructional design consultation.

Template

Contains only the basic elements for a Canvas site used to teach a Wharton course.

Starter

Includes the Template as well as assignments for major course deliverables, such as exams and papers, along with an associated Gradebook column. To create these assignments, we'll need a near-finalized course syllabus or other list of:

Assignment names
Due dates and times
Submission type: on paper or online. For online submissions, consider...
- Do you want to use Turnitin to check for plagiarism?
- Do you want to restrict the file type to Word files, pdfs, or even media or URL submissions?
- If you will return grades online, what are the maximum points possible for the assignment?

Advanced

Includes the Starter configuration, plus assignments for:

Class meetings
Readings to be done before class
Case questions
Special events like guest lectures and review sessions

Please attach a finalized syllabus to your request.

Site Copy

Contains materials from one of your previous Canvas sites, as detailed below:

Assignments, Pages, Files and Quizzes. Copied quizzes carry their old dates , so they will be available to students when you publish the course unless you adjust availability dates.
Files that were published in the old site will be published in the new one. You are responsible for reviewing all copied files to ensure they are suitable for student view, or if they should be hidden.

Please provide the full course name, section, semester and URL, when possible for the content copy.

Find a list of your past and current courses with All Courses.

Please note, we can only provide a Site Copy of another instructor's past course with that instructor's express written permission. (This is not Wharton Computing's policy, but rather one specified for us by the School; however, rest assured it doesn't apply to team teaching situations where you were one of the instructors of the past course to be copied.)

Whether you're using the Courseware Request form or emailing us with configuration details, the creation of a standard Canvas course site at Wharton normally requires up to three business days. Our team will confirm completion by responding (via email) to your form submission or other request.

Step 2: Review your completed site

Please check your site to ensure that...

Step 3: Publish your site

You must publish your Canvas site before students may access it. Only instructors (not TAs or administrators) may publish a site, and the Courseware team will not do so unless asked.

Questions?

Email: courseware@wharton.upenn.edu