Canvas Organization Sites

Canvas organization sites are Canvas course sites used by non-credit courses, training courses, and other organizations. Organization leaders should use Canvas if they need functionality typically associated with academic courses, such as online quizzes and discussion boards.  Those who only need to share documents should explore other options, such as a departmental UChicago Box account or UChicago Wiki.

If you need to migrate your Chalk organization site, please follow the instructions on our Organization Site Migration Overview (PDF) documentation.

Who can create Canvas Organization Sites?

Faculty and staff can use the Organization Site Request Form (link below) to create a Canvas Organization Site. Students who need a website for their student organizations should use Blueprint (see the Center for Leadership and Involvement website for details); Council on Advanced Studies (CAS) workshop leaders should contact UChicagoGrad for information. Questions about Canvas organization sites should be directed to canvas@uchicago.edu.

What tools are available to host content used by my organization?

Overview

  1. Canvas is a learning management system. This option is most suitable for non-credit and training courses, or organizations that use features typically associated with academic courses, such as online quizzes and discussion boards.
  2. UChicago Box is a cloud storage and file-sharing service. Files stored on Box can be synced and accessed from several locations, including desktops, mobile devices, and laptops. A departmental UChicago Box account is recommended for those who only need to share files with a group of individuals.
  3. UChicago Wiki is a collaborative space where groups of people can write, edit, and share content. This option is most suitable for those who need to present their content in a specific hierarchical order.

Features Comparison Chart

To help you decide which tool is most suitable for your organization, the table below compares the features offered by Canvas, UChicago Box, and UChicago Wiki.

Features Canvas UChicago Box UChicago Wiki
File repository capability Yes Yes, with versioning, and optional automatic notification of new, changed, and deleted files Yes, with versioning

Sync to desktop

 No Yes, via Box Sync App No

Storage capacity

 2GB total file size (default) *Can be increased upon request Unlimited storage 25 MB per attachment
Other functions      

Discussion board

 Yes, native discussion board that supports rich text and multimedia None, but supports text comment per file and Box Note None, but supports comment section per page, with support for rich text and multimedia

Automatically graded online quizzes

 Yes No No

Content Page

 Yes Box Note or Google Doc Yes

Multimedia embed

 Yes, on any content area No Yes, on Pages

Panopto (video mgmt tool) Integration

 Yes No No

Image Gallery

 Not supported Automatic gallery display of images (jpg, png) Gallery function available via macro

Native email

 Yes No No

Customizable navigation/content hierarchy

 No Automatic indexing of content by name and date when last updated; organized by folders Automatic indexing of pages in the space; space admin can control content hierarchy

Web Conferencing

 Yes (up to 50 participants) No No
Permission Same roles as courses: see the Canvas Roles page. Granular control per individual: combinations of upload, download, preview, view, get link, edit, and delete. Granular control: view, view & comment, add, and delete, by individual UChicago users, all of UChicago, or the public.
Access Single sign-on for UChicago users. Non-UChicago users can be invited. Single sign-on for UChicago users. Files can be shared with individuals outside of UChicago via email. CNetID log-in for UChicago users.
Mobile App Yes Yes No

Create Your Canvas Organization Site

Faculty and Staff, if Canvas is the right tool for your organization, use the button below to create your Canvas organization site. Step-by-step instruction is available. If you have other questions, please email canvas@uchicago.edu.

Create your Canvas Organization Site

Resources

If you will be using Canvas for your organization site, a number of resources are available to you: