1. Introduction

This document is aimed at illustrating the services provided by the Digital Learning Support under the Talent and Education Development Office at City University of Hong Kong (CityU or the University) on the utilization of the learning management system (LMS) from the perspective of students.

The current unified LMS at CityU is at https://canvas.cityu.edu.hk provided by Instructure, Inc.. CityU Canvas is hosted by Amazon Web Services in Singapore under a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Users are using the latest version of Canvas with rolling updates every two weeks.

2. Course Site Life Cycle

• 2.1.Creation of Course Sites
• 2.1.1.Course sites are created and populated automatically, in the LMS, according to records on the Master Class Schedule managed by the Academic Regulations and Records Office (ARRO) and the Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies (SGS), around two weeks before the start of a semester.
• 2.1.2.Class roster in a course site are updated daily according to registration data from the day of creation to the end of the examination period of the semester.
• 2.1.3.After a course instructor publishes a course site, the registered students can access it. Hence, students may not have access to all registered courses in the LMS until course instructors publish them all.
• 2.1.4.When a course site is published, students will be able to access it one day after the course is successfully added to their student schedule. Likewise, the course site will disappear from a student’s view the next day after the course is dropped.
• 2.2.End of Semester Arrangement
• 2.2.1.Course sites turn to archive mode before another new semester starts. Student users have read-only access starting this point.
• 2.3.Purge of Course Sites
• 2.3.1.For record-keeping, course sites are retained on the LMS for seven years after the end of the semester.
• 2.3.2.Course sites are purged when the seven-year limit is reached. No data are retrievable after the purge.
• 2.3.3.Students are advised to download all relevant data themselves before the course sites are purged permanently.

3. Organization Life Cycle

• 3.1.Creation of Organizations
• 3.1.1."Organizations" is just a different term for course sites in the LMS when they are not associated with the courses listed in the Master Class Schedule. CityU staff may create organizations in the LMS to interact with the students.
• 3.1.2.The organization leaders (users with a teacher role) are responsible for the management of the organization, including both contents and users.
• 3.1.3.The organization leader may populate an organization with a group of users, such as all students in a particular academic programme.
• 3.2.Duration of Organizations
• 3.2.1.Unlike the seven-year limit for course sites, each organization is created with an effective period of one year or less. An extension of one year or less can be granted for each renewal.
• 3.3.Purge of Organizations
• 3.3.1.After an organization is purged on the end date, no data are retrievable.
• 3.3.2.Students are advised to download all relevant data themselves before an organization is purged permanently.

4. Use of Learning Management System

• 4.1.General Terms
• 4.1.1.The LMS operates in a self-serve model. Course instructors (and organization leaders) are responsible for the creation, upload, and management of all the contents and activities themselves.
• 4.1.2.Course sites are created for learning and teaching activities. Students must not use the course sites and related functions for other purposes such as, but not limited to, promotion of any product, service, or individual.
• 4.1.3.Each organization is created for specific purposes to support certain operations of the University. Students must not use the organization and the related functions for other purposes.
• 4.2.Handling Copyright Works
• 4.2.1.Students may access and download course materials available in the LMS for their studies at CityU. However, redistribution of the materials is strictly prohibited without permission from the content creators and copyright owners.
• 4.2.2.Students should not upload copyrighted materials to the LMS without permission from the copyright owners.
• 4.3.Handling Personal Data
• 4.3.1.The LMS contains personal data of course instructors and students by default. As users, students are also responsible for protecting data privacy.
• 4.3.2.Personal data should never be shared through course sites (or organizations).

5. Business Continuity Plan

• 5.1.Alternative LMS
• 5.1.1.When the LMS is out of service, an alternative system will be provided as a temporary solution for digital learning activities. The alternative LMS for CityU at this point is Google Classroom provided by Google LLC.
• 5.1.2.A drill is conducted annually to test the alternative LMS for business continuity of digital learning.
• 5.1.3.Step-by-step instruction is available at Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Google Classroom Instruction for Students.