04/16/2026
By Patrick Connell and Donna Mellen
As part of our multi-year transition to Canvas, please find details below on the retirement of Blackboard, including archives, user access, and incompletes.
The Francis College of Engineering is the final college to teach in Blackboard, with Spring 2026 as its last term. Beginning in Summer 2026, all courses at UML will be offered in the Canvas learning management system.
Blackboard Retirement and User Access
UMass Lowell will retire Blackboard effective July 15, 2026, as the final stage of the Canvas transition. All Blackboard user access will be deactivated, and faculty/staff will not be able to login or access Blackboard after July 15. Students are automatically removed from Blackboard at the end of each term, in accordance with standard course and enrollment processes.
Students with Incomplete Grades in SIS
Students with an Incomplete (INC) grade recorded in SIS from Spring 2026 or earlier semesters should complete any remaining coursework in Blackboard by July 15. While this date is earlier than the Registrar’s INC completion deadline of December 4, 2026, for Spring 2026 courses, we will work closely with faculty and students to ensure a smooth transition and provide a similar experience in Canvas that supports student success. We will communicate directly with faculty and students identified in SIS as having an INC grade to assist with completing coursework by this earlier deadline. Please note that this deadline does not affect incomplete coursework being completed in Canvas.
If additional time is needed beyond July 15, we will collaborate with faculty and students to create a Canvas course shell, if appropriate. Faculty or students with questions about INC status or options for completing coursework after July 15 may contact canhelp@uml.edu or onlinelearning@uml.edu for assistance.
Blackboard and Canvas Archives
As part of the Canvas transition, we have migrated multi-year and multi-section course materials from Blackboard to Canvas for each college.
In accordance with our archival policy, we have archived five years of Blackboard courses, going back to Fall 2021. The archived courses include student work, grades, and feedback. Courses that ran on Blackboard prior to the Fall 2021 semester will be irretrievable after July 2026. Each year, at the start of the academic year, Blackboard courses from the sixth academic year will be deleted.
Our archival policy will remain the same in Canvas, providing instructor access to two academic years of courses in the Canvas production environment while archiving older courses for five years. Each year, at the start of the academic year, courses from the sixth academic year will be deleted.
If faculty need access to a past course, please email canhelp@uml.edu or onlinelearning@uml.edu and our system administrators will assist.
Thank you to our administration, deans, faculty, staff, students, Digital Experience team, and IT/GPS employees who have made this transition to Canvas so smooth. We’re hearing positive comments from faculty and students who are enjoying Canvas, especially the confetti!