Date

March 21, 2025

Type

Owner

Joel Vanner

Tags

CanvasCanvas Faculty & Staff

Faculty can now self-provision sandbox courses in Canvas! A sandbox is a blank* course you can use to explore Canvas features by creating example modules, assignments, quizzes, and discussion boards. You can also use a sandbox to start designing a course and later copy it into the official Canvas course shell, or to develop an organization site.

Building a course in a Canvas sandbox does not opt-in the course to run in Canvas. Learn more about the Canvas migration and opt-in processes →

*Self-provisioned sandbox courses receive the Quinnipiac Canvas course template automatically pre-loaded.

Open your Canvas Dashboard.
Select the “Start a New Course” button on the right side of the Dashboard page.

Screenshot of the Canvas LMS interface for Quinnipiac University. The page displays a “Coming Up” section with a group discussion assignment and a “Recent Feedback” section stating “Nothing for now.” A button labeled “Start a New Course” is highlighted with a purple rectangle, and below it is a “View Grades” button.

In the “Create Course” box, enter a name for your sandbox.

Is the sandbox for a specific course?

Format: CourseID_LastName_Sandbox_CurrentTerm

Is the sandbox for an organization site?

Format: OrganizationName_LastName_Sandbox

Is the sandbox for your general use?

Format: LastName_Sandbox_MMDDYY

Screenshot of the “Create Course” window in Canvas LMS. The “Course Name” field is filled with “QU100_Smith_Sandbox” and is highlighted with a purple rectangle. A purple arrow points to the blue “Create” button next to a “Cancel” button.

Once the sandbox is created, Canvas will take you to the Settings page of the sandbox.

Choose Home from the course navigation (purple arrow) to go to the course home page.
Choose Import Course Content from the right sidebar (green arrow) to import a Blackboard ZIP file or copy an existing Canvas course into this sandbox.

Screenshot of the Canvas LMS “Settings” page for the course “QU100_Smith_Sandbox.” A purple arrow points to the “Home” button in the left navigation menu. A green arrow points to the “Import Course Content” button.

Your sandbox course comes pre-loaded with the Quinnipiac Canvas course template. More information about the template can be found in the instructor module, located in the Modules section of the course.