Overview
What is Canvas?
Instructure is an educational software company based in Sandy, Utah. It is the developer of the Canvas learning management system, which is a comprehensive software package that competes with such systems as Blackboard Learning System, SumTotal and Saba.
TrustRadius Insights
Canvas Makes Learning Effective
Helpful Platform for Students
Canvas: A students evaluation
Canvas, a great way to help teachers plan there tasks
Great LMS
Dated Look, Not user friendly to set up
Canvas is a teacher's best friend.
Great tool to manage classes
Canvas is an excellent complement to digital web design
Great management system for training and education
The all-in-one Learning Management System that DELIVERS.
Canvas: learning management that empowers faculty with flexibility
Canvas - A full palette of online education tools!
Canvas is a good value for money
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Popular Features
- Assignments (41)9.090%
- Course authoring (41)8.989%
- Mobile friendly (40)8.686%
- Course catalog or library (38)7.171%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
What is Canvas?
Instructure is an educational software company based in Sandy, Utah. It is the developer of the Canvas learning management system, which is a comprehensive software package that competes with such systems as Blackboard Learning System, SumTotal and Saba.
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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275 people also want pricing
Alternatives Pricing
What is DigitalChalk, by Sciolytix?
The DigitalChalk LMS, from Sciolytix gives users the tools and control to launch engaging, interactive, online courses. Users can create courses featuring animated PowerPoint, SCORM content, HD videos, audio, quizzes, exams and more.
Product Demos
Atomic Apps for Canvas LMS, Webinar recording from #CanvasLive August 2017
Starting with BookWidgets in Canvas LMS - Demo for beginners
DEMO: Tentacle Insights for Canvas LMS
How to Use Video with Your LMS | Powtoon's Canvas LMS Integration
Creating demo users in bulk for Canvas LMS
Canvas Demo Slam
Features
Learning Management
Features of LMS and LCMS systems, related to designing, administering, and consuming learning content in an educational, corporate, or on-the-job context.
- 8.9Course authoring(41) Ratings
Users can develop and assemble online learning content.
- 7.1Course catalog or library(38) Ratings
Learning content is organized into a course catalog or browsable library.
- 8Player/Portal(32) Ratings
Students or employees can engage with content and take courses using this interface, which may be called a player or portal.
- 7.9Learning content(34) Ratings
The vendor offers high quality pre-made courses or assets. These may be specific to certain industries or technologies.
- 8.6Mobile friendly(40) Ratings
Students or employees can access content from mobile devices. Course authors can develop responsive learning content.
- 8Progress tracking & certifications(37) Ratings
The system tracks individuals’ progress on courses, scores, transcripts, certificates, etc.
- 9Assignments(41) Ratings
Users can assign courses/curricula to individuals or groups, with due dates.
- 7Compliance management(32) Ratings
Users can identify potential risks and ensure that requirements are met and that certifications are up to date.
- 8Learning administration(36) Ratings
Administrators can manage the content and people (students/employees, course authors, instructors, etc.) on the platform.
- 8Learning reporting & analytics(38) Ratings
Provides insights into course completion, engagement with learning content, etc.
- 7.8Social learning(33) Ratings
Includes features for collaboration and knowledge sharing among peers.
- 4.2Gamification(2) Ratings
Presents course material in a game-like format to increase engagement and enjoyment.
- 7.1Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning(2) Ratings
Utilizes SSO technology to ease the login process for users.
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- Downloadables
- FAQs
What is Canvas?
Canvas by Instructure is a cloud-based learning management system for every stage and style of education. Available to institutions of all sizes and types, from individual K-12 classrooms to universities to companies with a blended or fully virtual environment.
As the hub of the digital learning environment, Canvas offers complete LMS functionality, including standards-based grade books, course content authoring, customizable student assessments, mobile communication, video learning, and digital badging.
Canvas LMS integrates with an institution's existing SIS and other teaching tools. With over two hundred different LTI tools educators can customize courses and monitor engagement with classes or individual students. Canvas also has mobile apps to keep everyone informed and connected, on the go, on any device.
Canvas Features
Learning Management Features
- Supported: Course authoring
- Supported: Course catalog or library
- Supported: Player/Portal
- Supported: Learning content
- Supported: Mobile friendly
- Supported: Progress tracking & certifications
- Supported: Assignments
- Supported: Compliance management
- Supported: Learning administration
- Supported: Learning reporting & analytics
- Supported: eLearning
- Supported: Assessments
- Supported: Live online learning
- Supported: In-person learning
- Supported: Micro-learning
- Supported: Video learning
- Supported: eCommerce
- Supported: SCORM-compliant
- Supported: Social learning
- Supported: Gamification
- Supported: GDPR Compliant Learning
- Supported: Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning
Canvas Video
Canvas Competitors
Canvas Technical Details
Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android, Mobile Web |
Supported Countries | Global |
Canvas Downloadables
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(277)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Canvas has proven to be an invaluable tool for various educational institutions and organizations. Users have praised Canvas for its user-friendly platform, effectiveness in managing distance courses, and seamless integration with other vendors. It has been widely adopted by universities, community colleges, and high schools as the primary learning management system due to its intuitive interface and ability to bridge the communication gap between instructors and students.
Canvas has been used for a multitude of purposes, including online degree programs, blended courses, and supplementing face-to-face classes in educational institutions. Human Resource services have utilized Canvas for assessing new employee skills and providing information to employees. Student Services have used it to promote clubs and other services, while the library has used Canvas as a platform to provide information about their services and obtain feedback.
Canvas has also been used by administration committees and faculty committees for discussions, dissemination, and data maintenance. It has served as the central hub for organizing assignments, sharing content, managing grades, and supporting hybrid distance learning models. Instructors have utilized Canvas to post announcements, assignments, theory slides, Zoom Meetings, as well as give points and feedback. Canvas has provided a dynamic and student-friendly interface that encourages interaction and engagement among students.
Furthermore, Canvas offers a mobile app that allows students and instructors to access course content on the go. This feature has greatly enhanced the flexibility and accessibility of online learning. Additionally, Canvas has been used by universities as a replacement for other learning management systems due to its frequent updates and robust features. Its versatility supports a variety of course types including online, hybrid, and face-to-face courses.
Overall, Canvas has been widely adopted across various educational institutions due to its ease of use, versatility, and ability to deliver content effectively. It has become an essential tool in delivering quality education regardless of location and promoting student engagement through its range of features such as discussion forums, assignments, embedding Google docs, sharing files, speed grader for assessments process, integrated rubrics, and more.
Frequent updates and evolution: Users have expressed their appreciation for the frequent updates and evolution of Canvas. Some reviewers have mentioned that these regular updates demonstrate the platform's commitment to continuously improving the user experience over time. The consistent release of new features and bug fixes every three weeks ensures that Canvas stays current and addresses user needs.
Efficient mobile grading with Speed Grader: Many users have praised the mobile app for grading assignments, Speed Grader, for its efficiency in reducing grading time by 30-50%. Reviewers find this feature convenient as it allows instructors to grade assignments on the go, making use of any available time. By providing a way to grade assignments while waiting for meetings or commuting, Speed Grader saves users valuable time.
Intuitive WYSIWYG editor: The WYSIWYG editor in Canvas is highly valued by users as it simplifies the process of creating and editing content. This intuitive editor appears in almost every tool within Canvas, allowing users to easily create engaging and visually appealing course materials. Its presence enhances the overall learning experience for students.
Difficulty in navigation: Several users have expressed frustration with the navigation within Canvas, stating that it can be confusing and not user-friendly. They have mentioned difficulty in finding desired features and having to click through multiple options before reaching the required functionality. Some users also find the linear structure of Canvas makes it difficult for students to differentiate between lessons.
Lack of customization options: Many reviewers have mentioned a lack of customization options in Canvas. Users have stated that there is a limited ability to customize colors, profiles, and class pages, making it difficult to personalize their experience. Some users have suggested including more basic color options for personalization and providing more freedom for designing a visually enhanced environment.
Challenges with customer support: A number of users have experienced challenges with customer support in the past. They have mentioned issues such as unanswered complaints via email or phone calls, delayed response times, and a lack of availability. While some users acknowledge that customer support may have improved over time, others still express dissatisfaction with the level of service provided by Canvas.
Note: These three cons were selected based on their frequency of mention throughout the context provided.
Users of Canvas have provided several recommendations based on their experience with the platform. The most common recommendations include: getting familiar with Canvas before submitting assignments, taking the time to navigate and figure out the features of Canvas before the semester starts, using Canvas for collaborative work, considering Canvas for higher education settings, appreciating its user-friendly interface, and valuing its seamless experience. Overall, users express that Canvas is a simple yet full-featured solution for online learning, which they find more user-friendly than Google Classroom.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-5 of 5)Instructure Canvas - 4 Years of Experience
- Canvas is a SaaS cloud application. Instructure pushes new features and bug fixes every 3 weeks, which keeps it current, and evolving. These new features are released in such a way that they are not disruptive to instructors or students, and we can choose when we make those new features available to our customers.
- The mobile app for grading assignments (Speed Grader) has reduced the time it takes for me to grade assignments by 30 - 50%. Allows instructors to grade while waiting for meetings, on the bus, and anytime they have a few minutes.
- A WYSIWYG editor appears in about every tool. It has a file and tool manager that allows you to provide direct links to any connect you have in your course with a simple click. You can provide these in content pages, discussions, announcements, and other places. Makes referring students to content a breeze.
- Students can create their own groups for course project purposes, and can play "what if" scenarios with their grades. For example, a student can see how a particular grade on a final exam will affect their final grade in the class.
- Instructors and students can choose their own notification paths, and how often they receive them. For example if an instructor posts an announcement, students could choose to receive it via email, sms, or other method, and choose if they want them immediately or in a daily or weekly digest.
- LTI integration is the best of any of the Higher Education LMS software packaged. It is easy for a campus admin, or even a instructor to add LTI tools to their course and choose them from a catalog of LTI tools. Everything from integrating full rich text books, open content, youtube, and social media integrators, and publisher content and tools.
- Outcomes - needs to be easier to create, adopt, and assign outcomes.
- Gradebook. It works, but some efficiencies could be added, and certain functions streamlined. I am told the grade book is getting a overhaul and will be released in 2016.
- SIS grade push. - Needs some additional functionality to allow instructors to choose which students grades to push to the SIS.
- LMS adoption has grown among instructors and departments.
- More degree programs are offered fully online reaching more students.
- SaaS/Cloud has reduced the amount of staff that are needed as we do not host the system.
- Migration to any new LMS takes time and your innovation and creativity take a hit during the migration process. Canvas has provided us more opportunities for innovation and creativity through LTI than any other system we have used in the past.
- Large enrollment courses are now being offered fully online adding additional options to students.
- IT Technical Staff - needed only for SIS integration and single sign-on solutions integration at start.
- Instructional Designers - Support faculty in course development. We have 8.
- Canvas Administrator - Supports the GUI interface of Canvas. We have 1.
- LTI Tools Developer - Create new plugins for Canvas. Not required. We have 1.
- Designing, building, and delivering fully online degree programs and courses.
- Supporting face-2-face courses with online materials, discussions, quizzes, videos, etc.
- Professional Development of staff, and training of professional in non-academic courses.
- Creating our own extensions/features to enhance our programs (LTI).
- LTI allows us to develop innovative tools that enhance the product, and to adopt other tools that make delivery of specific online programs possible
- Create courses customized to individual students needs. - Learning Pathways.
- Instructure has created a version of Canvas for employee training and professional development.
- Adaptive Learning, Personalized Learning, and Competency Based Education.
Other factors include great pricing, customer support, and the innovative way in which LTI is implemented in the tool.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
- Vendor implemented
- Implemented in-house
- FInding alternative ways to implement something that was well done in the other LMS, or a tool that a faculty loved and had used a specific way, and it did not work the same in the new tool.
- The Sheer number of courses to move from one system to another was a big task. We took one year for the migration to accommodate two semesters plus summer courses.
Canvas admin can call 24/7 when there is a problem.
- Grading - using the speed grader mobile app works very well for my course. Love it
- Linking to content from a discussion, content page, etc is easy to do.
- Adopting an LTI tool as a faculty is easy. In most cases it does not need to involve a admin.
- Developing Outcomes are cumbersome. Too many clicks.
- The gradebook took me some time to get used to how it works and how to understand the true grade of a student.
For example the current web grading tool, although better than others I have seen, could have fewer clicks. There are some inconsistencies in interface in a couple of areas. I hear that a complete overhaul of the gradebook i, and grading s underway and will be released in 2016.
Canvas from an ISDs perspective
- Creating leaning modules - the features that Canvas offers allows users to create visually stimulating learning modules within the course itself. As an instructional designer, I appreciate that capability.
- Embedding materials- YouTube videos, web pages and other web objects can be embedded easily by clicking on the HTML option in posts. This allows the user (designer) to add interactive features to the course as well as provide students with course/resource materials from external links within the course.
- Communication (chat/email/discussion features), collaboration (GoogleDocs) and grading are features are intuitive and easy to use.
- Group feature - Instructors can set up pages for groups to allow for enhanced collaboration for group projects. This allows students to have a private page within the main course. The group page has the same look and feel as the main course; including similar navigational tools. In this space, students can share resources by uploading files, communicating via private discussion boards/chats, and collaborate effectively as a group via distance.
- I would like to be able to upload my Articulate Storyline learning modules/activities into Canvas instead of having to publish them to the web and then embed the link. I would prefer to upload the zip file and run from within the course itself. I have the ability to do this in Blackboard, but as of yet, I'm having issues doing this with Canvas. I do not have issues with Adobe Captivate.
- As an instructor, Canvas has allowed for effective delivery of F2F, hybird, and distance courses (asynchronous/synchronous). A key feature is the ability to facilitate quality interaction between the instructor and the student; the student and their peers; and the student and the material.
- Faculty course delivery
- Student interaction with course materials
- Communication between student & instructor; student & peers; student & course materials/resources
- Extending its capabilities to outreach programs
- Extending it beyond the classroom to outreach
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Prior Experience with the Product
- Vendor Reputation
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
- Analyst Reports
- Online training
- In-person training
- Self-taught
- Navigation
- Uploading files
- Moving from the gradebook back to the course and grading particular projects/assignments
Been There, Done That--Canvas Gave Me The T-Shirt
- Canvas puts the user first. Having been developed by college students, Canvas was originally developed with only the student in mind. When the instructor posts an announcement or assignments, students can access it through a variety of portals including inbox, email, Twitter, Facebook, and the Canvas calendar. Canvas has recently identified that instructors sometimes need to limit what students have access to so new features have been implemented such as locking modules and building but not publishing content in the course.
- Organization. Courses can be easily organized under modules. Additionally, there is the Canvas calendar, to-do list, and the fact that when an instructor creates an assignment it auto publishes to the syllabus page, Calendar, to-do list, and sends messages to the student if their notifications are turned on.
- Canvas listens. They have a feature request forum which allows users to request certain features and functions. Once the feature requests receives enough votes, Canvas adds it to their roadmap.
- Room for growth. Canvas is constantly seeking to improve and listens to the consumer. They allow the user complete customization through CSS codes and constantly seek feedback from users for improvement.
- Canvas is there to Help. Canvas has a Help button feature within the LMS that allows you to submit tickets, speak to a representation over the phone, speak to a representative via chat, or search the guides for self-help. There is even a Canvas Community to build a network of support from Canvas employees or other Canvas users.
- Canvas does not let you upload Word documents to upload test questions. This was a feature available in other LMS.
- Publisher content does not upload seamlessly like it did with other LMS systems. Course cartridges were a valuable resource from publishers but with Canvas, you end up hyperlinking all content to the publisher site which requires you to go out to the publisher website.
- Canvas seems to put too much stock in the student experience and sometimes forgets that it is the teachers who need certain functionalities to exist to better perform their jobs.
- Inactive users is a huge issue. Currently, you can only have an active student or a deleted student. So if a student gets withdrawn, they are completely removed from the course.
- Since implementing Canvas and some of the third-party resources, we have seen a 3% decrease in student attrition.
- We have decreased usage with publisher content due to the fact that it will not seamlessly sync.
- We have increased usage campus-wide. Canvas is extremely intuitive and instructors have enjoyed implemented the use of the instructional technology into all modes of instructional delivery.
- Blackboard, Moodle and D2L
- Online courses. We utilize Canvas to share resources including student enrollments with the 15 community colleges in my state.
- To provide course content to students enrolled at our institution.
- To provide meetings at a distance and to communicate outside the classroom.
- We are using Canvas to host meetings at a distance.
- We have integrated early warning systems and tutoring within Canvas to ensure student success.
- Not sure at this time. We are always exploring.
Bye Bye Blackboard, Hello Canvas
- Web 2.0 integration: Easily integrate tools, apps, and dynamic content into modules. The depth and breadth of apps available for use is outstanding (whether K12 or Higher Ed) and ever-increasing.
- Streamlined Layout: As someone trained in Instructional Design, I appreciate Canvas' streamlined layout. There are still options for customizing the look/feel of a course, but Canvas makes putting together a clean, concise, and user-centric design easy for users to accomplish.
- Responsive Product Releases: Canvas is listening to their users! Really! On the Canvas Instructure website, users can "vote" for the features they'd most like to see in the next platform update. The more people that "me too" a particular feature, the higher it ranks on the list and the sooner users see changes. As a user, I always feel like I'm able to contribute to improving the product, which is not typical in the industry.
- Search Feature: My biggest request is for Canvas to implement a search feature where users could search for key words across all areas of a course (discussions, documents, instructions, etc).
- Master Pages: The ability to create "master pages" that can be reused for courses is sorely needed.
- Videos: Although the videos generally play fine in Canvas, there is enough of an issue with some file types not playing ALL the time that it has become an issue I cannot ignore.
So if you are choosing an LMS, make certain to inquire about the frequency (and cost) of updates, bug fixes, and new features. In Canvas, they are included.
- ROI: Our return has been excellent. So of this is due to the decreased costs of operating the LMS. In the past, we self-hosted an LMS. So, costs like servers, maintenance, and the personnel to support the system were diminished or eliminate with Canvas.
- 21st Century Education: Our mission is to provide a stellar educational experience to our students while supporting our faculty's needs. Canvas has helped us accomplish this with it's streamlined, intuitive system.
- Customer Service: Since Canvas' support is centrally located, they are able to troubleshoot and resolve issues with a 30K ft view. This has allowed quick turnaround and bug fixes, similar to having a locally situation support team.
Canvas for the win!
- Incredibly intuitive user interface
- Multiple access points to access assignments
- The speed grader is the best I've seen
- The mobile app is also amazing
- Canvas is very student-centered. While this is good in many ways, it can be limiting to faculty's approach to crafting modules and other online learning components.
- Quicker turn around on grading
- Better mobile experience
- Blackboard,lore