Blackboard Learn vs Canvas | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 7.6 out of 10

Based on 169 reviews and ratings

Score 9 out of 10

Based on 158 reviews and ratings

Likelihood to Recommend

Blackboard Learn does a great job of integrating collaborative technology for teaching or community discussion. It encourages me to use other tools to innovate my instruction and to engage students differently--aspects that always improve learning as well as satisfaction with the learning and achieving process. The most negative or inappropriate experience I have with Blackboard is when I use mobile access--using my iPad or iPhone or other device is a sketchy way to access Blackboard. I can easily get on it with my computer/laptop, but using mobile devices is quite frustrating b/c the typing blocks and buttons bounce around and do not properly populate on the device. In HTML language, the iFrames are not set up to function well on mobile devices.

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Senior Faculty

College of Pharmacy, Harding UniversityEducation Management, 501-1000 employees

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Canvas is well suited for large institutions managing a lot of different courses. As a staff member, I'm currently starting to use the Organization feature as a way to engage current students. We will enroll all students in the Organization and share important information and resources with them during this time of remote learning. This is the best way for us to reach all of our students in a platform we know they have to be accessing (instead of social media or just emailing them). This has made the idea of "engagement" much easier in these difficult quarantine/social distancing times.In a way that's less appropriate, Canvas is not built to just be a file sharing platform. We thought a lot about whether using the Organization function would be best for one of our Student Organizations as we try to transition from DropBox. We keep all historic data from past members, bylaws, meeting notes, etc. We were waned by our central Online Distance Learning Office that Canvas might not be the best fit for that. However, we ultimately decided it's functionality to reach students outweighed our need to store historic documents.

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Alumni Development Manager, College of Education

Florida State UniversityEducation Management, 1001-5000 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

Course authoring

Course catalog or library

Player/Portal

Learning content

Mobile friendly

Progress tracking & certifications

Assignments

Compliance management

Learning administration

Learning reporting & analytics

Social learning

Pros

Blackboard is fairly easily to use, no large learning curve is needed.
Blackboard has very little down time.
Blackboard several add-on functionalities that add value.
The clickable rubric is a great tool...although the point system should not be broken down to such tiny small points.

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Donna Kjellander

Adjunct Professor

California University of PennsylvaniaHigher Education, 501-1000 employees

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Canvas does a great job of integrating many third-party vendors. We use vendors such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Storyline to help enhance our student experience in the online classroom.
Canvas is very user (designer) friendly. It uses a simple Rich Text Editor that is easy to create text, insert pictures and video and enhance the text. With that comes an HTML Editor which is very useful if you have knowledge of HTML. This provides the designer with the flexibility to design more than just plain text on a page.
For the student, Canvas is also very easy to use and organized well. The Modules listing provides students with an "outline: of the course and helps keep them working in a linear fashion (if that is what you want). There are also direct links to assignments and discussions so students can see all of the specific assignments at once. The grade book is also very easy for students to read and interpret.

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Senior Instructional Designer

TCS Education SystemHigher Education, 51-200 employees

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Cons

Although the current graphic user interface is easy to use, it can be improved with larger fonts, dynamic menus, and attractive graphics.
The system does not include a module to pay the school fee.
The roster tab lacks detailed information about students.

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IT Project Manager

The George Washington UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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The notification feature could be improved upon as the professor has to put the due date as "midnight" otherwise the assignment will be automatically erased from the platform.
The audio recording feature has its technical issues. I have never been able to use it correctly.

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Graduate Teaching Assistant

Kansas State UniversityHigher Education, 10,001+ employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Blackboard Learn 4.6

Based on 11 answers

There are several aspects of Desire2Learn that outweigh the benefits of using Blackboard. I find that the Desire2Learn system is a bit more user friendly and looks more up-to-date. However, the decision to renew systems is not up to me because the entire University uses the same system. Regardless, I think I would choose Desire2Learn over Blackboard because of its improved user interface.

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Research/Teaching Assistant

University of GeorgiaHigher Education, 10,001+ employees

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Canvas 9.3

Based on 5 answers

The other LMS tools have fallen behind. One reason is they are not able to update their systems, features, toolsets in a timely manner. While other LMS providers release bug fixes and new features several times a year, schools struggle to install and implement them in a timely manner. It is not uncommon for a school to take 6 months to a year to fully install and implement new releases on other LMS platforms. With Canvas, those features are released every 3 weeks, and there is nothing for a school to do other than choose to turn them on once released. This has allowed Instructure to innovate faster, and get new features and tools to customers quicker. Other factors include great pricing, customer support, and the innovative way in which LTI is implemented in the tool.

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Director - Teaching and Learning Technology

Utah State UniversityHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Usability

Blackboard Learn 10.0

Based on 5 answers

It is very usable for both faculty and students. The interface is pretty intuitive and most students can use it without a lot of additional training. Faculty do need some training to effectively use the interface, but they usually get it pretty quickly. We have had to create some additional programming to give faculty a way to delve deeper into the content.

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E-Learning Instructional Designer

Florida State College at JacksonvilleHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Canvas 9.0

Based on 7 answers

The functions in Canvas are well integrated and consistent across the application, and mostly intuitive. Overall navigation and setup is streamlined through integrated features and navigation. The feedback we've gotten from our program participants is that it is easy to learn to use. It also integrates well with third party software like Google Docs and Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing software

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Online Instructional Designer

World SavvyEducation Management, 11-50 employees

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Support Rating

Blackboard Learn 7.8

Based on 14 answers

Itʻs a good platform for certain things such as tests. Blackboard may not be the most user friendly but there is always room for improvement in any website, business, etc. When used with other platforms such as Google Classroom, Blackboard can be more effective, but when used by itself I feel it is not as impactful from a student perspective.

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Quincy Tamaribuchi

Student

Kamehameha Schools KapalamaE-Learning, 5001-10,000 employees

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Canvas 8.8

Based on 11 answers

Whenever I have an issue, I am given immediate resolve. They give you the option to rate how serious your inquiry is. This means you get placed in priority if you have an issue that will affect a deadline. Canvas support has been useful and always helpful. They are prompt in their responses.

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owner

yogaRIOTHealth, Wellness and Fitness, 11-50 employees

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In-Person Training

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Canvas 10.0

Based on 1 answer

The training sessions were broken down into several days as well as different levels depending upon the knowledge of the user

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Bethany Cleveland, PhD

Adjunct Professor

Auburn UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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Online Training

Blackboard Learn 7.0

Based on 1 answer

No answer on this topic is available.

Canvas 8.0

Based on 1 answer

The online tutorials and videos are very clear and addressed the issues/questions that I had about using the system.

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Bethany Cleveland, PhD

Adjunct Professor

Auburn UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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Implementation Rating

Blackboard Learn 10.0

Based on 1 answer

Blackboard's Managed Hosting was top-notch in getting us up and running quickly.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 501-1000 employees

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Canvas 8.3

Based on 3 answers

Once you purchase and sign the contract there is nothing to install or hardware to buy. You can almost immediately start using it and have courses up and going within weeks. We signed in December and had pilot courses online ready to go for the start of school in January

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Director - Teaching and Learning Technology

Utah State UniversityHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

I have used Schoology before, and I think Blackboard Learn has many more features, and is easier to navigate. It is well organized, and easy to customize for each user. Schoology might be better suited for a mobile device, but when the mobile version of Blackboard is not up to par, I have been able to get on a mobile browser on my phone instead.

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Alumni Representative

Arizona's Children AssociationE-Learning, 501-1000 employees

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Canvas was the very first cloud-based Learning Management System. This was one of the key factors in our selection of Canvas. Canvas’s open platform and out-of-the-box ability to integrate with 3rd party vendors was also critical to its success on our campus.

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Manager of Academic Enterprise Systems

HomeGate Real Estate® An Innovative Cloud-Based BrokerageHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

At one of the institutions that I worked for, the ROI was excellent for the number of users we were serving; however, I could not speak to other instances as I was not aware of the overall cost of the contract.

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Instructional Designer

Independent contractorHigher Education, 1-10 employees

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Positive-our institution has benefited by using Canvas by moving from a paper test base mode to an e-Canvas test service to assess student course outcomes. There significant $avings that were curtailed in the use of paper, and in the time it took to check papers.
I don't think Canvas has impacted us Negatively on our objectives.

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Jerry Sifuentes

Distance Learning Director

Laredo Community CollegeE-Learning, 201-500 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

Blackboard Learn

Canvas

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