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.
Cons
- 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.
- 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.