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Canvas

Canvas

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.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Canvas has proven to be an invaluable tool for various educational institutions and organizations. Users have praised Canvas for its …
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Helpful Platform for Students

9 out of 10
January 07, 2022
Canvas has been integrated into one of my businesses as a virtual and in-person learning tool to help students (and professors!) study …
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Great LMS

10 out of 10
November 05, 2021
Incentivized
We used it as a Learning Management System--I posted assignments and grades on Canvas, and students could use it to check their daily …
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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

View all 13 features
  • Assignments (41)
    9.0
    90%
  • Course authoring (41)
    8.9
    89%
  • Mobile friendly (40)
    8.4
    84%
  • Course catalog or library (38)
    7.1
    71%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Unavailable

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
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.instructure.com/contact-us

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

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What is ProProfs LMS Software?

ProProfs LMS is a learning management system software that is designed to help instructors create and deliver online training courses. The LMS offers both businesses and educational institutions comprehensive training solutions by allowing them to create online courses, complemented by tests,…

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Product Demos

Atomic Apps for Canvas LMS, Webinar recording from #CanvasLive August 2017

YouTube

Starting with BookWidgets in Canvas LMS - Demo for beginners

YouTube

DEMO: Tentacle Insights for Canvas LMS

YouTube

How to Use Video with Your LMS | Powtoon's Canvas LMS Integration

YouTube

Creating demo users in bulk for Canvas LMS

YouTube

Canvas Demo Slam

YouTube
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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.

7.6
Avg 8.2
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Product Details

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 101

Canvas Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android, Mobile Web
Supported CountriesGlobal

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Blackboard Learn by Anthology, Edmodo, and D2L Brightspace are common alternatives for Canvas.

Reviewers rate Assignments highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of Canvas are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(275)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

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

(1-25 of 83)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Nicolas Hanhan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Creating different course sections with effective course design.
  • Creating assessments and learning measures tools.
  • Work on third-party application integration especially browsers compatibility.
  • Make more cost affordable for schools and Universities especially for those interested to switch from higher-cost LMS
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Provides internal communication
  • Course assignment, and you can know your degree
  • Zoom integration and can be used to schedule and store them
  • The speed grader could be improved.
  • [It] streamlined the setup process.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Being a means of giving feedback and points to assignments[.]
  • Being [the] main hub for students where they can find all their stuff for school (assignments, points, slides, feedback)
  • [Assignments] are dated and the agenda gives a quick daily/weekly/monthly overview for the deadlines across all courses[.]
  • It has Zoom integration and can be used to schedule and store them[.]
  • It has [its] own video [platforms] like Microsoft Teams and Zoom, but it isn't that great (it doesn't like being used on Firefox for example). It has disconnection issues and the mic and camera sometimes [have] issues[.]
  • When looking at points in the [assignment] overviews it only shows the total amount of points on the [assignment] but it doesn't show the given amount, you have to go to the [assignment] page to see these points[.]
  • When an announcement is posted it takes a bit too many clicks to get there. The amount of announcements doesn't always update right. I could have already read an announcement but Canvas will still show it as being unread until I go to the page again.
November 05, 2021

Great LMS

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Serves as online gradebook
  • Helps students keep track of daily assignment
  • Helps students keep track of grades
  • Full school calendar/events
  • Teachers seeing student grades in other classes
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Gets school districts to purchase a license to a subpar and redundant program.
  • Causes over worked educations to become more overworked, free of charge.
  • Hoodwinks people into thinking that a platform with all the design savvy of a 2001 blog builder site is worth their time.
  • Improve interface and user friendliness
  • Streamline the set up process
  • Make it less cumbersome to copy course content into a second course, and more importantly, don’t cause changes made in said second course to duplicate I’m the first course.
  • Pay the teachers who wasted countless hours of their unpaid time working on your program and getting nowhere.
Chris Wilkey | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • User experience
  • Organization and ability to create a course
  • I love the modules function
  • It's compatibility with Banner
  • The speed grader could be improved
  • Extra credit assignment feature would be nice
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • This tool has a responsive web design, its adaptation to all devices facilitates access to the platform.
  • It has a dashboard, which presents a detailed list of our recent activity and academic history.
  • It gives educators the ability to create content to evaluate and upload grades to the system, allowing students and representatives to monitor grades and teaching methods.
  • Canvas is a software that is easy to access and operate through the web or application, but it should be taken into account that in order to create course content from scratch, training is needed since this area is not easy to do by yourself and the platform does not offer tutoring in this regard.
  • The user must have a stable internet connection as the system does not have auto-save, a slight fluctuation in the connection automatically generates the loss of information.
  • It offers few options to customize profiles, which makes it difficult to identify students at times.
  • Unfortunately, this software has a very bad customer service, since complaints, via email or phone call, have not been answered within three days, which hinders and hinders the smooth and continuous learning process.
Brett Flitton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Canvas is great for keeping all the learning and education tasks, info, assignments, etc in one place
  • The discussion options are helpful
  • The messaging system with instructors and students/employees is great
  • The grading options work well
  • It's a little difficult at first to use
  • For some reason my log in has trouble working at times. Not sure if its a server issue or something else.
  • The video and recording tool could be better
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Creativity options for teachers to create a virtual space that still has fun graphics and accessibility options.
  • Canvas has versatility in viewing options for assignment due dates such as the calendar built in feature as well as the dashboard options to display upcoming and due assignments.
  • Allowing teachers to create community with each other and collaborate in each-other's space.
  • Discussion platforms within classrooms for students to communicate with each-other and with their teachers.
  • Easy messaging portal within each virtual classroom.
  • Canvas is challenging to use when creating your classroom as a new user (Must know basic editing and get acquainted with the Canvas page editing page, many will need training to get set up).
  • Does not always save students' work adequately (no built in auto-save feature) unless using an external PDF annotator or word processor program.
  • Canvas should create template classrooms or class pages that make getting started easier for teachers and new users.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Learning management - Even as the educational landscape rapidly shifts due to current events, Canvas is a great LMS for providing a consistent learning environment for students.
  • Mobile accessibility - Students can access their courses on Canvas from a variety of devices, including their smartphones.
  • Rich content - Instructors have the ability to create dynamic and engaging content for their courses.
  • Support - Response times for tickets and other support requests have increased over the last year.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Provides internal communication, not requiring an outside message or email system.
  • Includes a file sharing structure for instructional materials within the system.
  • Provides a grading platform that is viewable by students and instructors alike.
  • Getting used to the platform takes a little effort. Not quite plug and play.
  • File names used to be truncated - but that is fixed now.
Patrick Woessner | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Many popular third-party educational apps have LTIs that integrate with Canvas.
  • The gradebook has a Mastery Learning option for recording progress against a set of academic standards.
  • The UI is very intuitive and even non-tech savvy users can use it effectively with minimal training.
  • Their integration with Big Blue Button was a bust for distance learning. Would be great to see them collaborate with Zoom or Google Meets.
  • Their "feature request" process is slow and cumbersome at times because it relies on user "up votes" to get ideas addressed by the developers.
  • They seem to have a lot of turn-over with their staff. We get a new Customer Success Manager far more frequently than with other vendors.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Simple design interface.
  • Basic analytics for organization and courses.
  • The simple function for each module within the system.
  • The should be a possibility of having at least three basic colors for customization.
  • More local service support for Malaysia.
  • Pricing is still quite expensive for now although not as expensive as BB.
Shay Kotian | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Simple and user friendly user interface.
  • Third-party solution integration.
  • Ease of course management.
  • Inbuilt discussion forum.
  • Lack of inbuilt video conferencing tools.
  • Quizzes should have proctoring and browser locked capability.
  • Mobile app can get have glitches.
  • Notifications are missed at times.
Ashley Milton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Canvas allows users to personalize pages and ensure institution brand is kept true. Our Canvas pages look just like everything else our institution creates.
  • Canvas allows for multiple users to full sites, that have different permissions. This allows us to assign teachers, teaching assistants, and other student users. Everyone has access in a different capacity, to make different changes, so management is easy!
  • Canvas allows students to share documents within their classes, so no need for outside document-sharing platforms. Students in the past were using Google-Docs to create "group work" material that could be edited in real time. Now, Canvas allows students to access that material directly from the site. This makes remote group work run much smoother!
  • I use the Canvas App as a part-time graduate student, and the functionality in the Discussion Board posts is a little off. I have to post discussion board posts often, so I find myself entering the information from my phone sometimes. After one or two sentences, the text lags behind. I'll be 3-4 sentences into a thought, and the text is still finishing the first line. This requires me to stop and let the text catch up, which often breaks my train of thought. I've noticed the same thing on my iPad - so I think it's strictly an App issue.
  • Canvas has so much to offer, that it can be overwhelming. When I was first assigned as a TA of a course, I had no idea where to start. It's not that Canvas is not user-friendly, but it definitely has a level of understanding that must be done before you can even begin. I wouldn't just assign a student to start using it and assume they could "figure it out", which means that we have to allow for training to be done when we expect anyone to use it. This just means a little more time and energy on the user, which is sometimes not always possible.
  • Using the People tab within a course is kind of pointless for me. This may be a setting at my institution, but when I look at the "people" in my class, I can't actually contact them. I can pull up their profile, see what sites they are enrolled in, their bio and their "links" - but there is no secure "send message" button from this landing page. I think that is a missed opportunity. I know there are other ways to send messages, but it seems that it would be pretty useful to add a contact button on the people tab.
April 22, 2020

Canvas Review

Liza Bondurant | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • User friendly: I found it easy to figure out how to use Canvas
  • Variety; there are a variety of types of assignments an instructor can create
  • Organized: the tools help you organize your course
  • Sometimes messages are delayed
  • It does not have it’s own video conferencing tool
  • Would be nice if there was a way to message groups of students based on a risk factor
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Organization.
  • Communication with professors.
  • Hosting online materials.
  • If you send a message to a teacher, there is no record of the message until they write you back.
  • The Zoom features are confusing.
  • Not all of the teachers are as tech savvy as the students. This is user error, but more training would be helpful.
Victoria L. | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • It organizes students' grades in a timely manner.
  • It gives students notifications about upcoming assignments.
  • 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.
Joshua Welsh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Canvas is extremely flexible. I think that is both its greatest strength and perhaps a bit of a weakness.
  • Canvas is getting better at allowing instructors to duplicate individual assignments. That's a big improvement.
  • Canvas integrates well with Crocodoc for online paper commenting and grading.
  • Canvas has great import functions.
  • It would be great if we could deal with multiple assignments at a time.
  • Better visibility of how students see a course would also be helpful.
  • Searching for rubrics is really bad. The rubrics from the current course should default to the top. As it now works, the user has to search through every course ever taught to find a rubric.
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