My Canvas Experience
Updated September 16, 2016
My Canvas Experience
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Canvas
Our business is a 2 year college. At first, Canvas was intended for use mainly for online instruction. However, because of it's user friendly platform, after a bit of persuasion and faculty input, the academic division decided that all instruction would use Canvas, not only for online, but also for all face to face classes to provide instructional support-grades, testing-(e-tests cut down on the significant cost of paper printing), and for the use of other features, handouts, chat, etc. It is also used by Human Resource services to assess new employee skills and provide info to employees; Canvas is also used by Student Services-to promote clubs and other services, numerous administration and faculty committees use it to discuss, disseminate, and maintain data in one place 24/7; the library uses it to provide information about their services and to obtain feedback about their services-tours, and it is also use as a survey tool by several departments. Nevertheless, the bulk of its use is for instructional purposes.
- Ease of use--it is very friendly and its access from different e-sources-iPad, phone, keeps students and instructors in touch with their course/s any day any time. My returning and new students are able to navigate the platform with ease without getting lost.
- The simplicity of importing content and creating courses makes it ideal for faculty in support of their F2F and online courses.
- Since I over saw the implementation and support side of Canvas, I can say that the technical support to resolve issues was excellent. You have an assigned tech and he/she is very resourceful and the communication is constant. I never had to follow up on issues; they would keep me informed on the developments when we submitted a ticket on a specific course issue that were promptly resolved. I can add that I felt as being part of the Canvas team; I could get on the phone, and there was a live person at the other end....here in Texas.
- Another positive venue was our "migration" from Blackboard to Canvas. Because of Canvas' ease of use, we trained all of our online faculty during the months of June, July, and part of August to get them ready to migrate their courses to Canvas---all 140 plus online sections--more than 90 faculty--for the start of the fall semester. The migration was very favorable and all faculty commented positively to the migration of their course content-as one instructor noted in his training evaluation, "it was a piece of cake."
- I would like to have a drop down menu in Quiz Moderator view so that when I am grading a student quiz, I am allowed to grant the student permission to retake a quiz/test-instead of getting out and having to go to another screen.
- 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.
I've used Moodle, e-college, others, but Blackboard was the last LMS adventure we had. I had to evaluate these services prior to selecting Canvas, and based on my evaluation, and the resources that the University of Texas at Austin afforded us, I am confident that we made the right decision/selection based on ease of use; it had the features we needed and more; and the technical support was/is a major plus. As my faculty often state "I love my Canvas." The latter speaks tons on the quality afforded to the users-- I too really enjoy using Canvas.