CANVAS Reviews

Pros

While I am unsure of the College's side in using this software, for me, as a student, I love using CANVAS. I enjoy travelling and with an easy-to-use, school-issued/provided LMS (Learning Management System/Software), I can take many classes online from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. The mobile application is robust and incredibly convenient, allowing 99% all-the-same functionality as the desktop version. Students can even take online quizzes and finals using their internet-connected mobile device (Smartphone). It is very user-friendly and an all-around excellent way to engage in continuing education and life-long learning as an older (personally, 42 years) college student.

Cons

The only drawbacks to CANVAS I experienced were a loss of data if the active internet connection broke while in the middle of completing/submitting assignments and quizzes. I know that CANVAS has since implemented an auto-save feature on the quizzes, so that part of the problem is resolved. Whether or not this is true of the assignment submissions, I honestly do not know at this time.

Pros

The first thing I noted about Canvas is that when creating content, the page looks like an MS Word document. This makes creating pages with content easy as the learning curse is very gentle. There is very little need to be technical. It is more a matter of formatting rather than getting to know the software platform itself.

The dashboard is clean and modern with easy navigation on the left sidebar for courses, account information, calendar, inbox and help. Your default home is your published and unpublished courses. On the courses tabs, are announcement and conversation icons that notify if a course has issues you need to attend to in a specific course.

The settings menu is straightforward with nothing cryptic even for non-technical people.

Setting up courses is a breeze with a 'Course Setup Checklist' button available inside each course shell you create. There is a walkthrough for each element of a course from content to publishing your course. If you have an existing course you can simply import the course with several formats supported including but not limited to Blackboard, Moodle and zip. For educators at various institutions, they can just import and customize where the need arises for the different institutions.

Assessment types include quizzes and assignments. It also integrates easily with other services like Google Drive, Office/Docs and others.

Cons

Video elements management needs improvement, the thumbnails are poor quality and very small. There is no option to edit them. To get a good visual of Office elements needs embedding the content hosted somewhere else. Natively on the platform PDF and PPT display poorly with just vertical scrolling. Exporting An exported courses from Canvas is in a custom format that is not compatible with other LMS platforms. This makes it hard to move between platforms. There not much customization of learning elements compared to other LMS available. Some of the support documentation is dated and needs updating.

Alternatives Considered

Accord LMS

Reasons for Choosing CANVAS

A different vendor with different needs that best fit Canvas than Accord LMS.

Switched From

Accord LMS

Reasons for Switching to CANVAS

There was a need for something quick and easy to use for instructors without the need for having technical support on call all the time.

Pros

I liked the notification system and the potential for organization. Highly superior user experience from similar school organizational apps (e.g. Moodle).

Cons

Organization was not a requirement for use of the platform. Teachers who did not organize their class site well did not yield a good student user experience. Ideally shouldn't be possible for a teacher to "mail it in" in Canvas.

Pros

Multiple users capability with own sign in creditials

Cons

Templetes for flyers. Difficult to locate and build.

Pros

The thing I liked the most is how it integrates my schools design. It matches its colors and is aesthetically pleasing. This makes me more motivated to finish assignments and sign on.

Cons

What I liked least about canvas is how it can be a bit confusing when being messaged through CANVAS and your email at the same time.

Pros

The Canvas implementation and support team was great and supportive. Canvas has some nice features you'd expect in an LMS, intuitive class and teacher structures, scheduling, notifications, and smartphone app.

Cons

We used Canvas in a large scale enterprise internal environment. In general, I think Canvas is more suited for educational institutions. The app exchange environment was basic and not very relevant. The grading, rubrics and outcomes interface was not intuitive or user friendly.

Alternatives Considered

Moodle

Reasons for Switching to CANVAS

IDK I was not involved with the purchasing decision.

Pros

Ease of use when setting up an online class.

Cons

Limited ability on the App vs the desktop version.

Pros

Ease of use, brief learning curve to implement.

Cons

At times videos and updates to course content do not load efficiently.

Pros

The ease of managing course curriculum for students

Cons

The cost. The cost seems to go up each year.

Pros

It is really easy to use and has lots of awesome features

Cons

Some of the settings can be a little annoying, but this is a very minor concern.

Pros

Once you learn the software, it is easy to use. There are several tools that are beneficial to both students and teachers, such as Speed Grader, TurnItIn for plagiarism checking, inbox, collaborations, etc. I really like that it lines out the schedule for students (syllabus tab), provides a calendar that has the option to display days that assignments are due, a to-do list for each assignment, etc. Teachers have to put the assignments in, ahead of time, for this to be useful to students, but I've been told many times by students that it makes their lives easier by being able to see everything they have coming up. I also love the ARC video uploader. It allows teachers to see statistics on how many students watched the video and how long they actually watched it. It also gives students an option to leave a comment or question at an exact timestamp in the video.

Cons

There are some quirks to Canvas that sometimes require workarounds. An example of this is moderated grading. I have had it somehow get selected, but it does not tell you when it gets selected. Once one student submission has been graded, it will not allow you to turn off moderated grading. You have to go through the process of moderated grading before it will even show grades or comments to students. The inbox also sometimes hides my emails in the spam folder in my Outlook account. It does not do that constantly, but every now and then I will get an email from a student wondering why I haven't responded to an email. I usually find it in my spam folder.

Pros

If you work in a school or a scientific competition, or if you wish to teach a class, you can use CANVAS. It's an excellent application because the grade book offers an Effective Teaching option for tracking progress against a set of academic criteria. Students and teachers will benefit from this mobile-friendly and easy tool. The largest business would be distance education, although it performs excellently in general.

Cons

It can be tough to cope with at first when using the application, and it takes a long time to publish a post on the student page.
Students occasionally carried assessments in the incorrect location and took time to get acquainted with the mobile phone application.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Teams and Canva

Reasons for Choosing CANVAS

I found CANVAS is an organized program in dealing and communicating with Students than other Programmes

Switched From

Google Classroom and Moodle

Reasons for Switching to CANVAS

In general, I prefer to use the program, especially in making exams for students, because it appears if the student opens other programs with him, which confirms to me the credibility of dealing and the absence of cheating

Pros

I've mentioned quite a few technological pluses in the rest of this review, but for this particular response I think the most important thing was how friendly the system was. It handled tens of thousands of us constantly logged in at my university, relayed grades instantly, never crashed while administering tests, and simply had an aesthetic layout (using our college colors!) that didn't treat you like a criminal (think of other test monitoring software) or unduly freak stressed students out with how they present grades, feedback, deadlines, and more.

Cons

Honestly, I found no faults with the software while using it as either a student or TA. Given the option however, I would have suggested integration options with other, lesser tools we used as TAs such as timesheets and hour submission portals.

Pros

My college has been using Canvas for the last several years. It is so instructor and student friendly. We are able to upload assignments, create videos, and grade with such ease. Also, students are able to navigate the platform very easily.

Cons

There are a couple of features that I think could be improved, and they are deleting old emails and sending emails to all of my classes. I wish that I could highlight all of the emails and delete in small batches. Also, it would be great to email several classes at one time.

Pros

This LMS has become the hub of my classroom. It holds both students and teachers accountable with complete tracking of assignments.

Cons

It could have better integration with our SIS (FACTS), but I think this is more of an issue with FACTS.

Alternatives Considered

Blackboard Learn, Blackbaud K-12 Solutions and Schoology

Switched From

Blackboard Learn, Blackbaud K-12 Solutions and Schoology

Reasons for Switching to CANVAS

Schoology was a close second, mainly because of their workload planning, but the overall interface and the fact the many of our students will see Canvas when they go to college, it was the clear choice.

Pros

Very user-friendly interface, easy to find what you are looking for with clear icons and titles being displayed.
For general areas such as courses, dashboard and calendar they are easy to use, and you can even add reminders to your calendar besides those posted by teachers.

Cons

Sometimes, once you are inside a class within the software it may vary drastically from teacher to teacher. The software allows for customization therefore it can cause confusion for students for there is not only 1 format to visualize the classes.

Pros

As a student who used to use Blackboard, I immediately saw Canvas' UI and overall look-and-feel as a huge upgrade. I like that it's based on modern UI design patterns, with features like the sidebar and the single flush column of content. It makes the web app inviting and fun to use for young students like me who are on their phone for most of the day.

One relatively minor feature that I greatly appreciate is the in-app PDF previewer, which saves me from wasting time having to download the file or opening it in a new tab and cluttering my workspace. Just this feature alone was enough to show me that Canvas' developers really had the end-user in mind.

One last big net positive I want to mention is the integration with the mobile app. It's great! Notifications show up on time and don't duplicate or perform other wonky stuff. Having a seamless experience between desktop and mobile goes a long towards making students like feel in control of their learning.

Cons

While there's a lot to like about the UI, I do have some minor grievances with it in a few places. The one thing that really stands out is how some blue links are clickable but don't actually do anything. For example, discussion threads have a clickable subtitle that shows which Lecture Section they're intended for. If it's for "All Sections", then clicking on it does absolutely nothing. I know this is a minor nitpick, but you would not believe how many times I've ended up accidentally clicking on that link intending to go the discussion board.

Pros

I've been using Canvas as an instructor at a university for the past 7+ years. The best thing about Canvas is that it's better organized than Moodle, which I've also used. I encountered Canvas when I came to work at my university. Before I started my job I was only familiar with Moodle, which I thought was an awful ed-tech application. I found Canvas to have a better interface, and was easier to navigate as a user. As an instructor, there are all kinds of features that you can use to set up a class, foster engagement, track student progress and assess completion of assignments. You can set up discussions, assign students to groups and even enable them to meet virtually. Canvas also works well for asynchronous learning in that you can create a course that is self-paced and students can step through each assignment on their own time.

Cons

The biggest challenge with Canvas is that it's not easy to use, unless you've been trained and know what you're doing. I had to learn Canvas completely on my own and it was a bit of a nightmare, even for someone like me who is very comfortable with technology. It's not entirely intuitive, especially when you're building a course from scratch. It's basically a website and you have to learn how to link pages, websites, documents, etc. You don't need to know how to code or use HTML, but it's still very painstaking to set up a class, even if you copy a previous class from year to year and just need to update it. The grading feature was also "updated" and it's more annoying now and less easy to use. The one big drawback though is the interface in that it's not all that graphical. You have to learn work arounds to make the interface more appealing to students. It's still better than Moodle! But still, it would be great if they could make it more like a real graphical website and less like a Word document on a website.

Pros

I first used Canvas long before I ever even entered college as a high school student. However, throughout the years the platform has always remained extremely easy to use and provided me stable and secure access to my course content. With the advent of online learning brought on by the pandemic, I began to use Canvas even more this past year as a current junior in college. Reflecting on my increased use of the platform over the past year, I can appreciate how Canvas has remained not only reliable and convenient to use, but also innovative in that they have continued rolling out updates which make the platform even better, such a the "like" feature which enables students to engage more with their classmates' responses on discussion posts.

Cons

The one feature which could be improved on Canvas would be more clear instructions on how to update your profile photo! One of my professors requested that we change our profile photos to a picture of ourselves last week, and while I was eventually able to do so successfully, it took me a little but to figure out where to take this action.

Pros

Canvas is flexible and has great integration with certain add-ins, including Microsoft Office, Zoom, Ally (an accessibility checker tool), and Echo360, which are the ones I use the most. It allows authors to integrate a variety of content in a way that makes sense, and the grouping of modules and content is convenient and easy to change. The support forums are also typically very helpful. There are plenty of tools that I haven't even gotten around to using to their full potential, i.e. the calendar, chat features, rubrics. I haven't used them this way yet, but the Mastery Paths feature would be excellent for providing personalized learning experiences or implementing pre-tests.

Cons

I wish there was a more sophisticated way to subscribe to certain types of notifications (e.g. certain threads within discussion topics). There's limited ability to author courses within the LMS, and you mostly have to rely on content you create or import yourself. When used for nontraditional purposes (e.g. providing a central hub for students in an honors program, rather than students in a particular class), there have been some issues with our SIS integrating correctly with Canvas. This also may just be an issue with my campus' implementation of Canvas, but I wish that you could have 1 page linked to multiple courses and that updating it in one place made the updates in all the courses in which the page existed; this would help for centralizing information. There are no templates or pre-created objects and libraries, which again may be an issue with my particular campus rollout, and also just a general downside of open-source products.

Pros

Advanced education instruments that play pleasantly with others.

Rubrics. Modules. Schedules. Plans. Tests. Prospectuses. Investigation. Speed Grader! (Signal heavenly messengers singing.) Canvas has so many master bang includes that will add flair to your courses. Furthermore, we could go on and on about the combinations. The Canvas API pals straight up with apparatuses like Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Adobe, and many other innovation accomplices to convey one brought together learning center point.

Cons

Instructors are influential individuals doing significant, groundbreaking things. Material doesn't impede that-it simply makes those significant, Canvas is groundbreaking things more straightforward to do and simpler to share.

Pros

This platform provides the best tools to expose information and constantly train our support staff, it is these students who benefit from the easy integration of CANVAS that allows them to understand much of the information guide that we want to teach them, there are many benefits when you have a program that would train you with the new co-workers who request an opportunity to operate within the company, imparting the knowledge that could be reinforced thanks to the support of this program, I really like how practical and dynamic each one of the projects that are taught by this means, this with the aim of approving the student body to reinforce their skills in this area, CANVAS is undoubtedly one of the best spaces where it allows us to teach order and administrative efficiency when working and performing in our company.

Cons

This program may be a bit basic, this is because the tutorials and guides for its users may be very limited, having the opportunity to further expand its functions in other areas, that is, it may be a bit more versatile for the training of other types of more complex programs that require more practice and theory before implementing them in the company, the potential that this program has is very great, although it also does not have the integration of more common programs in the use of administrative offices, this can be a great point that play against them.

Pros

1. Communication Tools: CANVAS has robust communication tools that allow me and students to easily communicate. This includes messaging, discussion boards, and video conferencing.2. Integration with Third-Party Tools: I can integrate CANVAS with a wide range of third-party tools, such as Google Drive, YouTube, and Dropbox. This makes it easy for me to incorporate multimedia into their courses and for students to submit assignments.3. Analytics and Reporting: CANVAS provides me detailed analytics and reporting features that allow to track student progress, identify areas where students are struggling, and adjust my teaching strategies accordingly.

Cons

1. Limited Customization: I have found that it is not as flexible as other learning management systems. This can be a challenge for teachers who want to create highly customized courses.2. Technical Issues: Like any online platform, CANVAS can experience technical issues that can disrupt the learning experience. For example, I experienced slow load times and difficulty accessing certain features.3. Lack of Mobile Optimization: I have found that it is not as fully optimized as they would like. This can be a challenge for students who want to access course materials on their mobile devices.

Pros

I have used canvas at both my previous college and my current one which I transferred to, for both classes which were taken entirely on the platform (online classes) and classes where it was used as an aid. The ability to see an up to date schedule for your classes, contact instructors, revisit old modules, submit assignments online, view and respond to instructor feedback... It's completely changed the game. It's become an intrinsic part of my routine to check canvas everyday. You can also customize what alerts you want to see, so if your instructor gives you feedback or sends an alert out you can get an email straight away.

The app is also fantastic and very convenient!

If you're an instructor and you don't use canvas, I worry that I won't be able to see important changes in time. Plus, feedback is relegated to the old fashioned, penciled in way of the early 2000s. We're better than that now, in no small part due to Canvas, which has genuinely revolutionized the medium learning takes.

Cons

There was one brief time this year where they pushed an update that made it so one of my instructors would see some error message when they clicked on my file submission, even though they were able to successfully download the file. They patched that quickly!

Overall, it turns of lasting cons, canvas has tried very hard to become irreplaceable, and they've succeeded. My only problem is when instructors aren't tech oriented, and so don't understand how to set up a course shell, but that's not canvas' fault.

Pros

I have been using canvas regularly for all my graduate classes. It has been the epicenter/hub for the instructor and all other students to come together and create a intuitive learning environment. Things I really like with canvas:
- Discussions and Help Forums
It's so easy to post questions in canvas and ask the professor and other students for help or clarifications. my graduate classes are pretty demanding and requires lot of back and forth with the instructor. But imagine if every student asked the instructor the same questions over and over again. On canvas I can see other student's questions and responses so it's like big FAQ hub.
- Easy to navigate Contents
All of the contents such as lecture slides, videos, homeworks, grades etc are in one location under different tabs. It has been organized properly and I don't have to click 100 times to get tot the page I want.
- Interaction with other students
I think this is what differentiates Canvas from moodle and what I have used in the past. This platform is very much student geared and student centered. It is there to help students interact with each other and learn from each other.

Cons

Canvas is not perfect though if you are not an expert user or instructor.
- Many times instructors said the contents are released but it wasn't
- The grades accumulation does not always makes sense
- Very much dependent on how the instructor has laid out contents.
- Redundant information
- Not always user friendly. Does take a while to get adjusted to it