This fall marks the one-year anniversary of the College’s transition to Canvas LMS. Over the past year, the staff at the Center for Academic Innovation have worked diligently to learn this new system, modify critical system settings, and implement processes to enhance and improve the faculty and student experience.
At the end of the last academic year, we sent out a brief survey and asked our faculty about their experience with Canvas. Here are some highlights:
Image above showing the Canvas New Course Template from Fall 2020.
Faculty Profile
LMS Experience
We have a faculty who are very experienced with Learning Management Systems. 76.6% of faculty have over six years of experience using an LMS to support their instruction.
Plaforms Used
- Platforms Used
- Blackboard – 44.34%
- Canvas – 30.19%
- D2L Brightspace – 4.72%
- Moodle – 14.15%
- Other (including WebCT, WebBoard, and COLTS) – 6.60%
Blackboard to Canvas Migration
The majority of faculty had a positive experience with the Canvas migration process. Of those who accessed migration resources, faculty felt that their expectations were met or exceeded in the following areas:
Workshops & Preparation
| Workshop or Training | Met or Exceeded Expectations |
| Canvas Essentials (faculty workshop) | 97.44% |
| Preparing your Migrated Course in Canvas (faculty workshop) | 93.75% |
| Gradebook & Facilitation (faculty workshop) | 86.96% |
| Canvas for Instructors resources shell (self-paced online training) | 95.12% |
Tech Hub Resources & Support
| Workshop or Training | Met or Exceeded Expectations |
| Drop-in Office Hours | 96.30% |
| Individual Tech Hub consultations | 93.55% |
| Resources on CAI Faculty Resource Website | 94.59% |
Canvas Features & Functionality
Overall, faculty are satisfied with the features and functionality of Canvas.
| Canvas Feature or Functionality | Met or Exceeded Expectations |
| Active Learning & Collaboration | 86.15% |
| Communication | 77.26% |
| Gradebook & Assessment | 81.97% |
| Accessibility | 90.48% |
| Course Development | 88.18% |
| Ease of Use | 88.64% |
Areas for Improvement
There were areas of concern regarding the functionality of some features in Canvas.
| Canvas Feature or Functionality | Met or Exceeded Expectations |
| 31.10% | |
| Grade management within the Gradebook | 20.45% |
| Discussions | 20.00% |
Overall
Overall, the faculty experience with Canvas has been positive; however, we did receive suggestions for improvement and we are working to address these issues whenever possible. We are working with Canvas to continually improve the platform and we are committed to sending announcements and updates to students and faculty as feature updates occur.
Technical Resources available
Faculty are able to access just-in-time technical support via the Canvas Knowledge Base, phone, email, Zoom, or live chat. Just select the Help icon within the Navigation bar on the left side of the Canvas display.
Ongoing support available from the Center for Academic Innovation
Resources are available to Support Academic Quality and Student Success via the Center for Academic Innovation’s website – Services | Center for Academic Innovation.
Resources include:
- Course Development & Instructional Design Support
- Drop-In Office Hours
- Individual Consultations with Tech Hub faculty members
Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding the transition to Canvas. Feel free to contact the Center for Academic Innovation for additional resources or suggestions for improvement.