CANVAS Reviews

Pros

There are so many great things about Canvas LMS. It's about fit of course, so I would never use it for corporate L&D... but as an academic LMS, it ranks at the top. I love the community forums (you can find help for literally anything), and the numerous tools that are 1) either provided by Canvas, or, 2) integrate nicely with Canvas.

I also like the ease of use. It might seem overwhelming at first, but learning to build and administer courses on Canvas becomes easier by the day. So at first it may seem tough, but stick with it! It gets much easier - quickly!

Cons

In order to upgrade the look and feel of it, without hiring a team of graphic designers, you need to use design service that integrates with Canvas.

Alternatives Considered

Moodle

Reasons for Switching to CANVAS

I started using Canvas as a student! Way back. When I became an eLearning developer, I already had the familiarity of it from university :)

Pros

With the rise of Coronavirus and online options for college classes, Canvas has been a staple tool for students taking online classes and even with online assignments. Canvas, similar to Google Classroom, is a program that allows teachers to assign work through the web instead of wasting time printing and wasting paper. It allows students to be notified of when assignments are due and even allows them to take quizzes and test online. With most of the world being forced to do everything digitally Canvas allows access to Zoom through ConferNow which allows for teachers to schedule lectures and meetings. Canvas also allows you to message other students if needed. Without Canvas, school online would be incredibly difficult, and although Google Classroom is a solid option for courses in elementary school through high school, Canvas has more features such as users being able to directly embed LTIs such as Flipgrid.

Cons

Although Canvas is better than Google Classroom in terms of the number of features, Google Classroom's interface is simpler and easier to understand than Canvas's. Google Classroom, being a Google program, also makes it slightly easier to turn in assignments using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc. Canvas's user system can also use some work as well. Canvas may have the ability to allow you to see other students but it's obscure. There's no way to search for other people unless they're in your class and most people don't even know of the profile feature. Personally, I don't believe there are many problems with Canvas except that they should redo its design because to me it seems a bit bland and that they should make its interface a bit more simpler since it can be confusing to navigate through.

Pros

This app I have used for 8 plus years for college and my masters degree. Canvas is helpful with my schoolwork and keeps me organized

Cons

I have had some issues with this software glitching or not being able to submit assignments, not sure if this is a software issue or my school . This app also takes some time to use you need to learn how it works

Pros

When I was going to school, this is the software I used. It was fairly simple and it looked good.

Cons

The mobile app always gave me problems. I could never access things when I wanted to.

Pros

I really liked the fact that I was able to take courses online. I never had to leave my house except for the occasional proctored exam (done at the instructors' discretion). It was easy to log in and out of the platform and get into my classes.

Cons

Sometimes I'd miss messages from my instructors because I wouldn't know where to look. The interface can become a bit crowded at times.

Pros

Canvas is easy to use, accessible and provides all the learning tools I need to complete my online degree.

Cons

Canvas is perfect for me. I absolutely love it and find no challenges using it.

Pros

What I like most about Canvas is the user friendly interface. My Canvas is divided by courses and then by modules, assignments, and other aspects of the course within the course. This interface helps me stay organized and on top of everything.

Cons

I do not have any complaints about this software.

Pros

How decluttered everything is. There are clear overviews of documents, grades, courses, etc. And it is so easy to navigate and looks amazing. It’s a no-nonsense platform.

Cons

Personally, there isn’t much I can say about Canvas that I don’t like. Perhaps the thing I like the least is that it is not really a video platform. You can upload videos, however the functionalities there are limited.

Pros

Canvas is extremely easy to use, very user friendly.

Cons

The only thing that I did not like about Canvas is the grading feature, you can plug in any grade to see what the overall score would be?

Pros

I had used this software form 2019 to 2021 and most of my uni assesment and project had to be downloaded and uploaded to this software for the porrfessors to review and correct

Cons

This software need a soild concetion to the internet so if a building wifi is starting to fail this is one of the software that can not work at a cirtical time

Pros

Most useful feature is revisiting the previous courses and going through the material that was covered in those courses. Typically, in other similar software, this is disabled after a certain period of time but Canvas keeps this feature open. The product is definitely easy to use as apart from showing the current courses, it also displays the upcoming deadlines and announcements that comes in very handy as soon as a user logs into the system and navigates to the home screen

Cons

The worst thing about this product in a lack of search functionality. Manually going through the complete list of options/courses/documents or whatever is present in the Canvas to find one required element is time-intensive process. A search feature would have been really useful in quickly searching what we are looking for.

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

Canvas is useful because I can see all of my coursework on one platform that is simple to use. I can organize my courses on the home page as I like, and when I click on the course, I can see modules, assignments, and tests attached to the course. Documents load very easily on Canvas, and I like being able to "preview" documents posted before downloading them.

Cons

I have two complaints about the Canvas software. First of all, the mobile version does not work well. I never downloaded the Canvas app, but did try to go on the website on my phone. The text was so small and the menus on the left side of the screen did not load well, so I could never use my phone to get on Canvas without the app. My other complaint with the software is that whenever anything was graded for a course, even if it was an older assignment, I'd get a notification. Perhaps this is just the settings set by the instructor and not Canvas itself, however.

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

What I love most about Canvas' software was how simple and easy it is to use. It is the one platform that I have used for six-to-seven years that has allowed me to feel connected to my fellow students and professors most even during classes that were strictly online. It has options like a calendar that automatically shows you all of your assignments on their due dates a weekly and monthly glances. It has neatly color-coded panels that allow you to divide up and access your courses easily. It even has a built-in grade book so students can manage their grades, estimate their overall course grade using the built-in grade estimation system so they aren't in the fark about their grades the whole semester. It even has a feature where students can email other students and teachers directly through Canvas and a system where students can record themselves saying their name so it won't be mispronounced! There are so many other tools to name and I love that so very much about Canvas. For its inexpensive price, accessibility, and variety of tools, I would wholeheartedly recommend Canvas to any school or teacher to use.

Cons

While it's hard to pick out something that I didn't like about Canvas, I would say that the test and assessment grading system could use some improvement. It's a challenge for students and teachers alike to enter numerical equations that require certain formats such as scientific notation, for example, and it would be wonderful if that could be improved for future use. Even so, Canvas still has a great grading system for other courses that do not require equations and such so I still very much recommend it to anyone.

Pros

This software is very well organised with minor issues. I think as a user of 2+ years, I am extremely satisfied with the software. Although there are some minor improvements to be made, I believe that this software is the future of remote higher education.

Cons

I think my major complaint about this software would be the fact that hiding and/or deleting certain courses' cards/lists isn't an option. When one year is over and another begins, half of the courses still on my dashboard can be considered clutter and are no longer needed. I think another feature that would make organising easier is editing the name of the course on my dashboard. Organisations usually title their courses in the same format with minimal changes which does make it harder to differentiate from one another. Adding subtle features that allow for personalising your dashboard without compromising the content of the courses would be helpful, I believe.

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

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

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

My institution uses Moodle, which I have found to be extremely cumbersome. So a few years ago, I switched to the free-for-teachers version of Canvas, and have never looked back. My favorite specific feature of Canvas is the Speed-grader, which changed my life when I switched from Moodle. I also like the way the online quizzes work. More generally what I like about Canvas is the unified design. Where as open-source course management software feels like a hodgepodge of different options and designs Frankensteined together, Canvas feels like there is a design team actually thinking through the way it should look and operate. I appreciate the flexibility it gives me with regard to the layout of the home page, how I can control what the students see, etc. Also, over the six years that I have used Canvas, I've seen features get improved in response to user suggestions. Always a good thing.

Cons

Like all course management software, there are times when I feel that too much clicking is involved to accomplish basic tasks, or little things that should be possible are not. For example, when making rubrics for assignments, there is no way to shuffle the order of the categories. If you want to add a new line in the rubric between lines 2 and 3, you'd have to delete all the lines after 2 and start over from there. Little things like that, which aren't a huge deal, but sometimes do leave me scratching my head. Also I wish the question banks for quizzes were a little easier to manage.

Pros

The thing I like most about Canvas is the user interface and the ease of use. Canvas makes it very easy to provide students with all course materials that used to be copied and handed out in class. Not only does this save time and effort, but it is great for the environment. I have been trained several times on Canvas though it is quite easy to learn and use. Once you become accustomed to the nuances of using it, you start to appreciate its design. I really appreciate the tools that are available with Canvas such as the attendance feature and the ability to integrate publisher's materials.

Cons

The thing I like least about Canvas is the lack of ease of importing test banks from publishers. I am not sure if this is due to Canvas or the publishers. But I try to avoid using quizzes as much as possible. I hate to type 60 questions and answers for each test and for each class. I usually give 5 exams per class and I typically teach 3 different classes.

Pros

After my university switched over to Canvas as the preferred course management software, I was happy to finally have a user-friendly interface to work with. The menu is not cluttered and all tabs and icons are easy to find. One of the main advantages of Canvas is the ability to easily sync a school email account and get live notifications when items and assignments are posted.

Professors can also setup calendars that help remind students of exam, project, and homework due dates. Students can also setup discussions or threads within their respective courses, which is useful when a lot of students have a similar question. Saves the professor time from having to answer 50 emails about the same question.

Cons

The notification system, both as a student and professor, is not the most efficient system. Canvas is meant to have a built-in emailing program. This creates a lot of confusion when students send messages via Canvas (which is linked to a school email account) and separately send messages directly from their school email. I've encountered times where it was not clear how to send a message directly to particular member of the course, and ended up emailing the entire class by accident.

Professors often alternate between general email notifications and "Dashboard" notifications within Canvas. It makes it confusing for students as to where exactly to look for course related information. I find this lack of streamlining for notifications to be the biggest drawback.

Pros

Canvas provides several features that allow students like me with a full 18 credit load to organize, access grades and assignments and keep track of the class process. One of my favorite and most used tool provided by Canvas has been the grade calculator tool; this tool allowed me to estimate my final grade in the class to measure the grade I had to obtain in the final exam to achieve a competitive average. Moreover, the software does a great job at notifying the due date for each assignment and also, letting you know when the professor posted the grade for the exams. Another one of my favorite features is the side bar with all the updates on gradebooks, notification and direct messages that allowed me to access all the features in a fast manner.

Cons

One of the features that needs improvement is the email notification tool. This tool sent large amount of double notifications anytime there was an update to the gradebook. Also, some browsers were not compatible with the Canvas software and would automatically cause troubleshooting of the different features offered by the software.

Pros

The ease of being able to attend my lectures and webinars online, from anywhere with a wifi connection, makes it very attractive. I can submit online with ease and allowing me to store all my information in a single place is a big plus. My interaction with my lecturers has been seamless and offers a range of great features. Allowing me to store all the information on the Canvas platform, which makes my work a lot easier and saves time.

Cons

Not the most user friendly and I struggled to navigate on the platform. Video quality isnt the best at times(no, my wifi connection was just fine) but having said that , i would still recommend Canvas from my personal experience of having used it over a few years.