Lots of Clicks

Screen view of student’s Canvas dashboard of courses. Photo Credit: Ella Phelps

The saying “nothing lasts forever” is apparent here at Lincoln College Prep Academy. From the change in administrative leadership to the new menu items in the cafeteria some would say LCPA is on the rise. That was until the new Kansas City Public School sanctioned site Canvas was introduced.

Canvas is a “blackboard” style website where teachers can assign classwork and students can turn in assignments. It’s a part of another company called Instructure Learning Platform that produces websites and other educational resources for schools. Blackboard or a blackboard style site is what most colleges use for students so it can be argued that this is the new and correct direction that a college prep school should be headed. However, many students and staff have expressed their frustration and difficulty with the switch. 

Google Classroom is a website created by Google and is a free platform that simplifies the distribution and the grading of assignments. If you are a student you have used Google Classroom for most of your schooling career. It’s what we are used to and it is what is easiest for most teachers. The district’s decision to change the site is looked down upon by many.

“Most of them like it. However, there are a few who are sticking to GC (Google Classroom) because they didn’t feel comfortable making the switch without enough time or understanding, which I supported,” said Lincoln’s Principal Shanelle Smith.

Canvas is inconvenient but it does have some features that Google Classroom does not have like a direct message system for easy teacher-student communication or a hypothetical grade check system that allows you to enter in a better grade and check what your grade would be, but Canvas is very complicated and can be very buggy at times.

LCPA Social Studies teacher Linda Bishop sums it up, “Lots of clicks,” she said. “It just seems counterintuitive and difficult. No, I don’t like that we’ve changed to Canvas.”

Canvas has been as big of a change for students as for teachers.

“It’s too complicated,” said Senior Lia Hernandez. “I think they do too much.” 

And too much is correct. This switch is not only frustrating for students because we are not used to it, it’s also a lot harder for us to keep up with work and not being updated on grades. As opposed to Google Classroom where they would send out reminders about assignments and even give opportunities for students to receive feedback about assignments as well. Also the email format is not the same.

“They’re not as specific as Google Classroom and it kind of just looks like a spam email more than anything,” Hernandez said. “Like your instructor has done something. And it’s just kind of confusing.”

Confusion seems to be the main emotion around all of this. Switching back to Google Classroom would not only take away from the confusion but also give the students the sense of normalcy that we’ve been looking for, but as it seems whatever the district says goes.

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