What is Canvas?

Canvas is a Learning Management System (LMS) that "allows institutions to manage digital learning, educators to create and present online learning materials and assess student learning, and students to engage in courses and receive feedback about skill development and learning achievement" ("What Is Canvas", 2020, p. 1). Canvas's key differentiating factor seems to be the customization of features that teachers can utilize to create their unique course. With Canvas, students can access classroom content any time, message with their teachers, and submit assignments through the company's mobile application.

How It Works

With Canvas, teachers can create an online learning environment with any combination of the following features:

Course Content: Teachers can create Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, and Pages. These can be organized by different chapters or modules to ensure clarity of expectations.
Collaborative Learning: Students can be organized into Groups, Conferences, or Collaborations; they can use these features to find and interact with other Canvas users in their class.
Standards Integration: Teachers can upload state standards and learning outcomes into Canvas to track student progress.
Feedback Tools: Teachers can use the Canvas "Speedgrader" to quickly offer feedback, as well as update grades in the on-board grade-book.

Student Communication: Teachers can communicate directly with students on an individual or group basis; group communication can be accomplished in the Announcements, Calendar, and Syllabus, while individualized communication is common in the Chat.
Performance Analytics: Teachers and administrators can gather data and analyze student performance trends, allowing them to adjust where necessary.
Canvas Commons: Teachers can store course data and save it to an archive, allowing them to revive and reteach the same course year over year, and to collaborate with other teachers to improve practices.

Photo by Douglas Elementary PTA

Parent & Teacher Communication Tools

With regards to parent/teacher communication, Canvas has made some difficult decisions. Most notably, Canvas opted not to place a parent/teacher messenger within the Canvas Parent mobile application.

Instead, teachers can communicate with parents through announcements, and parents can keep track of student grades and missing work through the Canvas Parent mobile app.

Assessment Resources

Canvas allows teachers to create online assessments that can be automatically graded and entered into the gradebook. If teachers choose, they can create ungraded assessments as well, which function as practice quizzes.

Canvas includes some helpful tools to help maintain academic integrity and high assessment quality. For example, Canvas includes a feature called "Respondus LockDown Browser," which prevents additional web-searches from taking place during the timeframe of an exam. It also adds a timer, which allows students to take a timed test when they feel ready, but they do not have to start it at a specific time.

Platform Integrations

Canvas supports several first party and third party integrations, which improve the utility of the website.

First Party Integrations are optional features, created by Canvas, that teachers can include, such as: User Messaging, Theme Editors, Profile Features, Calendar Appointment Schedulers, Notifications, and a Media Player.
Third Party Integrations are useful connections between Canvas and other companies, like: Google Drive, Microsoft Office, Twitter, Youtube, Turnitin, Flickr, and McGraw Hill.

Advantages

High degree of customization, allowing teacher to feature-fit her/his course to meet their needs
Simple, user friendly interface helps tech-savvy and non-tech-savvy users effectively use the platform
Discussion Forum built in to the site
Gives students notifications about upcoming assignments, new grades, and missing work
The site makes course organization very easy for teachers, students, and parents to understand
Aesthetically pleasing layout

Disadvantages

Limited integrations as compared with other LMS sites.
Previous assignments and rubrics are difficult for instructors to access; a search function or better organizational system would improve user outcomes.
Canvas is notoriously expensive for full user functionality
Some teachers report that the mobile app has limited functionality (i.e. no parent messaging), and is quite glitchy
Messaging feature does not display student messages in their chat history until the teacher replies

Recommendation...

Canvas seems to be a wonderful LMS for teachers who desire a high degree of customization. The feature-rich program allows teachers to switch on and off various programs to ensure the highest quality blended learning environment suited to their, and their students', needs. However, Canvas does not have a long list of Integrations with third-party learning applications, which may ultimately limit the functionality within the web app (Users can still follow links to external platforms like Khan Academy, but it will not stay local as in other LMS platforms). All in all, I believe Canvas could be a great fit for most teachers, provided that they are okay with limited integrations and a lack of individualized parent messaging within the mobile application.

Works Cited

Building Assessments in Canvas. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://help.canvas.yale.edu/m/55452/l/1228810-building-assessments-in-canvas
Canvas Parent App. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://richmond.instructure.com/courses/7539/pages/canvas-parent-app
Canvas Reviews. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://www.trustradius.com/products/canvas/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons
Howard, J. (2017, June 20). Canvas Assessments. Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/K12-Users/Canvas-Assessments/ba-p/279250
What is Canvas? (2021, January 29). Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/What-is-Canvas/ta-p/45
What integrations are supported in a canvas account? (2021, January 16). Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Admin-Guide/What-integrations-are-supported-in-a-Canvas-account/ta-p/220

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