canvas pilot faculty instruction fall 2019

CSUB Canvas Pilot 2019 1

Canvas PilotFaculty Instruction Fall 2019

Summary of Survey Results1. 101 = Number of active faculty surveyed in this term2. 52 = Number of responses received (some people may have responded twice since it was an anonymous survey)3. Of the 49 who indicated a preference on LMS, 43 (88%) chose Canvas over Blackboard.4. Top 2 items that faculty liked about using Canvas for course instruction:

a. User Friendlyb. Organizing Content

5. Top 2 items that faculty disliked about using Canvas for course instruction:a. Nothingb. Quizzes

Have you participated in the Canvas pilot at CSUB for any of the prior terms? (check all that apply)

None Winter Spring Summer0

10

20

3030

8

15

7


Do you have previous experience with Canvas?

30 22

Yes [58%] No [42%]

Where was your previous experience with Canvas?

11 25

CSUB [31%] Another Institution [69%]

Do you have previous experience with Blackboard?

47 5

Yes [90%] No [10%]


Where was your previous experience with Blackboard?

43 15

CSUB [74%] Another Institution [26%]

Rate the following tasks in Canvas.

Create and grade assignments Create and grade quizzes Create a discussion for students and grade posts

Send an email / message to students and manage options View the course like a student Track student progress Overall usability for instruction

Very Satisfied Somewhat Satisfied Neutral SomewhatDissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied0

20

40


Rate the following tasks in Blackboard.

Create and grade assignments Create and grade quizzes Create a discussion for students and grade posts

Send an email / message to students and manage options View the course like a student Track student progress Overall usability for instruction

Very Satisfied Somewhat Satisfied Neutral SomewhatDissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied0

20

40

What did you like about using Canvas for course instruction?(Top 5 shown)

Topic Choice Count

User Friendly 31

Organizing Content 6

Easy to Communicate with Students 4

Mobile App 2

Nothing 2

What did you dislike about using Canvas for course instruction?(Top 5 shown)

Topic Choice Count


Nothing 9

Quizzes 5

Lack of Folders 4

Learning Curve 3

New Gradebook 3

If you had to chose one, which Learning Management System do you prefer?

Blackboard [6] Canvas [43]

12% 88%

What did you like about course instruction using Canvas?It was easy to upload files to share and it is easier to communicate with students.Nearly everything. There were only a few minor (very specific) things that I wished were different. Otherwise, it was a breeze to use. I loved it and will I love that it easily lets me create weighted categories for items and that anything I put under that "umbrella" counts under that weighted category. Doing this in blackboard is a nightmare, but canvas makes it SO EASY. I love that there is a syllabus link that lists all of the due dates for the assignments and how everything is weighted. Even if an assignment isn't available, students can see when it's due/coming up.

It's easy and simple to use. Items are laid out for the students for them to have multiple points of access. Students loved Canvas over Blackboard and It is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. '- overall very easy to navigate, intuitive and user-friendlyIt looks more appealing in general, but it also requires far fewer clicks and steps to get things done.Easier and cleaner to work with. It is very user friendly, and if I have questions, I can easily find the answers on their website.Easy to set up everything, very intuitive, the link validator was very helpful, setting up the class in advance with assignments/modules/files ready to Real-time feedback for graded quizzes and other assignmentsCanvas is simple to use. Easy to use and flows wellIt is a lot more user friendly, has a better app interface, and is relatively easy to organize the course.Easy to useThe email function I like the integration of assignments with Calendars and class pages.I like the ease and speed of use.I love Speed Grader.It is intuitive and user-friendly. It is intuitive, modern interface, easy to use. Looks and feel updated and not like we are using old technology. It was easy to learn and any issues that very user friendly, allows for faculty creativity in web design of course, very helpful tracking of student gradesNothing!I really love how easy it is to put together quizzes together and the ability to submit unfinished quizzes on behalf of the student. Tracking student interactions (especially for online classes) is detailed and thorough. All very helpful in making assessments and decisions on how to teach and when to The navigation of the site seemed easier for students than Blackboard. It was more intuitive.The ease and the visual appearance and navigation through the platformClean look. Easy to add, delete, activate, deactivate content. Drag and drop.I like that I could utilize the attendance piece and put assignments in that didn't go to final grade.Analytics and user-friendly interface for students and instructors.Canvas is easy to use and lets me organize and publish content very quickly. I'm able to copy content from one course to another.


I love nearly everything about Canvas. It's easier to organize and present course information for diverse learners. It's great for discussion and grading. Easier to provide student feedback. The email is easier to use as well as the announcements. Students seem to navigate Canvas easier and stay on track. The ease of use. It's extremely user friendly.Very intuitive and simple layout. Easy to post information for studentsI like the options to provide feedback to students when grading. The easy way to send an email and receive correspondence from students. I like the way that students are able to resubmit without waiting for my assistance. I like that the grade book is clear and can easily be accessed.I liked that I could drag materials from one module to the next very easily. I did not have to move them to a different folder, and then re-find them. I found it much easier to manage my course content in Canvas. Creating and editing modules/pages was straight forward and intuitive. Discussions were simple to create and grade - much more so than in Blackboard. Linking to other pages or files was convenient. There are several options for emailing The fact that students like Canvas.I like the ease of creating assignments and modules for students to complete work. The course instruction was easy to navigate through. I must admit that I received assistance whenever I encountered issues. I REALLY appreciated the gradebook, announcements, messaging students, posting content is easyThe system flows much better than Blackboard and will be easier for the students to use since all classes and data will be in the same location. It I like the functionality of the app. Being able to send messages or announcements from my phone has been very helpful and allows for immediate communication with students.The course calendar is really functional even though you cannot access it from the app. I also like the integration with User friendly. Having file viewer. Easy to grade essay questions by hyperlinks at top. Great functions to allow student make ups. Tests statistics computed Easy to understand and update.That it was accessible on my cell phone. The rubric was easily seen by students.By the end of the term, nothing. I became more and more frustrated as issue after issue came up, and when I sought help to be given workarounds, band-aid answers, or to be told there was no solution. I found myself muttering "I hate Canvas" as I encountered yet another set-back or awkward way of doing something, and then wondering if this is how my students feel about some of their online homework programs.I managed to make my course functional due to great effort on my part, but I was never entirely happy with the result. The ability to copy from one course to another.

The ease of uploading

Easier to customizeSimple interface for teacher and studentVery user friendly and students loved it!The multiple ways information is linked in the course.


What did you dislike about course instruction using Canvas?The publishing of assignments requires the publishing of the whole module. There were a couple times where my students had trouble submitting assignments and also I wish that when students are in group together (but also graded as individuals) that the grade applied to one student (for the groups overall assignment) would automatically apply to all others within the group. I wish Canvas had an option to grade all entries for a single questions on one page. For example, if i have a short answer question on a quiz or exam, I'd like to be able to see everyone's responses for that one question on a single page like I can in blackboard. I want to be able to compare student answers to look for themes (in case a lot of people get something wrong) and for potential cheating (if students give the same exact answer). It's harder to look at these things if I can only look at answers within a single person's quiz, one person at a time. The 'grade a single question on one page' function in blackboard is the only thing about blackboard that I like.

The Quizzes.Next system is funky. Publishing is sometimes odd. I wish I was able to decorate the Modules page a tad better. I prefer Moodle over everything, but Canvas is 100000000X better. Blackboard is incredibly difficult to use and so outdated.

Nothing'- no embedded plagiarism tools- I couldn't find a way to hide their assignments total grade from the studentsIt doesn't have quite as many options as Blackboard, but that can be a good thing.No options for folders only embedded pages.I feel like there's so much more I could be doing with it but am not knowledgeable enough yet.I wish there were more abilities when grading with Turnitin.com in Canvas. I use rubrics and quickmarks in turnitin.com, and those are not available in Canvas to utilize, so I endedup having to use the standalone turnitin.com site.Would be nice to create quizzes/tests by uploading a text file instead of manually inputting each question and its possible answersN/AN/ACompared to using Blackboard, I can't think of any weaknesses.n/aCreating modules, assignments, and pages. I could not copy content to other course sections. it was very time consuming. It did not help. It was a burden.There was much to learn to get started.That it assigned the title Syllabus to the course schedule.Very small issues like not being able to move the discussions in a different order after they were created, or not having the student list numbered so I could easily see if my classmatched Peoplesoft just by comparing the number enrolled. Overall Canvas is much better than Blackboard. There's just no comparison.nothing reallyEvery single activity required a "work around." Chemical formulae, structures, equilibrium arrows, etc. were incompatible with the system unless there was a "work around."Uploading files required multiple clicks and setting up quizzes required a "work around." This program may work for high school but it is pathetically poor for teaching at the collegelevel.I wish there was a way to preview the course from the perspective of the students via a mobile device. I have a hard time helping my students navigate the course via their phonebecause i'm wholly unfamiliar with what they see on their screens.I had a difficult time learning the features of Canvas. Tutorials were difficult for me to find.When it is time to grade, I wish there was a setting to grade based on submission date instead of alphabetic orderLearning curve. Have to somewhat learn a slightly different system. But it's worth the process to have something more modern, streamlined, clean, user friendly.


When looking at grades, I couldn't sort them by categories or see the quizzes I put in. I put quizzes in but couldn't see information from Grades view.

When replying to Canvas Inbox correspondence from students, I was unable to attach items to provide students resources or documents. I routinely needed to use Outlook instead. Nothing.Since I haven't had a chance to use it for tests and quiizes yet, I have some concerns about how it will be used for that. There is viritually nothing I dislike about Canvas. I strongly prefer it to Blackboar due to it's flexibility and organization.Nothing. I dislike assignments being automatically published once created. I hated the rubric construction on Canvas. I dislike that I can't easily access the rubrics without going into an assignment, and I dislike that they are set up with the highest grade on the left, and the lowest on the right (or whichever it is) and that you can't change it. I found it difficult to use. I would like to have more control over my courses. For instance, I would like to activate the extra credit options in the grade book. I would like to learn how to change the aesthetics of the courses.The Quizzing function in Canvas is substandard to the Testing function in Blackboard. As our campus expands online course options, we need the most robust testing possible in our LMS.There is actually nothing I dislike about it. I think it is wonderful!There is not much to dislike. I haven't used any other platforms for course instruction to draw a comparison. I didn't encounter enough problems to dislike it. the linear organization, that i can't change the left tab content area language, i have not given a test in canvas yet or graded an assignment using canvas, so i am a bit worried about thatI am not a fan of having to download assignments to grade them, add comments, then upload them back or email them to students. I like Blackboard better for viewing and grading assignments through Box. With my new courses for next term, I don't see any of the assignments copied from the previous term. When my Bb courses were copied to Canvas almost everything was migrated. I will have to spend time trying to figure out how to move material from one term to another, which was something I could do from term to term in Bb.Plagiarizing check not built into it. Assignments not allowing to give individual students opportunity to submit work late, where as it can be done under quizzes. That is, "moderate" test is not present under assignments. n/aNo flexibility in how to organize class documents. All linear views of all items which was extremely overwhelming. Assignmet due dates appeared on calender from other courses when imported. Caused major confusion and waited my time trying to find and fix.

I really did not like this platform. Assignments did not always allow students to upload correctly. There was frequent disconnect with turnitin.

Extra credit assignments had to be input as a 0. Blackboard has extra credit option.

Roll call feature does not allow for excused absences.

Cannot choose all quiz questions to change the value of each question all at once. Each must be changed individually and is quite tedious for larger quizzes. NothingNoneStudents aren't all familiar with it yet. The app provides less information than they can view on their computer.


Most everything. This is a long answer, but I have tried to cover a lot of different areas in an organized manner. 1. Gradebook

a. difficult to organize gradebook columns into my desired order.b. "Exported" gradebook re-arranged columns into a different order than as viewed in Canvas. Difficult to find items, difficult to sync

with my Excel gradebook. I had to copy changes column by column instead of one bulk copy-and-paste the way it use to be inBlackboard. In addition, the export and import processes were very slow, much slower than Blackboard.

c. Dropped students disappeared from the gradebook completely. I had no choice or control of this. Results: (1) I had conflicts aligningwith my Excel gradebook with the Canvas export (I had to insert a space for every dropped student every time I wanted to alignbetween Excel and Canvas), and (2) I couldn't adjust Excel to Canvas without misalignment with the external homework program. Ialso anticipate (3) more difficulty determining when a student left the course when I analyze my course data. (In Blackboard, I cancontrol who appears, and whether a student name is hidden or only marked as inactive.)

d. Canvas self-generated columns such as "Total" cannot be turned off or hidden by the instructor. (I can turn them off in Blackboard,and prevent a lot of student confusion.)

e. Canvas course grade estimate ("Total") never matched my Excel estimate prior to the Final exam, even when I had worked hard toalign the weightings to match and even added additional columns to attempt a functional match. Estimates in "Total" were off byplus or minus 2-3%, which is enough to mislead a significant number of students about their relative standing in the course. I foundmyself trusting the gradebook's calculations less and less, and regretting the lack of controls and transparency. I never had issueslike this with the Blackboard gradebook.

f. Just this week Canvas Quizzes grades changed (after the due date was passed) between the time I exported the gradebook, addedscores for a different item, and tried to import again. Does it really take Canvas twelve hours to process a question set after the duedate has passed?

g. The previous issue revealed that Canvas has no option to "turn off" individual columns during an import process, i.e. the import is"all or nothing". In contrast, Blackboard allows me to deselect any column I don't want to upload at this time, and then to continuewith the rest of the upload. In Blackboard I can then go back and deal with the problem column at a more convenient time, withoutdelaying the more important items that must be posted immediately.

h. I missed having the statistical summary for an item that Blackboard provides right within the Gradebook. I could quickly and easilysee high/low scores, mean and median, distribution by percentage categories and other information, and then return to theBlackboard gradebook in about three clicks. Canvas, in contrast, has a small selection on this type of information as far from theGradebook as possible ... at the Home Page! Canvas does not provide much information on any "external" grade, which means I hadno meaningful feedback on homework scores from the online homework system or for exams or for iClicker performance.

i. Additional points relative to Gradebook under Navigation heading below.j. I am already coming up with creative ways to by-pass or "break" the Canvas gradebook if that LMS is adopted at CSUB. It's so

extremely frustrating to use.2. Publish/unpublish awkwardness; managing


a. The "publish" and "unpublish" were annoying to use. I could publish an item but if the folder was unpublished it would not show. So then I'd publish the folder, only to discover it automatically published everything inside the folder and I'd have to spend time unpublishing all the other items I didn't want available yet.

b. I discovered unpublishing a Page did not unpublish the attached files, so I would have to first unpublish the Page and then track down all the attached files in the Files section and individually unpublish them. When I wanted the Page to be available again, I also had to independently make the files available too. This caused a lot of frustration and wastage of time.

c. Modules and Folders have no option to set release and take-down dates/times ahead of time. Therefore, a professor must be available at the exact time an item should be published/unpublished, without interruptions, to do the task. Several times I was busy with a student and was not able to get the timing right; and I'm all the more frustrated because in Blackboard I can pre-set the times and then not worry about it again! (See Managing and changing dates below for more.)

3. Navigation and Organization of the Canvas interface a. I dislike the "linear" nature of Canvas. The "Next" button implies one path through the course from start to finish, which is un-

realistic for a complex science course. It feels like a web page, or flipping mindlessly through a social media app. b. The Blackboard organization model is similar to the folders and sub-folders organization of a computer. It is far more functional

for a science course, given the vast amount of information in different categories we are attempting to provide to our students. c. Navigation in Canvas involved far too much clicking around. If I went into a Page to attach a file or modify text, I cannot return to the Module. I had to go back to the Home page, then navigate to the Module again if I wanted to work on another item other than that "Next" one.

c. When I needed to change the "out of" score for an item, it could not be done from the Gradebook. I had to navigate to the Assignment, make the change, then navigate to the Home Page, return to the gradebook, and scroll through to the point I had been working. Contrast this with Blackboard where a simple click, change number, and return to gradebook accomplished the task in seconds.

d. Uploading files takes a lot of clicking, and is frustrating to use. e. In the People section Canvas cannot sort the list by role or by "last activity" date. Blackboard can do all these things (and more). f. The instructor tools are scattered, even buried, within Canvas. I miss the list of tools immediately available in Blackboard's left-

hand menu bar, easy to see and quick to access. Blackboard seems to have a lot more tools than Canvas does, and also continues to add more.

4. Managing and changing dates a. In short, Canvas is seriously deficient in date/time management options. As far as I can determine, only Quizzes can be

"released" at a pre-set date/time and made "un-available" at a pre-set date/time. b. In Blackboard I can set dates/times on

1) entire Modules, 2) folders within a module, 3) individual items (equivalent to Pages in Canvas),


4) quizzes / assignments / question sets, 5) announcements.

c. In Blackboard I can view and change the dates and times in one centralized location, which is extremely convenient. In addition, I can shift the dates of blocks of items at one time, which is useful when moving content one week later to leave Spring Break free. Canvas does not have any of this ability.

d. I was told dates for an Quiz could be changed in Canvas by clicking and dragging the item within the Calendar. I tried. It didn't work. I'm not sure whether it was the "due date" or the availability dates that prevented the item being moved, but Canvas told me it wasn't possible to move the item in the calendar. So I had to navigate through the Assignment area, to each Quiz one by one, to make the changes I wanted. A painfully slow process to achieve something so simple.

5. Quizzes and question sets a. I am unhappy with the Quizzes in Canvas. There is serious lack of functionality for making science questions. b. A question which includes a temperature, and therefore the degree sign, has to be written in the math equation editor. Contrast

this with the simple "insert symbol" method of Blackboard and Word! c. In answer to concerns about properly formatting a chemical equation, the answer was to use programming-style language in

LaTeX. In addition to the time/work-load of learning a programming language, the additional time required to set up each chemical equation in this way is mind boggling. The lab course (still in Blackboard) has questions sets where several questions have 5-6 chemical equations per question. My heart just sinks just at the thought ... 5-6 chemical equations, times 5-10 questions, times how many question sets.... all in programming language .... and in Blackboard it was as easy as highlight and click a formatting button, or highlight and insert symbol!

d. I used Greek symbols in one of my Canvas quizzes, and some students could not see them when they took the quiz. Others said the question with the Greek symbols took a very long time to load.

e. Canvas only has scrambling options at the level of the entire quiz. In contrast, Blackboard has question-by-question control. In the sciences, it's important to be able to scramble some questions but no others.

6. Difficulties setting up and syncing with iClicker software a. I experienced a lot of difficulty setting up the registration of iClickers within Canvas, and then syncing the iClicker software to

Canvas in order to transfer the scores. b. Help from Anthony and from a Canvas rep eventually resolved the worst of the issues. Later on I had an episode where the sync

failed and seemed to erase half the student scores. Fortunately, a few attempts later the issue spontaneously resolved itself, but I still have no idea why it failed that day after a couple weeks of smooth performance.

c. I never had any problems with Blackboard and iClicker. I was able to set it up myself, and never had to ask for any help. 7. Students have complained to me about the awkwardness of using Canvas on their devices. They especially complain about attached files

(such as the PDF files of lecture I post) because Canvas will (slowly) open them in a little viewing box first, and this must finish before the student can download the file or open it in a separate internet tab. In contrast, Blackboard automatically opens in a new tab from the first.


8. I have heard the Canvas Speed grader promoted as a fancy new feature. But I have been using the same functionality in Blackboard for years! I actually find the Blackboard grading function rather better, being faster to access and smoother to use than the Canvas grader. I like the way Blackboard allows me to "sort" the different gradebook columns with a single click, and then retains the order in the grader.

9. Broad and summarizing thoughts. a. Canvas is much more limited in offering instructor options. There are many things I can do in Blackboard, or control in

Blackboard that are either not available or not controllable in Canvas. A switch from Blackboard to Canvas will significantly limit my options to accomplish my course objectives.

b. Navigation and organization in Canvas is annoying. The sheer amount of clicking and scrolling has wasted my time, and even raised some health concerns, as some wrist-pain returned that I thought I had overcome.

c. I will not participate in any more Canvas if I can help it. I will stick to Blackboard as long as I possibly can, and if the campus does switch to Canvas I will immediately begin to explore options to take the lab course to an outside company to avoid the frustration of trying to make it functional in Canvas.

d. The re-building of courses necessary in a switch to Canvas, especially in the science, will be an awful increase in workload, for which I doubt there will be any relief or compensation.

e. I do not understand why anyone would want to move from a fully functional system (Blackboard), to one with more limitations in functionality (Canvas). Such a switch will make it significantly harder to do my job, not only in the increased workload of the switch but also afterwards in the decrease of options and functionality.

f. I will be demotivated from developing new online content in a system like Canvas. The frustration isn't worth the benefits. In contrast, the features available in Blackboard inspired me to create the lab course solely through the LMS and thus saved our students thousands of dollars over the years since their only course cost is buying a lab coat.

g. I wonder why Blackboard isn't being given the chance to promote its product, and why the LTC isn't doing side-by-side comparison sessions of the two LMS, with reps from both products present?

h. I am sick of hearing "there's a work around for that" or "use an external program", and similar phrases. Blackboard doesn't need work around compromises.

i. I am concerned whether Canvas is able to meet the demands of the QM rubric. Our online course certifications will probably suffer dreadfully in this switch.

j. I wonder if anyone will listen, or if the only thing this feedback will give is the right to say "I told you so" when the switch goes bad for the science disciplines.

10. Final comment. Do not switch to Canvas. Keep Blackboard. Participation in the Canvas pilot project has increased my appreciation for the Blackboard platform by several orders of magnitude. Canvas -might- be appropriate for a high-school course. There is no way it is sufficient for the demands of a quality university-level science course.


canvas pilot faculty instruction fall 2019

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