CANVAS

Kommentare: I have used Canvas as both a student and a teacher. I have used it to create courses and assignments, grading, submitting assignments, viewing grades, etc. It is a beneficial software for higher education because of all of the resources and tools available. It helps significantly with the organization of a class.

Vorteile: 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.

Nachteile: 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.

Kommentare: My overall experience with CANVAS has been terrific. It's made me feel more confident as a student, and has saved me valuable time because I can always find exactly what I need for my weekly assignments thanks to its modern-style dashboard and advanced functionality. A true winner for all students, both young and old.

Vorteile: As a returning student attaining an MBA through an online program at a state university, I spent the first several semesters suffering through Blackboard. Like CANVAS, Blackboard is a learning management system used by today's higher education institutions. However, I always found it to be difficult to navigate and challenging to use. Recently, my university switched to CANVAS. I was nervous at first because, while I was no fan of Blackboard, I feared CANVAS might be worse. Thankfully I was completely wrong. CANVAS features a clean dashboard where all of your courses, assignments, grades, discussion boards, and other online learning tools can easily be accessed. It's extremely user-friendly and I had become a skilled CANVAS user in under an hour. I used to dread accessing Blackboard, but now I welcome accessing CANVAS instead.

Nachteile: There is literally nothing to dislike about CANVAS. Even those new to online learning will find it simple to use and extremely flexible.

Kommentare: Canvas has been a great platform in my career as a student and as an employee. From being able to take quizzes directly on the platform, to getting involved in very thoughtful discussions, Canvas has been something that has facilitated my learning experiences, inside the classroom and in the office. The digitalization of coursework, readings, and writings, has made a positive impact on the environment, and also allows its users to take their work with them wherever they go- as everything is accessible via the mobile app, or through the website on their laptop. This has made the experience absolutely positive for me and those who I have studied and worked with over the years.

Vorteile: Canvas is a software that I have been using for multiple years now, having used it originally in school, and now in college at Georgetown University while also making use of the software's organizational benefits as an Intern at EY. There are a few aspects of this program that stand out to me as being significantly beneficial. Firstly, Canvas, as a platform, is used for connecting users in an organization (class, work project, team, etc.) under one platform. The administrator (boss, professor, team leader) can then publish documents, quizzes, links, and other files so that its users can all view them, without the need for the administrator to send these files to each user individually. Perhaps the largest pro of a software like Canvas is that, on the same platform where files are published and shared with others, users can also engage in blog posts, discussions, Zoom conferences, and more features; all of which allow them to communicate with and learn from each other while also becoming familiar with any material posted by their boss, team leader, or professor. This synergy is what makes canvas special and unique; it is a one-stop-shop for individuals in an organization to parttake in multiple means of learning, all in the same location.

Nachteile: Despite being a phenomenal software platform, perhaps one of its downfalls is that, when using CANVAS in school or in college, the dashboard can get relatively messy. When enrolled in many different classes across different semesters, older classes tend to stay on your dashboard and this can make it difficult to keep your new classes a priority at first glance. While this is easy to edit in your Canvas settings, I personally believe this should be something that the user can edit from the homepage. In addition, it would be a large plus to the aspect of organization if users could customize the menu bar on the left side of the website, to only show the tabs they want to see for each class or project (files, modules, pages, discussions, announcements, grades, etc.)

Kommentare: Overall, I'm highly satisfied to have a student portal that doesn't make me want to tear my hair out. The developers clearly did a lot of research and user testing into finding out what features students need, as it still astounds me how complete of an experience the app is. Just about the only major issue with it is that some instructors don't make the most out of its functionality, but that's not really an issue with Canvas itself.

Vorteile: As a student who used to use Blackboard, I immediately saw Canvas' UI and overall look-and-feel as a huge upgrade. I like that it's based on modern UI design patterns, with features like the sidebar and the single flush column of content. It makes the web app inviting and fun to use for young students like me who are on their phone for most of the day. One relatively minor feature that I greatly appreciate is the in-app PDF previewer, which saves me from wasting time having to download the file or opening it in a new tab and cluttering my workspace. Just this feature alone was enough to show me that Canvas' developers really had the end-user in mind. One last big net positive I want to mention is the integration with the mobile app. It's great! Notifications show up on time and don't duplicate or perform other wonky stuff. Having a seamless experience between desktop and mobile goes a long towards making students like feel in control of their learning.

Nachteile: While there's a lot to like about the UI, I do have some minor grievances with it in a few places. The one thing that really stands out is how some blue links are clickable but don't actually do anything. For example, discussion threads have a clickable subtitle that shows which Lecture Section they're intended for. If it's for "All Sections", then clicking on it does absolutely nothing. I know this is a minor nitpick, but you would not believe how many times I've ended up accidentally clicking on that link intending to go the discussion board.

Kommentare: You can start using this platform for your academic purposes with confidence. In spite of all the above-mentioned disadvantages, generally, the platform works without any serious problem. I’m confident that students who prefer distant learning and the teachers who like online teaching will really appreciate Canvas LMS.

Vorteile: The platform is very easy and flexible to navigate so, you can be sure that you’ll never be lost while searching for the material you need. Besides, you can add text, upload pictures and videos without difficulty. In addition to this if you know how to work with HTML code you can have the design you like. The next thing that I like about Canvas is that you can communicate with your teacher and fellow students easily. You can send an email to your teacher or start a chat with your classmates. Canvas is used by educational institutions for two purposes: either for creating courses that are taught exceptionally online or for blending the traditional way of teaching with online one. This platform is especially useful for students who always need to find all the material on their course online, including the textbooks, lectures, homework, individual works and of course, their grades and attendance. Canvas makes collaboration between teachers and students more effective and fruitful.

Nachteile: It is fascinating to know that the Canvas app is available on mobile devices. However, the app needs some improvements because some features are still not available there and notifications sometimes don’t pop up.
The platform successfully cooperates and works with third-party vendors. However, I should mention that some programs do not work well and obviously they need to get improvements.
And finally, there sometimes some glitches may occur but I wish the platform could work more smoothly.