When students return to the campus next month, some will see social media become a more significant part of their academic experience.
The university will shift from Blackboard to Instructure Canvas, a “robust” enterprise learning management system that faculty members hope will encourage more interaction between professors and students, said Chris Higgins, the Division of Information Technology’s learning technologies and environments director. The pilot program will begin this fall and will be fully deployed by January 2013.
Canvas provides more user-friendly features, including more integration with social media, Higgins said, and costs about half as much as Blackboard. The program boasts more efficient communication between students and professors, calendar functions and automated calculated curves for tests, which faculty members and students who tested the program touted.
The jump to the new platform began in spring 2010 when a faculty-led committee began exploring systems on the market as part of a regular assessment process.
The year-long evaluation included members from every college at the university as well as the Graduate Student Government and the Student Government Association.
“When we switched to Blackboard six years ago, it was determined that we would periodically review systems on the market to ensure we had the best learning communities on campus,” Higgins said. “With Blackboard a couple of years behind, we either had to go to the next version … or we could have looked at other tools.”
Faculty members said they expect the new program to enhance the learning environment for students and make it more interactive and engaging.
“The team felt it was easy for faculty members to accomplish their tasks and it provided a better environment for collaboration between faculty and students,” said education college senior lecturer Helene Cohen, who took part in the selection process.
But sophomore civil engineering major John Groeger said he thought a new system seemed unnecessary.
“I always thought that [Blackboard] worked just fine,” he said. “Its weakness was the teachers who didn’t regularly post grades and documents. I found it easier to keep track of assignments and class standing when teachers and students used [Blackboard] as a common resource.”
GSG President David Colon-Cabrera said the body sees added value in moving to Canvas.
“While we didn’t participate in the pilot, we look forward to its implementation and hope the transition goes smoothly,” he said.
“We believe the experience will be positive on a daily, goal-oriented, task-driven sense,” Cohen said. “The transition may seem like something a little extra to focus on at first, but it is worth the monetary disruption.”
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