In my seven semesters at Auburn I have only taken a handful of classes that used Blackboard in any great capacity.
I have mere months before graduation, and my last core class, Ethics, is forcing me to face Canvas. Other than my computer, I pretty much live in the technological equivalent of 2006. The thought of not turning in physical assignments makes me lose my mind because it's not a matter of if, but when, I will forget what is due.
Nevertheless, I needed to customize my Canvas settings ASAP so my TigerMail wouldn't get flooded with insignificant notifications.
My expectations started quite low, and the long list of alerts seemed daunting. After a while, though, I began to fully understand the capabilities of the system. The intial page has a "To Do" list with all my assignments and a "Coming Up" list with future due dates. Canvas is sleek, usable and extremely interactive--everything a website should be, especially an educational one.
Now, like I said, I've never had a class previous to this one that used Blackboard for anything more than Powerpoint slides. I have very little to compare Canvas with, but the interaction I have had with Blackboard proves to me that Canvas is far superior.
My professor mentioned something that was quite interesting, though--and I had been wondering it myself for a while--why is Canvas not yet widespread? Canvas has been a part of AUAccess since last summer, yet many professors have not switched their classes from Blackboard.
It seems like we won't be using Canvas as we should for a while. I fully understand holding onto old technology because you've never experienced the new thing (I may or may not still have a dumbphone), but Canvas is free. We already have access to it. It's as if somebody gave Auburn an iPad and it's taking five semesters to turn on. Let's make the switch!
Canvas rules, Blackboard drools.
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