This article from Inside Higher Ed reports that Canvas has surpassed Blackboard as the leading learning management system in American colleges and universities, based upon the number of installations. Michael Feldstein from MindWires Consulting states that this is a “stunning development.” Really? My colleagues have been saying for a number of years that Canvas is a superior product to Blackboard. Talking to our buddies down the road at t.u. who switched to Canvas about 5 years ago, they think it was one of the best moves they made.
As a user of Blackboard for my classes, I can say with some authority that is difficult to use, slow, and the students don’t like it very much. I would like to see at least an assessment of how Canvas would work at our institution. But it looks like there is little impetus at the university level for this at the present time. I have some committee assignments where I may be able to use my influence to further the conversation, but would be interested in what others within the TAMU community think about the issue.