Pasadena City College > As Pasadena City College’s contract with Blackboard neared expiration, a college-wide survey revealed dissatisfaction with Blackboard. In response, the college formed a steering committee to evaluate LMS options. Members of the committee, which included faculty, students and staff, ranked Canvas higher than Blackboard and Moodle in all categories. The college began transitioning to Canvas in summer 2012. Read more about PCC’s process. Try Canvas Now!

University of Washington > During the 2011-2012 academic year, the University of Washington launched an extensive Canvas pilot involving 108 faculty teaching 88 courses to nearly 6,000 students. The pilot’s purpose was to measure how well Canvas could meet the needs of UW faculty and students. The UW Board of Deans and the Teaching and Learning Technology Oversight Committee endorsed adoption of Canvas at all three campuses. Read more about UW’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Auburn University > After a 2011 evaluation process to select a replacement for Blackboard Vista, Auburn University’s faculty voted in overwhelming numbers for Canvas. Other systems evaluated were Moodle, Sakai and Desire2Learn. Faculty, as well as IT staff, liked that Canvas was easy to use and required little or no training. They also liked that course creation was simple and fast. Read more about Auburn’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Samuel Merritt University > As part of its LMS evaluation process, Samuel Merritt University surveyed faculty to find out which features of Blackboard Learn, their current LMS, were used most. They also asked for a features wish list—those that faculty needed and wanted, but Blackboard didn’t provide. Relying on these lists to guide the evaluation process, the university ultimately selected Canvas. Read more about SMU’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Bowling Green State University >
In 2011, Bowling Green State University appointed a 65-member task force to evaluate LMS options. The task force recommended the university pilot Canvas during spring semester 2012. The pilot involved 94 faculty teaching 140 classes to 3,400 students. As a result, the university got a two for one—it replaced both its Blackboard Learn LMS and its Epsilen ePortfolio application with Canvas. Read more about BGSU’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges > Following a review process that included feedback from nearly 1,000 faculty members, students and staff, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) selected Canvas, which received the highest score among competitors, as the new learning platform for its 34 colleges and six public universities. Read more about SBCTC’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Ontario College of Art and Design
University > OCAD University needed a learning platform that could support studio-based online learning. And to mitigate the cost of commercial hosting, they wanted a platform that was open source. After evaluating and building courses in five prospective systems, the choice was clear—faculty and students preferred Canvas. OCAD began transitioning to Canvas Community Version™ (CV), which is self-implemented and self-hosted. Read more about OCAD’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Lower Columbia College > In addition to their governng board’s review process involving nearly 1,000 faculty members, students and staff, Lower Columbia College launched a 76-course pilot using Canvas. When feedback came in, nearly all of the faculty responses were positive. The college’s rubric was based on 15 essential and 11 important criteria, including integration with social media, mobile, usability and ADA compliance. Read more about LCC’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Edison State College > When faculty and staff at Edison State College began evaluating learning platforms in 2009, they compared the features of 14 systems. After two elimination rounds, the college selected Blackboard Learn and Canvas as its two final contenders. Courses were then piloted on both platforms and feedback was collected from faculty and students. More than 80% of respondents agreed (or strongly agreed!) that they liked Canvas. Read more about ESC’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Michigan Tech > After WebCT was discontinued by Blackboard, Michigan Technological University planned to transition its WebCT courses to Blackboard Learn. But when faculty raised concerns about usability issues, the university launched a two-year evaluation process comparing Blackboard Learn, Moodle, Sakai and Canvas. Faculty and students participated in a pilot program to test each system and provide feedback. Seventy percent of faculty recommended adoption of Canvas. Read more about Michigan Tech’s process. Try Canvas Now!

Webster University > Webster University chose Canvas to replace Blackboard Vista as the learning platform for its WorldClassRoom that serves online programs and traditional courses offered at more than 100 campus locations worldwide. Their research showed that students and faculty valued ease of use, mobile access and tools that facilitate communication and collaboration. Ultimately, participants selected Canvas. Read more about WU’s process. Try Canvas Now!