Photo illustration by Cory Wyman ’16 – Canvas is the new class management program used by teachers and students alike, replacing the Blackboard of years past. This program has both a website for computers and an app for tablets.
By Sam Romero ’17
THE ROUNDUP
Starting off the new year with Canvas, a new online course management system, has been difficult for some people around campus.
The switch from Blackboard to Canvas has me and some of my classmates very confused on many things.
Incoming freshmen have never used Blackboard so they do not notice the change at all.
But for sophomores, juniors and seniors who have been accustomed to Blackboard all their Brophy career, this is a big shift.
The Canvas iPad app looks different than Blackboard and many say is more aesthetically pleasing.
Even though it is hard to use now, Canvas has very beneficial features.
Some students like Canvas because of the calendar feature that Blackboard did not have. The calendar is an easy way of seeing all your class homework for the next month.
This is a very useful way of managing homework, but I do not think it is worth sacrificing something that everyone was comfortable using.
It is not just that students are having a hard time moving through Canvas. But many teachers also have not yet fully grasped how to use Canvas and occasionally make mistakes.
These errors slow down class and hinder time that could be better used in school.
Students can also get lost trying to navigate themselves around Canvas, figuring out what assignments are due and submitting homework since terminology is new.
It’s understandable why the school shifted to Canvas.
In an interview with The Roundup, Assistant Principal for Technology and Instruction Mr. Jim Bopp said the Virginia G. Piper Foundation paid to outfit all schools in the Phoenix Catholic Diocese with the new system for five years.
In addition to the clear cost savings, Mr. Bopp said Canvas out does Blackboard when it comes to technology integration.
“Canvas was the hands-down favorite for every technology person that was there,” Mr. Bopp said in an interview with The Roundup.
Switching to Canvas will be beneficial in the long run, but Brophy should have made the switch more smoothly for students and it would have been nice for students to have a bigger voice in the change.
Hopefully this is just a normal technology learning curve and Canvas will soon become second nature. In the meantime, I never thought I would say this, I miss Blackboard.
