Even though Canvas is heavily promoted on-campus through the administration, many professors don’t utilize it’s various resources.
“The Digital Education Collaborative was created to help support faculty and students using all instructional technologies, including Canvas,” said Dr. Jeannine Perry, dean of College of Graduate and Professional Studies. “Training and one-on-one support is available for faculty and students.”
It was predicted that 25 percent of professors didn’t utilize Canvas, but that number was skewed.
“The 25 percent number came from a single snapshot of time in 2014, and this number fluctuates constantly,” said Perry. “The 25 percent referred only to the number of courses ‘published’ in Canvas, not the number of faculty who publish their courses.”
According to Perry, Canvas is difficult for many professors to use, and all of the courses not published through Canvas are published through numerous other sites.
“Faculty use websites, WordPress or other blogging platforms, course packs offered by publishers and other products we may not even know about,” said Perry. “Some also do not choose to use any digital course tool.”
Perry stated that Faculty do not seem to be using canvas simply based on personal choice.
According to Perry, they are not aware of which departments use Canvas more than others and the university has no policy regarding Canvas use.
“We have heard students want more ‘use,’ but the university still needs more clarification on what ‘use’ means,” said Perry.
The university encourages students to reach out to them in regards to this issue if they prefer Canvas use rather than alternative websites.
