Home » About the Center for Distributed Learning » Discover CDL » About Our Migration to Canvas » Comparing Blackboard Vista and Instructure Canvas Comparing Blackboard Vista and Instructure Canvas VistaCanvasEnhancementsLosses AnnouncementsAnnouncements- Video Announcements- Link course content to announcement- Announcement is an RSS feed that can be subscribed to- Use an external RSS feed as an Announcement- Pop-ups- Targeted roles Assessment ManagerGrades- Reviews of tests/surveys are performed through the Grades area. AssignmentsAssignments- Set date/time availability (beginning/ending)- Weight the assignments by assignment group- Set how student submits the work: File uploads, text entry, website URL, media recordings- Restrict file type- Added to Calendar automatically- Publishing- Taking Back Submissions- Submissions can be re-submitted instead of taking them back Assignment DropboxGrades -> SpeedGrader- Reviews of assignments are performed through the Speedgrader and can be filtered by assignments.- Allows for online viewing word documents via Scribd along with video/audio comments.None BannersN/A- No area for dedicated course banner BreadcrumbsBreadcrumbsNo Changes Browser CheckN/A- Java not required- No browser checker needed because Canvas does not use Flash or Java- No browser checker built in but product supports the following: Mozilla Firefox 3.5+, Apple Safari 4+, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8+, Google Chrome (from Canvas Guides) Build/Teach/Student View tabsN/A- Build/Teach combined- Student view available. (see Canvas Guides Help Center) CalendarCalendar- Anything with a due date is populated automatically- All day events- Global calendar for all courses- Can toggle off courses- Calendar RSS feed to use in other readers- Program feature instead of course feature- Student has personal calendar in addition to course calendars- Printable view- Recurring events Chat/WhiteboardChat- YouTube video sharing- Webcam- Microphone- Snapshot Screen Capture- Aliases- Goals- Limit number of users- Session descriptions- Slide show- Undo Course ContentModules or Pages- Sequential order enforcement- Drag and drop reordering- View individual student's progress through modules Course ToolsSettings- Customizable Create filePages- Color the title of the item- Attach file- Attach video-Set permissions on who can edit file: teachers, teachers/students or anyone- Page is not kept in files area DiscussionsDiscussion- Replies are not visible until after users post- Enable Podcast Feed for this Topic- Notifications of New Posts via email/text- Grade entries within SpeedGrader- Grade individuals or a group discussion as individuals- Group grades can be recorded for all group members or for each member of the group- Feedback to students - Students view grades and feedback through the grades area - Threaded Discussion: Canvas Guides "Threaded Discussions"- Anonymous posts- Blog/Journal (While Canvas doesn't have an explicit Journal tool, the same essential functionality is available either via Assignments, Discussions, or–most closely matching-- ePortfolio)- Categories - Custom peer rating- Moving posts between threads E-packsCheck with individual publishers for support File ManagerFiles- Drag and Drop- Layout is more like a desktop computer.- Hierarchy on left side and contents on right.- Cannot edit files (workaround is to copy the file and paste into Pages and use Rich Text Editor)- Cannot sort files by type- Cannot view the size of a file or folder- No Webdav support. Workaround is multiple file upload/zip package upload and zip package download- Cannot copy files (Canvas lets you move files (drag and drop) within a course, or copy files between courses and a user's personal Files area)- No institutional repository (This is functionally possible via the use of institutional Groups or Courses)- No absolute links to a file FooterN/A- No area for the instructor GoalsOutcomes- Create Outcome Groups- Create Learning Outcomes with Criterion Ratings- Tie Learning Outcomes to Rubrics Grade BookGrades- Drag and Drop Reordering- "Mute" assignment. Student won' receive notifications about that assignment- Curve Grades - Batch Overwrite grades- Simplified calculations via Weighting- Total column is a running total for instructor will only calculate what grades are entered- Students can choose Calculate based only on graded assignments- Choice of Showing grades as points/percentage/letter grade/incomplete - To hide a grade column use the Mute option: Canvas Guides "Mute"- Can't create a grade column in Grade book. Must be tied to an assignment- Enrollments happen through People area Grading FormsOutcomes ->Rubrics- Criterion can be used from Outcomes area Group ManagerPeople -> View Student Groups- Drag and Drop to enroll students into groups- Groups have their own subset of tools: announcements, pages, chat, files, discussion, people and calendar.- Group graded discussions are done through the assignments area HeaderN/A- No instructor header can be added in the Home area HelpHelp- Link to Canvas Materials- Institutional Customizable links- Video Tutorials- Direct documentation to specific tools Hide /ShowLearning Modules/Pages- Provides the flexibility to view/no view specific content. This is built into the edit area of content. HMTLRich Text Editor- Option of setting to be automatically open when launching any tool using it- Media Bar added- Link to Media files (i.e., Video, Image)- Ability to edit uploaded HTML files- Spell Check (Canvas takes advantage of the web browser's built-in spell checker, which is standard in all modern browsers)- Full screen view Learning ModulesModules- Drag & drop- Forced navigation path- Table of Contents with icons for different course tools- Built in selective release tools Local ContentN/AN/A MailInbox- Inbox is a global communication area that will keep all messages sent for all courses.- This includes submissions comments, private replies and discussions replies- Removal of messages from inbox does not delete from course- Drafts- Folders Manage CourseSettings- Tools- Icons- Course Preview Page- Settings (tools)- Colors Media LibraryN/AN/A MoveN/A- Drag and Drop My FilesProfiles -> Files- Personal Content Storage is available by default My GradesGrades- Option to calculate based only on graded assignments- Notification of new grades through grades area. My WebcoursesRecent Activity- Entry area is a "newsfeed" type area with updates from all courses My ProgressN/AN/A My SettingsProfile- Avatar or image upload- Edit Contact Information, Time Zone, Language- Register with different 3rd party services (twitter, etc)- Set Notification settings (sms and email) and frequency- ePortfolio tool located here- Academic Major- Areas of Interest- Extra-Curricular Activities Notification IconsBlend of Notifications/Recent Activities- Notified outside of LMS by sms or email.- Notified inside of LMS by recent activity area. NotesCollaborations- Create Google Doc or Etherpad PowerLinksLTI/API- Supports LTI/API Integrations RepositoryN/A- No central repository RosterPeople- Course tracking located in this area SCORMN/A- Read only support for SCORM because of security issues with SCORM. (Please see: SCORM Security)- LTI is supported SearchDroppedN/A Selective ReleaseBlended into Individual Tools- Students must complete a whole module before moving onto the next- Students are notified of release- Cannot release module based on membership - Cannot release module based on one assignment/quiz (You can release based on seeing a single page, contributing to a discussion, submitting a quiz, or attaining a score) Show/HideLocked Until, Locked After- All content is open unless dates are set Student ViewN/A- Student View available (Canvas Guides "Student View") SyllabusSyllabus- Automatically lists all the assignments in the course- This is more of a schedule- Ability to upload a document to display as the syllabus TemplatesN/AAll the courses are the same. Instructor can reorder course menu through settings Tools (Manage Course)N/AN/A TrackingPeople ->Access Report Settings -> Course Stats- Available items: Content, Times Viewed, Times Participated, Last Viewing- Test started/finished & time spent- Drill down into individual interaction with each tool- Session length & activated- Working on tracking- Discussion messages read & post - Email read & post Web LinksExternal URL- Add links anywhere Who's OnlineN/AN/A Wizard – DesignNext Steps- Wizard that will help import content, add students, and publish course
