Eastern Nazarene College made the switch from Moodle to Canvas over the Summer. Canvas is among the leaders in online learning services. Besides Blackboard, it is one of the most popular education and technology platforms.
Dakin Burdick, PhD, is the Instructional Designer and Technologist at ENC; he played a major role in facilitating the switch from Moodle to Canvas. Burdick had previously worked with Canvas at Mount Ida College where he was the Lead Administrator of Canvas. From contract negotiation to the training of faculty, ENC was able to make the change to Canvas in just eight weeks.
Burdick feels that Canvas is more effective, intuitive, and flexible than Moodle. “Canvas provides a guided path for students and faculty using modules which are like file cabinets filled with weekly pages, assignments, quizzes and discussions,” says Burdick.
Canvas is for the students’ advantage. Unlike with Moodle, where it is a constant struggle to search for needed information, its setup is more organized.
ENC will be using Canvas for the immediate future. According to Burdick, ENC is set to use Canvas for five years, but he believes it could be the learning service for an even longer time because it is affordable and effective.
Cullen Gallagher, a sophomore and Communication Arts major, is already fond of Canvas. Gallagher says, “I love it, it’s really nice. It’s more accessible than Moodle. It allows you to find missing work through devices like Alexa.”
Dr. Catherine Mueller-Bell, an Associate Professor of Psychology, is familiar with Canvas because she has used it before. Bell overall approves of the change from Moodle to Canvas because of “the loss of personal touch” in Moodle. She explains, “Canvas is more user-friendly, and there are more ways to communicate than in Moodle.”
Another plus for Bell is that Canvas is better suited for teachers who like to use multimedia in their classes. Because she took on two new positions over the summer, Bell is one of many professors who have not yet made the switch from Moodle to Canvas. By January, all professors will be required to switch to Canvas.