How MSU students are handling the transition to Canvas

MSU students are reporting mixed reactions towards Canvas, the University’s new learning-management system. Some cite confusion over assignment accessibility while others appreciate features the old system Desire2Learn (D2L) didn’t offer.

The Montana University System (MUS) selected Canvas after a vetting process that began in November 2021. The MUS focused on ease of use, mobile friendliness and analytics, according to an Oct. 4, 2023 announcement from the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. 

The decision to move to a single platform across Montana public colleges and universities was intended to lower licensing costs and give students a more consistent experience, according to the announcement.

"It's not as good as D2L in my opinion," said Maddilyn Huffine, a sophomore studying business management. "I feel like [on] D2L, it was just so much easier to get reminders for assignments."

Several students said it can be difficult to find coursework when classes depend on outside tools that don’t fully integrate with Canvas. “All the professors are like, ‘All your assignments are going to be uploaded into Canvas.’ And it’s just not the case,” Huffine said. 

“With my statistics class, we do a lot of our assignments through Gradescope.” Huffine added that she sometimes has to dig through syllabi to confirm assignment due dates. “It’s so much more inconvenient than D2L,” she said.

Despite the learning curve, some faculty noted improvement. “It was frustrating in the beginning because getting to know new things — especially a new technology — can be frustrating,” said Prasanta Bandyopadhyay, an MSU professor in the math and philosophy department. “However, [support staff] helped smooth this transition.”

Other students agree that the benefits are starting to show. “I’ve been liking Canvas,” said business finance major Jillian Callzer. “I like being able to see all my grades at once on the dashboard page.” Callzer also pointed to Canvas’s ‘what-if’ feature that allows students to model potential grade outcomes — something D2L didn’t offer.

Students reported teaching themselves the new system or learning from peers, despite instructional resources such as “Passport to Canvas” and IT help offered by the University. “So far I haven’t needed to use that,” Callzer said. “It’s been pretty good to self-guide or ask a friend.” 

Huffine said she hasn’t used the tutorials either. “I’ve always just had to self-teach,” she said.

For some, the transition hasn’t posed an issue. “Canvas also seems to give instructors more flexibility in how they set up their courses,” said Alex Tupper, a master’s student in architecture who used D2L during his undergraduate years. “I think the shift is going to be good for MSU in the long run.”

Huffine also said she expects to get more familiar with the platform. “Since everybody’s still getting used to Canvas, it’s a little bit harder to communicate all of it,” she said. “It’s getting better — the switch just wasn’t as smooth as everybody was hoping.”

When asked about data privacy within the new system, Huffine expressed resignation about potential institutional monitoring. "I feel like if they wanted to get our information, they could," she said. 

Canvas restricts IP address access to IT administrators only, according to Mike Becker, MSU's interim vice president of communications. 

"The Canvas system does record IP addresses as users log in and navigate pages, but those are only accessible by IT administrators, not students or faculty members," Becker said.

For more information on Canvas, visit https://www.montana.edu/ecat/help/learners/getting-started/index.html.