WCC switches to Canvas 

Summer semester students will be among first to see full shift

Alice McGuire | Deputy Editor 

Winter 2025 is set to be the final semester in which WCC will use the learning management system (LMS), Blackboard. Starting in Summer of 2025, the campus will exclusively use Canvas. Winter semester saw 25% of overall courses across all modalities make the switch. Faculty are in the process of archiving existing Blackboard courses.

“A number of years ago, we had looked to identify a new learning management system that would have a greater user experience for both our students, our faculty, and our staff …About two years ago, we settled on Canvas. Canvas has been the leader–not just in Michigan, but across our country in terms of learning management systems,” Brandon Tucker, vice president of instruction said. 

Carl Weckerle, dean of academic services, added that U-M, EMU, and Wayne State all use Canvas and that mobile-friendliness as well as mobile access is a large factor in the learning management system’s appeal. 

In comparison to Canvas’ mobile app, Brandon Tucker said Blackboard’s app has “not been user-friendly.” 

Weckerle said that WCC ran its first pilot of Canvas last year, with about 20 courses using it over the fall 2024 semester. 

Davied Cordero-Caballero, a part time instructor for environmental science, said that he finds the biggest difference between the two to be the user interface, with Canvas being “a lot more upfront and easily accessible,” though he said there is also a bit of a learning curve, particularly for instructors. On the student side, he believes Canvas has a better system for delivering notifications. 

Canvas also has a better system for detecting plagiarism than Blackboard, with the instructor being able to tell, for example, when a student clicks away from the browser while taking a quiz or a test. 

“I think students are mostly frustrated about having to use both (Blackboard and Canvas) during the semester,” said Cordero-Caballero, who explained he had noticed that students who were already juggling learning various software languages seemed to find the transition between the two platforms to be a bit “tricky.”

“But apart from that, I really haven’t heard that many complaints,” Cordero-Caballero said. 

For students who might be unfamiliar with Canvas, Weckerle recommends checking out the student training course that is available for them on the platform.

“I think students are going to be able to adapt to Canvas fairly easily,” said Weckerle, who suggested that students log in early and “poke around” if they’re nervous. Weckerle also expressed excitement for Canvas’ calendar feature and said that he thinks students will find it useful to stay on top of their assignments and stay organized. 

“I won’t say that I miss Blackboard, but it’ll hold a nice, fond memory in my heart,” said  Cordero-Caballero.

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