New Canvas Courseware System is Cut from a Different Cloth

Why is it called Canvas?

From the Bruin (on the conversion of course websites to Canvas):

UCLA will transition learning management systems to host all courses via Canvas on Bruin Learn by winter.

A learning management system is a web-based software that manages course materials and resources for institutions, instructors and students. UCLA will fully transition from CCLE, the current learning management system, in the winter and is currently hosting some fall quarter courses on Canvas, according to the UCLA LMS Transformation website.*

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*https://www.lmstransformation.ucla.edu/what-new-ucla-learning-management-system-lms

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Bruin Learn is built on the Canvas platform but will also include other tools and programs, according to LMS Transformation...

Tim Groeling, a professor of communication at UCLA, said in an emailed statement that some professors may need some time to get acquainted with the platform, but the university is providing technical support for faculty during the transition... Groeling added that he is worried some faculty may not be aware of the transition. He said he receives around 100 emails a day, so emailed information from the university is easy to miss.

“I’m concerned that faculty putting this off until the last minute will overwhelm any available support,” Groeling said. “I’d suggest faculty get their winter sites set up by no later than finals week this quarter to avoid that sort of crush.” ...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2021/11/11/ucla-prepares-for-winter-transition-to-canvas-system-from-ccle.

Some observations.

1) The ideal time for such a conversion of a basic computer system is the summer, not the period between fall and winter.

2) Based on personal experience in making such a conversion, yours truly can say that Prof. Groeling is correct in his concern.

3) The system, as far as I can tell, is not set up to make students - who are scrolling through the menu of possible courses in which to enroll - aware of the actual course content (as opposed to the canned, catalog-type course descriptions). Once enrolled, of course, they can see the content. But by then they have already had to make a choice. There is a not-so-obvious way of making courses "public," but students would have to know the public URL for the course to see the detailed content.

4) The faculty/user is confronted with options for every conceivable bell and whistle one might want to use with a course, many of which won't be relevant to any specific course. For example, small seminars are unlikely to need all kinds of automated course grading options or quizzes.

5) There needs to be a simple menu of choices for faculty, particularly in the transition period. Possible examples:

I just want to post my syllabus. Click here.

I just want to post my syllabus and course reading files. Click here.

I just want to post my syllabus, course reading files, and media files such as video and audio. Click here.

Etc., etc.

6) The Canvas help option seems to respond to common questions - e.g., How do I use Turnitin to check for plagiarism? - by saying someone else has the answer because some other subsystem is involved:

Turnitin is a third-party LTI external app that connects/integrates with Canvas. You will need to first talk with your school's local Canvas administrator or someone from your school's Online Learning/eLearning department to see if they have added this integration to your school's Canvas environment. I would recommend using one of the "Helpful Links" listed on your school's website: Ohio State: CarmenCanvas. Turnitin is normally added at the Canvas account level ... which means that it would be available for all courses and not just your course(s) in Ohio State's Canvas environment.  Folks at your school should be able to help you in determining if Turnitin has been integrated into Canvas or not.

I hope this will be of some help to you, Claudia. Good luck in your quest for answers! 

Source: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Question-Forum/Turnitin/m-p/496231#M163139

From the faculty perspective, Canvas is one overall system - even though it may be composed of several systems UCLA has chosen to link together. So, "Good luck in your quest for answers!" is not a good response.