Campus Sandbox Testing Feedback

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Sophie Tyler
5 years ago
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1 Campus Sandbox Testing Feedback Qualitative Feedback Summary April 21st 2017 Why did you prefer the selected LMS? After identifying their preferred LMS, testers were given an opportunity to explain their preference. This feedback was analyzed for common themes which are outlined below. Most Common Theme: Layout, Navigation, and Overall Interface Design Overwhelmingly, the most common reason given for preferring one LMS over the other was a general preference for the layout, navigation, and overall interface design. Respondents typically felt their preferred LMS provided the more intuitive, user-friendly interface. However, the number of testers who preferred Canvas overall vastly outnumbered those who preferred D2L s Brightspace. What they said about Brightspace: D2L seemed more user-friendly in terms of navigation, easy-tounderstand directions for adding content. The grading area also seems easy to use and understand; the various grading options are clear and seem plentiful. Also, the appearance (setup/structure/layout) is more visually appealing; it reminds me more of a simple website with everything neatly organized. Canvas seemed to have very neat tools like the youtube lectures and other things, but I felt a bit overwhelmed by this LMS; I think things weren't clearly explained in terms of how to use all of the neat tools at my disposal and the layout of this LMS felt messy and a bit confusing. Canvas system is a lot more structured. Borders are defined, menus are visible and clear, and design is easy to understand. It also seems faster. Although I haven't dived too much into any features that might have been available, if the supreme structure and design tell me anything, the features should be solidly developed too. Brightspace is really open and doesn't seem to deploy any techniques of design that provides contrast between the elements. It also doesn't feature any lines visible or implied (no structural separation) to separate different elements. Fonts and sizes feel very similar not allowing any contrast to once again differentiate between text. Canvas on the other hand employs all aspects of design vert well.

2 The overall layout of the program was much more visually appealing, making it more desirable to look through. Canvas was not at visually friendly making it more difficult to look around and find things. The Brightspace website seemed very clean and easy to navigate; I've used Canvas before (a few years ago), but it was still more difficult to find things through Canvas compared with Brightspace. Brightspace just seemed clearer - everything was easy to find and identify. Nice layout - clear, uncluttered, user friendly. Uploading and copying looked like it was much easier. There were some similarities to Blackboard, which would make learning the new system easier - not as much of a learning curve as with Canvas. Canvas looked more complicated - I could not see how to do several things, implying a steeper, and more frustrating learning curve. I hated D2L when u used it at Los Rios, Sacramento city college and American river college, it's to difficult to use and is not pretty to look at, the canvass is much more user friendly in appearance and usefulness. Without a doubt and hands down canvass over D2L any day. Much more conveniently organized and better looking to the eye. Brightspace I had to look around more to find where I wanted to go - canvas was instantly easier to navigate and seemed more userfriendly. This LMS Canvas, is optimized for modern use and displays everything neatly and conveniently with as little clicking as needed. I felt like i instinctively knew where everything was which proves efficient design. This is what us students need to improve performance. Regarding brightspace it felt just as scattered as sacct just with a new skin. I don't care about looks if practicality is not there first. This is where canvas defeats brightspace. Canvas appears to feature remnants of Google material design which makes interaction intuitive and familiar though being a new platform.

3 Other Common Themes: Familiarity Comfort due to previous use of the tested LMS at another institution was also common theme expressed about each system. Several respondents also mention that one system or other resembled Blackboard more closely and, thus, felt more familiar. Distribution: Seven theme mentions for Brightspace and 32 for Canvas. What they said about Brightspace: I love the layout. I like how the different tabs are listed horizontally. I also like it because its somewhat familiar because its by d2l, which is what I used at my community college. Familiar, yet new and different at the same time. Canvas s layout just doesn t appeal to me. I used D2L at ARC and I like their new design even more. I tried the other one and it was just meh This is the same system used at the community college I transferred from. Sierra College and American River college user canvas and it makes the transfer process easier if the online classroom system is the same. It appears easier to use and adapt to and it is the LMS used at community colleges, making it better for transfer students. Canvas is so much better! I had it at my other University I transferred from and it was amazing! Easy to learn, quick, teachers loved it, easy to message, see files, it is what Sac State NEEDS!

4 Other Common Themes: Features Testers also commonly mentioned the overall feature set of specific features within each LMS as one determinant of their overall preference. Distribution: Six theme mentions for Brightspace and 22 for Canvas. What they said about Brightspace: I was first introduced to canvas at American River College last semester; one of my professors was the first to try it before the rollout. The software had a lot of problems interpreting online quiz answers, and it was a paint for the professor to use the LMS. Brightspace has a very clean and intuitive user experience; canvas does not. Brightspace s quiz system, which I can only image will be used extensively, seems more interactive than canvas s. Brightspace has more data-reporting options available, such as the ability for students to see how they rank against classmates; canvas does not. Overall, Brightspace seems like a more complete LMS than canvas. More user-friendly and simple layout; also seems to have more possible features than canvas. It seems more accessible for students and easier to use. I prefer the menu bar up above then to the side of the page. The appearance is much nicer as well. Allows students to see their progress, awards and class list which is very helpful. Unsure whether Awards would be a useful option, but it gives Faculty the option to make the LMS interactive. The buttons on Courses allow you to print and send the specific page to your binder which may also seem useful in terms of going back to that material. In comparison to Canvas, Bright space While the layout of Brightspace is more aesthetically pleasing, the quiz function of canvas is much, much better. First, there are less confirmation prompts, which would normally be a problem, but the layout of the quizzes is very minimal, and is not confusing at all. So, the quiz taking and grading process is much, much smoother. This is very important when doing large amounts of work online. Also, canvas auto-saves while Brightspace has save buttons. Canvas also immediately shows corrected answers, and sends notifications (which are optionallllll YESS!!!) when grades are in, if not immediately available. Please go with canvas by instructure. If we're really looking for a next gen system, I think this is the only one that truly is next gen. I really like the integration with commons that you can go out and pull ideas or content into your course shell and it's built out. Overall Appearance: I find the Canvas webpages to be more visually appealing than Brightspace's. Assignments: Canvas allows you to see a list of assignments for the course, and sort them by either due date or type. Brightspace sorts by module, with no apparent way to change this to be by due date. Grades: In Canvas, clicking on an assignment in the grades screen takes you to that assignment. Brightspace does not do this. Mobile App: Although I was able to download both LMS's mobile apps, I was not able to log into either

5 looks open and user-friendly with many functions that can prove to be productive to both students and faculty. of them. However Canvas's has a 5 star rating on the App Store, while Brightspace has 2. All of the above areas are wins for Canvas. Canvas-Specific Themes: Communication/Updates/Progress Tracking Testers specifically mentioned their preference for Canvas ability to keep students up-to-date and on track by clearly displaying upcoming assignments and deadlines via the syllabus and calendar and by reminding students when items are due. Canvas offers superior organization accentuated by a wonderfully clean interface. I have taken many classes online through Canvas, D2L, and BlackBoard. Canvas is by far the easiest to use and the most helpful by clearly displaying upcoming assignments and deadlines for all enrolled classes clearly on the home page. This is a feature I have strongly missed with BlackBoard. I often have to dig through dozens of files and pages in my courses to find the information I need. Brightspace would also be a great improvement over BlackBoard but at its best I find that is ALMOST equal to Canvas, which receives my vote as the best learning management system. Much more conveniently organized and better looking to the eye. Brightspace I had to look around more to find where I wanted to go - canvas was instantly easier to navigate and seemed more user-friendly. I've quite familiar with Canvas already; how its structured is more beneficial to me as a student. I love how it reminds me of stuff I have to do. Its system is less disorganized than blackboard and is more user friendly. I liked Canvas because it was so much easier to use than Brightspace. The interface was much more student friendly. I liked the dashboard option as well as the calendar that would show all assignments for all the classes. Canvas would be an upgrade from SacCT, and Brightspace would be a downgrade. the site was easy to use. Everything was right in front of me. The syllabus for the class was only a click away instead of having to click on individual subjects. All assignments that were due was listed. For an extreme busy person this site made it totally easier to walk through it without feeling lost.

6 Canvas-Specific Themes: Simplicity, Efficiency, & Support for Broader Adoption Canvas simplicity was mentioned again and again (31 mentions) along with the overall efficiency (15 mentions) of using the LMS. Several testers specifically connected Canvas simplicity with the potential for broader LMS adoption at the University. Canvas is a lot easier to navigate and does not overwhelm me as much as birghtspace. Canvas is simple. Canvas site or pages fit screen, no need to scroll up or down too much. I like how I can still see the left side bar of links when even when the page is loading. In brightspace, the whole page loads and makes my eyes can't focus much on the things I want to see. In general, I liked the Canvas interface, ease-of-use, and efficiency. It allows you to get more done on a single page and with an efficient number of 'clicks'. More user friendly, visually less cluttered, fewer steps to get each task accomplished. Many of our students come from community colleges, which often use Canvas, so it's easier for many of our students to use- a familiar platform will help smooth transition to Sacramento State Overall, Canvas provides a more effective and efficient experience for both students and faculty. Brightspace has many great options but for a faculty member who wants to set up a course quickly, these options would be overwhelming. Canvas lacks in some options like the ability to create a manual column in grade center, options to limit number of attempts for assignment submissions, no enumeration for quiz question answer choices, location of grading schema and weighted options are inefficient...but there are workarounds. Brightspace is a great system but I see it most effective for a power user. Having worked with several LMS (WebCT 4, WebCT 6, Blackboard 9.1) on this campus, Canvas provides an interface that is more basic (does not have every option that Blackboard or Brightspace have) which may motivate more faculty to use an LMS to provide course materials to their students. It does have its drawbacks (limited to options on course menu - not as flexible) which in turn will force faculty to be more organized, which should benefit students. I also think their mobile app is easy to use.

Next Generation LMS Evaluation

Next Generation LMS Evaluation Summary of Individual Steering Committee Member Evaluations April 20th 2017 Participation The summary data here represents nine of the anticipated twelve individual evaluations