To Canvas or Not To Canvas: A Rebellion Against Sameness (Part 3)

I have made a choice.  My choice has been (drum roll, please) not to use Canvas in my classes.

Before you start throwing rocks, or report me to the TELS Police, let me explain.

The Feared TELS Police!!!

I have nothing against Canvas.  It has a lot of nice features.  And some of my choice involved the difficult decision to forgo some of those features, like the Gradebook and the ability to automatically email my classes in one fell swoop of my finger.

I have nothing at all against those who choose to use Canvas.  Some of my best friends use Canvas! J  And some of them are some of the best professors I know.  So, no, I’m not out to get Canvas.  (I bet, after that last sentence, it is breathing a big sigh of relief!)

I’m not a Dinosaur.  I do know how to use Canvas.  I have used Canvas, for online, face-to-face and hybrid courses.  My decision was not arrived at out of technophobia or total incompetence.  (Although I do despise new versions of any computer program—Windows, Word, Canvas… I’m equal opportunity update hater!)

I made my decision based on a few (what I consider) important factors.

First, I listen to my students.  The complaint I hear the second most in regards to their academics is the cost of textbooks.  The major complaint I hear is about Canvas, and the time they spend trying to figure things out.  Trouble they’ve gotten into because they thought they submitted an assignment, but somehow it got “messed up” and they lost points (sometimes a lot of points).  How they struggle to navigate the different classes.  How they “hate” the technology.  (Again, it may not be the technology’s fault, but I still listen to my students.)  My perception is that,more often than not, the technology impedes or distracts many students—especially first generation or not-the-top-of-the-class students—from actually LEARNING the material.  To them, it is more about surviving the technological environment.  (Occasionally I get a student who mildly complains about me not using Canvas, usually at the beginning of the semester.  By the end, no one’s complaining.  And I get a lot of thank you’s.)

Secondly, I have seen the tech environment reduce professor/student interaction.  Instructors are not on campus as much.  Communication over email or other electronic forms lose much (some say up to 80%) of how we communicate in ways other than words—the human part of the interaction.  With our traditional students, reduced interaction limits the opportunity we have to help them mature and think critically.  With our non-traditional student, we miss chances to discuss life issues and support them as they reinvent themselves.  Much of what is learned—and taught—in college is outside our teaching disciplines.

Thirdly, I witness that technology is making some (many?) students “lazy.”  Technology is about “speed” and “efficiency.”  The “get it done, and get it done quickly” mentality pervades.  It may help our students learn if we can slow down the pace of learning a bit.  (I fully realize that this doesn’t translate into dollars for the institution, but may result in future dollars for students who learn better.)

So what have I chosen to do instead?  Stand by for the next blog…