Canvas Features

Canvas Features with iLearn Equivalents
Canvas Features without iLearn Equivalents
Additional Features in Canvas

Canvas Features with Blackboard iLearn Equivalents

Canvas has 1:1 equivalents for most iLearn features. You will find a comparison chart of Blackboard iLearn and Canvas features with related videos and links on this page.

Blackboard iLearn	Canvas	How do I use this Tool in Canvas?
Announcements	Announcements	Users can receive announcement notifications via email, in the Canvas App, on their Canvas Dashboard, or the Course Home page Students can comment or like an announcement if the setting is enabled How do I add an announcement in a course?
Assignments	Assignments	Canvas uses SpeedGrader, which provides inline grading abilities. Instructors can comment, markup, and grade a document without downloading a student’s submission By creating an Assignment, you automatically add it to the Assignment page, the Syllabus, and the Calendar. If updated, all links are updated automatically How do I create an assignment? How do I create a peer review assignment?
Blogs/Journals	Workaround	How do I use blogs in Canvas?
Course Calendar	Calendar	Due dates set on Assignments automatically populate in the Calendar The bottom of each course's Syllabus automatically lists Calendar items How do I add an event to a course calendar?
Discussion Board/Forums	Discussions	Instructors can require users to post to the discussion before viewing Instructors and students can filter posts Users can receive notifications How do I use Discussions?
Files, Documents, Images and Media	Files	Everything uploaded or copied into Canvas Files is accessible to students by default Instructors can set lock or release times for files and folders How do I upload a file to a course? How do I upload a video to Canvas?
Folders/Learning Modules	Modules	Modules are similar to folders in iLearn You can set a Module as a prerequisite to another Module and create a linear sequence for students You can lock modules until a specific date How do I use Modules?
Glossary	Pages	Pages function like a Wiki where a history of edits tracks all changes. Instructors can grant students editing privileges. How do I create a new page in a course?
Grade Center	Grade Book	To create a column in the Gradebook, you must create an assignment. Graded Discussions will also appear in Assignments and the Gradebook. The SpeedGrader tool displays submitted assignments, grading rubric, and media commenting in a single interface, which does not require downloading student file submissions. How do I use the Gradebook?
Groups	Groups	Groups have access to nearly every course tool, including Announcements, Pages, Files, Discussion, Conferences, and Collaboration. How do I use Groups?
Make Course Available	Publish Course	Canvas courses are unpublished by default; you must publish your course before students can access it. Once a course has been published, it cannot be unpublished. How do I publish my course?
Tasks	Pages	How do I create a new page in a course?
Rubrics	Rubrics	You can add rubrics to graded items, including Quizzes. SpeedGrader allows you to add media comments, including audio and video, to rubrics Instructors can override a grade produced by clicking the Rubric criteria. How do I add a rubric in a course?
Safe Assign	Turnitin	How do I create a Turnitin Assignment? How do I access the Similarity Report? How do I interpret the Similarity Report?
Send Email	Conversations/Messages	Private messages appear in your Inbox within Canvas; notifications will push out to Email, text message, or social media, depending on student settings. Messages can include file attachments, webcam recordings, media uploads, or plain text. By default, students receive Email for every announcement and message; however, students can control in a granular way how and when they receive messaging. How do I use the Inbox as an instructor?
Student Preview	Student View	Canvas's Student View, like iLearn, enrolls a test student into the course; however, it does not prompt you to remove the student when exiting Student View. How do I view a course as a test student using Student View?
Test, Surveys and Pools	Classic and New Quizzes/Surveys/Questions Banks	Quizzes are automatically submitted if it is a timed assessment. You can change the Quiz timer (i.e., Moderated) for individual students to allow for extended time on published quizzes. Like Blackboard, instructors can allow an additional attempt for a single student; however, Canvas calls this moderating. You can edit tests after students begin submitting attempts and are automatically re-graded. You can set up Quizzes as practice or graded quizzes (i.e., practice quizzes do not count in students’ final grades). You can also set up Surveys to be graded. How do I use Classic Quizzes? How do I use New Quizzes? How do I create a survey in my course? How do I use Question Banks?
Web Links	Pages	How do I create a new page in a course?
Wikis	Pages	How do I create a new page in a course?

Adapted from California Community College Online Education Initiative's Converting from Blackboard to Canvas Guide and Georgetown University's Feature by Feature Comparison: Blackboard & Canvas.

Canvas Features without Blackboard iLearn Equivalents

Attendance Tool	Easily record attendance using a class list or seating chart. An Assignment will automatically appear in Assignments titled “Roll Call.” The percentage that displays is automatically updated as days progress depending on whether the student is present or absent.
Collaborations	Provides a way for instructors to integrate the use of Google Docs within their course. Collaborations allow users to collaborate on a single instance of the same document.
Conferences	Similar to Zoom, Conferences allow for sharing webcam, voice, chat, whiteboard, and desktop sharing.
Syllabus	When you set up due dates for Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes, Canvas automatically populates the due dates at the bottom of the Syllabus page. These dates also appear on the Calendar. You can edit the top of the Syllabus page to share files, paste in formatted text, or link to specific course content.

Adapted from Georgetown University's Feature by Feature Comparison: Blackboard & Canvas.

Additional Features in Canvas

There are many reasons Canvas adoption continues to grow within Higher Education. Canvas is dependable, rich with features, and intuitive. Canvas can be integrated with university systems and data sources, and with relevant third-party applications.

Here are some reasons why instructors will love Canvas:

Simplified Gradebook

The Gradebook helps instructors easily view and enter grades for students. Grades for each assignment can be viewed as points, percentage, complete or incomplete, GPA scale, or letter grade.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CANVAS' GRADEBOOK

Convenient Feedback Tools

The primary tool that instructors use for grading is called SpeedGrader, and it can be used to give students feedback (text as well as audio/video comments) on any assignment, online quiz, or graded discussion. Annotation tools are also available for file submission assignments.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SPEEDGRADER

Speedgrader - Document viewer with annotation tools

Insightful Analytics

Course analytics will prove useful in determining how students react to course activities; seeing which students are at-risk and need help; and viewing how effective your teaching strategies are with students.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CANVAS COURSE ANALYTICS

Even more reasons to love Canvas:

Calendaring tool
Discussion groups
Speech-to-text comments (Google Chrome only)
Canvas Community