Oklahoma Christian making the switch from Blackboard to Canvas

This semester marks a pivotal shift at Oklahoma Christian University. The current learning management system Blackboard will be replaced with a new learning site, Canvas.

The transition of Oklahoma Christian University from Blackboard Learn to Canvas is due to Blackboard’s discontinuation of Learn by 2027. Director of North Institute, Dr. Jacob Carr, speaks about the decision for the switch.

“There are two different versions of Blackboard. There’s Blackboard Learn and there’s Blackboard Ultra and we had been on Blackboard Learn for a long time, 17 years, 20 years. We found out that at the end of next year, 2027 they are unplugging Blackboard Learn from the wall, they are getting rid of it completely for all schools and essentially forcing everyone off of Learn,” Carr said. “You’re essentially still going to have to move all courses online to a new platform, either their upgrade, which is Ultra, or a different platform. So essentially, we had this opportunity to kind of say, do we want to stay with this company? Do we want to jump to a new platform?”

After making the decision to switch companies, the next major decision would be finding a solution that would meet the needs of both students and professors.“One of the big considerations is what learning management systems are the high school students in the area already going to be most familiar with already? one of the other things that we considered when we were looking at the different LMSs is like, what are kind of the data analytic capabilities?” Carr said. “What kind of reports can we get easily? How easily can the deans of each department have access to that data and make it actionable so they can improve their departments?”

Canvas’s ability to access and display extensive user data has sparked concerns about AI usage and potential stricter enforcement policies.

“Canvas has this theme, it’s basically like a Smart Search button in your course. Say that you’re in a nutrition class, and you’re in week seven. Let’s say it’s a seven week course. You’re studying for the final, and you need to find where the professor spoke about this thing. Maybe you don’t have time to go look through all seven weeks and click in every folder,” Carr said. “Well, you can type in the concept to the Smart Search, and it will pull up every place in the course, including videos that the concept is talked about. It’s leveraging AI to be helpful, instead of doing all the work for you.”

Kambria Swint, a junior medical laboratory science major, has experienced the switch from Blackboard to Canvas firsthand in Principles of Microbiology, taught by Dr. Jonathon Hunt.

“I have enjoyed it so far. Once I found out how to navigate it. Everything is super straightforward and easy to find. Once you learn how to use it, I think it’s easier to use than Blackboard,” Swint said. “My professor explained everything in class, so we knew exactly where everything is. Even if you’re exploring on your own it is easy to navigate because of how clearly everything is marked and how close together all of the different tabs are.”

As Oklahoma Christian navigates this transition, early student feedback like Swint’s suggests Canvas’s intuitive design and AI-enhanced search could streamline learning. With Blackboard Learn’s 2027 discontinuation looming, the switch positions Oklahoma Christian for a more student-friendly future.