Canvas Summer Pilot Volunteers

Dear Colleagues,

The State Board of Education (SBOE) has provided $98,000 to support a pilot study to evaluate the Learning Management System (LMS), Canvas, for the summer 2023 semester. Because you are teaching this summer, I am writing  to invite you to participate in this pilot program.  The funding provided by the SBOE allows ISU faculty to work directly with instructional designers from Canvas to transition their course from Moodle to Canvas and receive “White Glove” service in setting up their courses. Over the next few months Canvas will be providing a series of training sessions that will prepare ISU faculty and staff to utilize Canvas for the pilot project.

 The SBOE currently has a statewide license for Canvas and is utilizing it as the LMS for courses in Online Idaho.  Also, the SBOE will be renewing their statewide license for Canvas in late summer/fall.  At least six–and possibly seven– out of the eight Idaho institutions have decided to use Canvas as their LMS. Because of this investment by the state, the adoption by our sister institutions, and the importance of Online Idaho for enrollment growth, it is incumbent on us as an institution to thoroughly evaluate Canvas before making a decision on what LMS to use going forward.

 Participation in this pilot represents an excellent opportunity for you as a faculty member to provide the university with first-hand knowledge regarding the efficacy of Canvas as an LMS system in serving the needs of students. By participating in this important project you will help the university make the best possible decisions regarding how to spend our technology funding so that faculty have the best possible tools in which to educate students.

The results of the Pilot program will be presented to the Provost and utilized, in tandem with the information provided by the LMS Project Review Committee, to ascertain if Canvas or Moodle is the better LMS system for ISU going forward. 

A stipend will be provided to faculty who participate and the amount will be specified once the number of participants are known. If you are interested in participating in the pilot, please contact Jena Lords at jenalords@isu.edu  Because of the need to provide training and to link classes to Canvas the deadline to join the project is December 16. 

Thank you for considering it!  Your dean and chair received this same letter Nov. 14.

Valerie Martin Conley