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Blackboard Learn vs CANVAS: Which is a better fit?

Updated on December 6th, 2024
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What's your intended use case?
Summary
Key features rated by users
Features selected based on 2,932 reviews from Higher Education users.
% Fit
Missing features
Feature ratings
Student Portal
NA
For Higher Education
4.6
Learning Management
4.6
Alerts/Notifications
4.5
Student Information/Records
4.4
% Fit
High performer
Feature ratings
Student Portal
4.6
For Higher Education
4.7
Learning Management
4.6
Alerts/Notifications
4.4
Student Information/Records
4.5
User satisfaction
4.2
User reviews522
Ease of use
4.0
Functionality
4.1
Value for money
4.1
Customer support
4.0
4.6
User reviews4,232
Ease of use
4.4
Functionality
4.5
Value for money
4.5
Customer support
4.3
Price starts from
Yearly subscription
Free version
Free trial
--
Not provided by vendor
Free version
Free trial
Best for

For colleges and universities, businesses, government agencies, and more.

Available to institutions of all sizes and types, from individual K-12 classrooms to universities to companies with a blended or fully virtual environment.

User reviews
pros & cons
1 / 4
View Reviews
1 / 4
View Reviews
Video reviews
video-fb78e598-2d44-4caa-0d43-08da48e1e058
Crystal F
Human Resource Assistant
4.0

Crystal: Hi. My name is Crystal. I'm an animal control officer and I give Blackboard Learn a four out of five rating. For more reviews like this, click below. The problems that I solve, I use Blackboard Learn for all of my online classes with my university. So, it really helps me incorporate that learning attribute with communication with my peers and my teachers, as well. What I like the most about Blackboard Learn is that it really makes it accessible and easy to take my online studies without having to have huge hoops of communication issues. I can speak directly with my teachers and my peers. What I like least about Blackboard Learn is that it does tend to have some technical issues. So, sometimes the platform will be down, and we won't be able to access our studies and our classes or submit work. And then, you can't communicate with the teacher unless you have their direct email. So, that is kind of complexing. And then you have to reach out to their 1-800 number. So, it tends to be a bit inconveniencing at times.

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video-5d1039fe-e71b-48f4-1e46-08dced758cf4
Jose L
Salesman - Engineer
5.0

Jose : My name is Jose. I'm an inside sales transferring to outside salesman at an industrial distributor company for all types of industrial parts, mainly conveyor parts for the agriculture industry. And I would rate Canvas a five out of five. So the other software or company I've used before is Blackboard. I used it for when I was at Cal State University. And the reason why we... Actually, [inaudible 00:00:28] we were only using that company for I think for one semester, and then it was always down. It always had technical issues, people [inaudible 00:00:36]. It was hard to onboard students, and that's basically why the university basically decided to ditch Blackboard and start using Canvas. And they've been using it. That's when I was a freshman. I'm already graduated, so they only use it for about one semester and they've been on Canvas for the past five years. I like Canvas because it's really easy the way it's laid out, whether you have your different courses, and then you get the link to your different courses and it shows you basically all the homework that's due or all the assignments that you still need to do. And I really like how everything's in one spot, so you literally just hit your class and then it shows you your grades, your assignments that you still have to do. And then what I really like about it is the fact that you're able to view old assignments. So it basically saves it onto its database. So if you ever want to look at an old assignment, you could just hit that assignment and then hit what you submitted so you could always see what you submitted. And instead of most companies where you submit something, and that's it. It's just like, "Thank you," and you can never really go back to what you submitted. So that's probably the biggest thing that I really like about Canvas. I think it's pretty easy to start using Canvas because like I said, everything's there, so it's not like you have to go looking for anything. It's all laid out. You hit the class link. Well, most [inaudible 00:02:01] professors will send you a link. You use the link and then it automatically signs you up to their course. You don't have to have a sign-up a code or anything like that. You can just hit the link, you're in the class, you've hit your class, and then everything is laid out to my grades, my assignments, to the [inaudible 00:02:21] that shows you what's going to be due within the next... Basically the whole semester, you just hit the week that you're in and it shows you is due that week. And then if you want to see what's going to be doing three weeks, or you can also check that. So I think it's really easy. One recommendation I would have for anybody that's going to be using Canvas is always double check your work because sometimes you might've forgot to attach a link or something and it'll still let you submit an assignment. So you always want to check that you actually submitted something because I know a few students who something would happen with their computer. I know it wasn't Canvas because it never happened to me, but they would submit an assignment and they would find out that they never attached the PDF or the link, so then there would... It still lets you submit an assignment, but you wouldn't have anything there. And I would just say double check your work because the one thing I really like about Canvas, too, is you can always go back and resubmit. So you can always resubmit an assignment. So you're not stuck where it's like most companies, you submit something, and then that's it. There's no... Can't even view what you submitted and you can't resubmit. So Canvas, really like that about Canvas where it's like you messed up, but you still have time where your assignment's due, you can still submit something else. That's what I really like about it.

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User interface
14500 video thumbnail}
1 Video
127214 video thumbnail}
1 Video
14500
4 screenshots
127214
2 screenshots

Blackboard Learn

23/35
  • Alumni Management
  • Class Scheduling
  • Drag & Drop
  • Financial Aid Management
  • Forms Management
  • Fundraising Management
  • Housing Management
  • Records Management
  • Scheduling
  • Search/Filter
  • Self Service Portal
  • Student Portal
  • Activity Dashboard
  • Ad hoc Reporting
  • Admissions Management
  • Alerts/Notifications
  • API
  • Assessment Management
  • Attendance Management
  • Chat/Messaging
  • Collaboration Tools
  • Communication Management
  • Curriculum Management
  • Customizable Branding
  • Customizable Reports
  • Document Management
  • Faculty/Staff Management
  • For Higher Education
  • Learning Management
  • Performance Metrics
  • Registration Management
  • Reporting & Statistics
  • Student Information/Records
  • Student Management
  • Third-Party Integrations
See All features
Hide Higher Education Software Features -

CANVAS

23/35
Show Higher Education Software Features +
Blackboard Learn
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • Mobile - Android
  • Mobile - iPhone
  • Mobile - iPad
Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • Phone Support
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Chat
Training
  • In Person
  • Live Online
  • Webinars
  • Documentation
  • Videos
CANVAS
Deployment
  • Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
  • Desktop - Mac
  • Desktop - Windows
  • Desktop - Linux
  • Desktop - Chromebook
  • On-Premise - Windows
  • On-Premise - Linux
  • Mobile - Android
  • Mobile - iPhone
  • Mobile - iPad
Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • Phone Support
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Chat
Training
  • In Person
  • Live Online
  • Webinars
  • Documentation
  • Videos
Blackboard Learn
  • By Anthology
  • Located in United States
CANVAS
  • By Instructure
  • Located in United States
  • Founded in 2008
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