Canvas Evaluation

It’s almost time for Carmen Courses to get some big improvements. We're evaluating the Carmen learning management system (LMS) to determine whether it should undergo a major update by our current vendor, D2L, or get a more comprehensive revamp with an entirely new system working behind the scenes.

We were charged to revisit our LMS options because of significant changes in the learning systems market. Educational institutions are teaming up for more influence on the customer side, making way for rapid development of products that serve the needs of today’s schools. It is time to assess our options and determine which LMS will provide the best platform for teaching and learning at Ohio State.

The LMS evaluation committee, comprised of faculty, staff and students from across campus, identified and reviewed three top tools from a wide field of candidates: Canvas, D2L’s Brightspace, and Blackboard. The committee found the Canvas LMS the most intriguing, with several features that faculty were very excited to see. At the recommendation of the committee, we will be piloting this tool in courses this academic year with select faculty across the university.

As the evaluation process continues, we will provide timely updates to the campus community.  Canvas-related news items and documents for reference will be posted to the ODEE website under the "Canvas Eval" tag.

This is only an evaluation, and no decision has been made regarding a new LMS. Regardless of which tool we ultimately select, Carmen Courses will still be your course's home base: where you share materials and build assessments, host discussions and post news for the class. The future iteration of Carmen will have the same functionality it has now, and then some. 

We look forward to sharing more as we lead a collective effort to providing the best possible tool for students and faculty at Ohio State.

If your questions are not answered by the materials posted to our Canvas Eval page, send an email to canvas-eval@osu.edu.