The new educational platform, Canvas, ceases to excite students who previously used Edsby. Students are dependent on the site and it seems like it’s headed for disaster.  

In previous years, students were able to communicate to their teachers, access grades and assignments, and receive updates through a site called Edsby. Using this platform since elementary school, I am a firm believer in this site and love how it worked. However, with e-learning becoming more prominent due to the pandemic, we have adopted the use of a site called Canvas, which I’m not the biggest fan of.   

Canvas is a much more developed site, which I believe is very useful for e-learning. There are many resources Canvas has to offer that Edsby doesn’t. Canvas has a dashboard, which shows you your upcoming work, has a course section where you can access your classes, a calendar which shows you what is due by the end of each day and an inbox where you can message and communicate to your teachers.  

Even with all of this being useful for e-learners, I have a hard time as a brick and mortar student. It has been rough adapting to Canvas due to the complexity of the site. There are so many things to constantly check and review to ensure you aren’t missing any assignments or homework.  

My teachers have been using Canvas to reach out to all students whether they are e-learners or brick and mortar. This is where assignments are due, quizzes are taken, and messages are sent out. For those who receive all of their information through Canvas like those e-learning, it could be useful to have everything at the tip of your fingers.  

For those like me who are doing school in person, it is confusing to see and hear things out loud and then to go find it on the Canvas and ensure you aren’t missing any work or assignments that are due. Because of the large number of tabs, pages and links to click, I’m worried about the potential to miss out on my work.  

This is a reason I liked Edsby. Edsby had a homepage with your listed classes and grades right by the side. You would click on your preferred class and see all messages, graded work and assignments with a date. It was very self-explanatory which I liked. It was easy to access your work, see what you missed if you were absent, and see when things were due.  

With Canvas, especially using it for the first time, it is easy to miss an announcement or an assignment. Being the first official week of school, teachers have been lenient and understanding. But when we get further into the school year, it will be tough to make sure everything is done and turned in on time.  

Teachers are becoming paperless which means they will be making their assignments online and handing out little to no paper. Because of this, most teachers will only be accepting grades for things that are turned in online. With Edsby, this was easier because you go to your selected class, see what you have due all in one area and you submit your work. With Canvas, you must check three to four pages to see what you have to do.  

It is easy to make mistakes with Canvas, especially for those who aren’t familiar with the site. Because everyone at school has seen or used Edsby for quite a while, it is a great way to communicate from teacher to student and vice versa. Canvas will take some getting used to, but I have faith it will become a highly liked platform. Overall, I wish for Edsby to make a comeback, but with the unlikelihood of this happening, we will have to settle.