Throughout the years, California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) has maintained a reputation of being among the leading institutions in adopting breakthrough designes to improve student learning. As part of this, CSULB had to move with time and replace an old system called Beachboard by introducing canvas. This was not just a technological change, but it indicated moving towards a more active learning environment through interaction. Though every transition involves its own challenges, moving to Canvas will be a gateway to numerous possibilities for the CSULB community. This article will look at the reasons for this shift, its advantages, and how it influences teaching/learning process at CSULB.”
Introduction to CSULB
California State University, Long Beach, also known as CSU Long Beach or CSULB, is a public institution of higher learning located in Long Beach, California. It is the third largest campus of the 23-campus CSU system and the fourth largest university in California based on student population. These include undergraduate and post graduate programmes in areas such as art, humanities, business, education, engineering, health related fields, etc.
BeachBoard and CSULB
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) utilized a LMS called BeachBoard. It provided students and teachers with a platform through which they had easy access to class notes, exam results, assignments, and other study supplies. It had also communication, collaboration, and assessment tools too.
Nevertheless, one needs to be aware of the fact that, since June 15, 2023, Canvas is now the official LMS for CSULB instead of BeachBoard. This implies that there are copies for BeachBoard course of this period accessible on instructors’ Canvas dashboards.
In addition, BeachBoard was active for administering end-exams that would automatically cut off when time runs out and randomly shuffle the answers as well as questions for all students.
Why Canvas now an official LMS for CSULB ?
There are many reasons why canvas is now the official LMS for CSULB.
Modern Interface
The user interface of Canvas is seamless, straightforward, and clean to ensure that students as well as instructors can easily access their course materials.
Improved Communication Tools
Compared to other learning environments, Canvas offers enhanced communication channels such as announcement, discussion, chat, and video conferencing to improve the interactions between learners and their teachers.
Integration Capabilities
Integration with other education tools increases ease of use in this educational tool which is necessary for an enhanced learning experience.
Mobile-Friendly
It also has a mobile-friendly design which allows its use in different devices. The inclusion of this characteristic makes it more suitable for those students who depend on mobile phones and tabs for their studies.
Reliable Support
Canvas has extensive customer service, for instance telephone and live chats are open round the clock while also having an extensive self-service knowledge base online.
Consistency Across Courses
There is uniformity between all courses taught by different teachers and departments using Canvas. This uniformity enables students to find their way through their studies better.
The transition from BeachBoard to Canvas started in Summer 2022 and was completed on June 15, 2023. During this period, courses gradually migrated from BeachBoard to Canvas.
Canvas Vs BeachBoard
However, BeachBoard has its own strengths since it is a highly regarded platform by most of the CSULB users and this makes them feel comfortable using it.
Some users have stated they preferred BeachBoard compared to canvas and other users on the contrary. Although we did not get the specific features/functionalities they preferred in BeachBoard than Canvas, often there are some missing familiar aspects when people have to adopt.
Generally speaking, user preference might also relate to an individual’s familiarity and ease of use for a specific platform. Depending on one’s experience or unique requirements, some may feel more at ease with one platform than others
However, one should consider that there are diverse perceptions about this regarding various people. For example, what one may consider as a merit, another could deem as a shortcoming.
In order to get more specific feedback from CSULB students and faculty if BeachBoard is better than Canvas in some special aspects of its features or functionalities, a survey or an interview might be conducted with these people.
A possible Revert back to BeachBoard from Canvas?
So far, nothing indicates that CSULB will reverse the switch and go back to BeachBoard from Canvas. The switch from BeachBoard to Canvas was successful and the university has committed many resources in order to ensure seamless transition for their scholars and lecturers.
Although some people have said they prefer BeachBoard instead of Canvas, this does not mean an institution-wide decision to return to old way of doing things. In such cases some users tend to prefer the old existing system instead of this change. However, it does not mean that this transition will be cancelled or turned back. Nevertheless, the university might have plans of modifying their learning management system depending on user suggestions or feedback yet this presently remains speculative.
Structure of the Grade Center
Although BeachBoard and canvas provide a number of features of e-learning, these may vary due to individual requirements or tastes. Some users have even commented on the Grade Center structure. The grade center proved itself flexible and convenient in many cases as far as BeachBoard was concerned. It enabled teachers to simply see and enter marks, make custom groups, assign weights to grades and get rid of the lowest grade in a group.
However, the Grader feature in Canvas is rather complicated and not customizable enough as compared with the Grade Center in BeachBoard. Setting up the weighted grading and dropping scores might involve more steps in Canvas. Nevertheless, it is imperative to point out that Canvas continuously updates and adds more functionalities as a result of the student feedback, such that some of the issues may be solved in the future.
According to Intellect Folks| The Finding
Although change may seem difficult, CSULB students should keep in mind that it also leads to development and progression. Going on Canvas means CSULB is interested in offering the best possible learning conditions to the students and teachers. Despite having such missing elements on the part of some users in BeachBoard, Canvas has promising features that can facilitate the future e-learning programmes in CSULB. This move will see staff and students gradually adopt to the new way of interacting as with every other move it comes with its challenges.
