Students who are taking online courses or courses with online components this semester may see a new course management system called Canvas instead of the Desire2learn system they’re used to.

Canvas will be easier for students and faculty and is expected to be well received, according to Dean Jennifer Goetz who oversees distance education.

“It’s just simpler,” said Goetz. “We’ve had students, [and] faculty test it and…all of them felt it was more user-friendly.”

The transition from Desire2Learn to Canvas began with a few pilot courses in summer 2016.

One of the pros coming with Canvas is the 24/7 support that students and faculty will receive along with easier to navigate discussion boards, which are like chat rooms, making peer editing easier and creating a more classroom-like environment.

While still early in the transitional period, some students are confused why the school has chosen to make the switch to Canvas, like 20-year-old journalism major Claire Hambrick.

“I don’t understand why they’re changing it,” said Hambrick. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

All three colleges in the district voted this spring to switch from D2L to canvas.  Because there won’t be a complete switch from canvas to D2L until 2017, many students may be forced to use both Desire2learn and Canvas if an instructor hasn’t transferred course material to the new system.

Along with a more favorable interface for both student and faculty, switching to Canvas will provide a savings of $178 thousand each year across the district, helping to fund the 24/7 support.

“It allows us to free up some dollars we’re spending on D2L to spend on resources for online students,” said Goetz.

The Ventura County Community College District has tried multiple common course management systems, eventually moving to Desire2learn. However, after years of testing with both common course management systems, the district has come to an agreement to use Canvas, a learning management system by Instructure, Inc. and set to fully replace Desire2learn.  As faculty are trained on the new learning management system, more will transition their courses, with a complete transition by July 2017.