The transition from Schoology to Canvas has been an adjustment, especially for returning teachers and students who used Schoology for years. Linda Derezinski, head of the Upper School English department and an advisor, said, “Canvas has the potential to do so much and caters to the needs of students.” Two of Ms. Derezinski’s favorite features of Canvas are the calendar and to-do list, which students seem happy about too. Amelia Thames ‘24 said that she “loves the calendar feature, especially the agenda section.”
However, Ms. Derezinski also said that “Canvas is harder to learn than I thought and can be challenging to use, especially for the teachers.” Emma Johnson, the new Upper School Librarian and part of the educational technology team, said that she “had to learn how to use it over the summer, and still has questions of [her] own.” According to Ms. Johnson, “the biggest challenge for most teachers was getting all their previous material into a new site in a certain period of time, and some teachers are still not comfortable with Canvas yet.”
According to Samantha Maselli, Technology Support Specialist at Dana Hall, the reason for the switch to Canvas was “because of Schoology’s constant crashes and glitches.” She said that Canvas is considered a more “reliable website.” Their support team helped find solutions to any malfunctions.
Ms. Maselli also said, “Another reason for Dana’s conversion was Canvas’s 24/7 help team and their willingness to sort through difficulties with not only our school’s staff but students too. They are much more open and resourceful compared to Dana’s previous system, Schoology.”
Canvas has been met with both positive and negative reactions, as change usually is, but Ms. Maselli and the technology department think that “Canvas is here to stay.”