The internet is the future of education – why is the University of Oregon treating it like an afterthought?
This summer, the University of Oregon will complete its initial rollout of the Canvas course website in preparation for the permanent removal of Blackboard, whose shutdown has been tentatively scheduled for September 30, 2015. This is, of course, welcome news for those who have struggled with Blackboard’s outages and difficult user experiences.
But, in its haste to ditch its outdated learning management software – or LMS, as it’s known in the industry jargon – the UO has overlooked a critical opportunity to reorient its digital presence towards the future. The Canvas migration is a chance for the university to become a pioneer in online education and set the bar for reliable and efficient online student services.
As of yet, though, the UO has failed to position itself for success in the age of the internet.
So far, Canvas itself has been well received, by teachers at least. In a 2014 study, for example, the university found that 80% of faculty and GTFs would recommend switching over from Blackboard. 2,236 courses have already been imported for the upcoming Winter 2015 term, showing that outreach efforts have been effective.
Beneath the numbers and fancy new user interface, though, Canvas is being used as an airbrushed Blackboard – the same thinking disguised as a new toy. It’s easier to use, but the migration hasn’t incorporated the vital innovations and considerations that could create a modern online identity for the university.
Most importantly, the university has failed to recognize the potential of combining MOOCs, or Massive Online Open Courses, with its new software. Over the past several years, prestigious universities like Harvard and MIT have been closely involved in creating a new kind of educational experience that offers free, college-level instruction to students across the world through the internet.
Canvas offers the ability to integrate MOOCs directly into its interface and allows professors to publish their courses online, giving the University of Oregon a chance to broaden its international reach and attract new students. Yet in 2015, the UO has only offered one such course, the two-part “Shaping the Way We Teach English”, and it is hosted on Coursera.org – one of Canvas’ direct competitors.
But the internet doesn’t just offer opportunities. The migration to Canvas also opens the University of Oregon to new kinds of risk. Education software is big business. Instructure, the company that runs Canvas, recently completed a $40 million pre-IPO series-E funding round and will become bigger as more universities join up.
For Canvas’ founder, Josh Coates, the software would be his first successful company. Coates described his original company, Scale Eight, as “kind of a bust” and his second was sold after its series-A funding round. If a larger company buys Instructure or if Canvas pivots to a new business model, it’s unclear how UO’s services will be affected. 21,000 courses will have been archived by the end of this summer alone.
In addition, a move to a new platform like Canvas exposes the university to privacy and security concerns. During a 2015 security audit, programmers uncovered a “startling” 59 issues with the Canvas website.
Though these were quickly fixed, the dangers of future information breaches are clearly present. And the university has also failed to address if, and how, Canvas and Instructure will collect and use student data as part of its services. In the new internet age, such concerns should be a priority. Especially because Canvas will hold thousands of grades and papers with sensitive personal information.
Education software should reflect the values of the institution it represents. Unlike a Twitter handle managed by an intern, it’s an interactive showcase of the university’s best and brightest talent. The University of Oregon needs to rethink its approach to Canvas: Allow students more access to online services and let those services be transparent and reliable; give faculty more opportunities to teach and connect with the international community and don’t get tied down to software that could quickly bite the dust.
The UO has a chance for a bold, independent step towards being an innovator in online education, rather than a follower – it should take it.