UTD is moving forward with plans to fully transition from Blackboard Learn to Canvas by the 2026-2027 academic year.
According to a Feb. 9 email Provost Inga Musselman sent to Michael Kesden, physics professor and Speaker of the Academic Senate, the university plans to begin using Canvas shortly after its current contract with Blackboard, UTD’s current eLearning service, ends in November 2025. Both learning management systems will be supported until the complete transition to Canvas, planned for the 2026-2027 academic year. Electrical engineering junior Vyshnav Vijish says that he is looking forward to using Canvas once it starts being offered at UTD.
“I prefer Canvas, I used it when I was in high school and I thought [it] was way better,” Vijish said. “[I like Canvas’] automatic grading for all your classes. As long as your teachers were diligent about submitting grades on Canvas, you’d be able to see what [grade] you had in the class.”
In addition to having useful features like automatic grade calculation, Vijish said that Canvas offers a more intuitive user experience than Blackboard.
“I also think Canvas’ UI is much nicer. It’s a lot cleaner and neater, even though it follows a lot of the same basic [design] principles [as Blackboard],” Vijish said. “[Canvas] just managed to [design] it way better, [because] Blackboard can be kind of confusing to navigate.”
When looking for new software to replace Blackboard, UTD tested several different learning management systems to determine the software best suited to the needs of students and faculty. According to Ravi Prakash, computer science professor and former speaker of the Academic Senate, Canvas was selected to replace Blackboard because of its performance during these tests.
“I believe last year … a message did go out to all faculty … asking faculty to volunteer and test drive the four candidate softwares,” Prakash said. “I test [drove] all the four candidates afterwards, which included Blackboard and the next generation of eLearning and Canvas and I think one or two other softwares. And then at the end of the test drives we all gave our opinion or assessment of the four, the pros and cons, and so on and so forth to all of them. And then they gathered all that information and made the decision.”
Despite being selected as the best candidate for the university going forward, the move to Canvas will still cause major upheaval as students and faculty acclimate to the new software. Prakash hopes that UTD will take the steps necessary to ensure the transition to Canvas occurs without issue.
“We’ve been using [Blackboard] for several years now … so lots of faculty have invested a significant amount of time preparing material and uploading it on [Blackboard], “Prakash said. “As we transition to Canvas, some of that material would need to be transferred to Canvas … So, my hope is that there is ample support from the vendors of Canvas and from the university so that this transition can happen very efficiently.”
According to Musselman’s email, the exact date Canvas will start being offered to UTD students and faculty will be finalized during the fall 2025 semester. As details are finalized, Prakash remains optimistic about the upcoming transition.
“[With Blackboard], I think I have a fairly good idea of how to use it,” Prakash said. “And though I don’t use all the features … whatever I need, it supports, and I hope that Canvas will be the same if not better.”
This is an ongoing story. Follow The Retrograde for additional updates on UTD’s transition to Canvas.