Canvas – what and why?

Hi there, Jennie Paldanius och Maria Hedberg..., project managers of the new project of introducing Canvas, a new modern learning platform for the entire university.

What is Canvas?

"Canvas is a modern learning platform that will replace the current university common platforms Live@Lund and LUVIT. Canvas will be an attractive learning environment for the students increasing the quality of learning and teaching."

Why should Canvas be introduced at Lund University?

"Canvas is very user-friendly for students and teachers and meets most of the university's needs. Canvas also enables collaboration both within and outside the university. Therefore, this platform was a good option for LU when Live@Lund and LUVIT no longer met the quality requirements for a modern digital learning platform."

What are you doing right now?

"In early spring we got a bunch of so-called early adopters in the system. Now there are teachers who run a total of over fifteen courses, spread across most faculties at Lund University. We support and help them learning as much as possible and stay in contact with them. We really learn a lot from them! We want to learn as much as possible from the ongoing courses before this upcoming autumn term starts."  

"From 2019 we have, together with the faculties and their coordinators, started to work more "hands-on" around the Canvas platform. Our work is very much about training initiatives for staff at the university. We also work with integrations towards other systems, first comes Lucat and Ladok, but we have also started to look at TimeEdit as well as towards softer systems such as Zoom for e-Meeting and LU play for video."

When is the project completed?

"The project is in progress until the end of December 2020. Thereafter, a managing organization is expected to continue the work."

What is the best thing about managing the Canvas project?

"It is the most fun project you can imagine! You get to meet people from all over the university, find adaptations to different needs at different faculties and departments. At the same time, it is fantastic to see what incredible power there is in collaborating across borders and being able to use the knowledge that exists among the university's employees."

The original version of this article was first published in LUM (in Swedish) in the April issue.