Blackboard Learn by Anthology vs. Canvas

Blackboard Learn by Anthology

Canvas

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Score 6.0 out of 10	N/A	Blackboard Inc. is an enterprise learning management systems vendor. Blackboard was founded in 1997 and became a public company in 2004. The company provides education, mobile, communication, and commerce software and related services to clients including education providers, corporations and government organizations. As of December 2010, Blackboard software and services are used by over 9,300 institutions in more than 60 countries. Blackboard Learn is the company's flagship LMS, supporting…	N/A
Canvas	Score 8.2 out of 10	N/A	Instructure is an educational software company based in Sandy, Utah. It is the developer of the Canvas learning management system, which is a comprehensive software package that competes with such systems as Blackboard Learning System, SumTotal and Saba.	N/A

Pricing

Blackboard Learn by Anthology

Canvas

Editions & Modules

No answers on this topic

Offerings

Pricing Offerings
Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Canvas
Free Trial
Yes	Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No	Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

Entry-level Setup Fee

Optional

No setup fee

Additional Details

Must contact vendor for pricing information.

More Pricing Information

Community Pulse
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Canvas
Considered Both Products	Blackboard Learn by Anthology Sherby Gully Teacher Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard is definitely more in touch with older students, particularly high school and college age students. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I used Canvas as a student at a university in town. The feature set was comparable to that of Blackboard Learn with the mobile app was far, far superior. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard is the all around better fit for our intuition. It provides the "bells and whistles" we require in having a diverse faculty and flexibility in course delivery. The "bells and whistles" aren't cheap, but we have found that budgeting for this large expense has been … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Coursera offers a variety of modules in which a team is able to work on then, but [Blackboard Learn] offers more options to understand how are the team members developing and which tasks have offered a harder challenger for them. [Blackboard Learn] also offers a variety of … Incentivized Helpful? Meena B Information Technology Project Manager Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I have not reviewed Brightspace till now but I have heard good things about it from my peers Incentivized Helpful? Craig Smallish Instructor Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I did not select Blackboard Learn. Incentivized Helpful? QT Quincy Tamaribuchi Student Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Google Classroom has the same objective, and that is to connect students to their teachers along with the organization. Google Classroom is organized easy to read and customizable by the teacher. Very user friendly. I can say that Blackboard is a much better platform to take … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn is way far behind Canvas. Many schools are switching to Canvas as it is better integrated with other solutions, it is much more user friendly and provides better user experience. Canvas is cloud native, unlike Blackboard Learn. They are trying to catch up with … Incentivized Helpful? Becca Guler Learning Specialist Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Zoom is better equipped for live streaming and recording lectures and tutoring sessions, research interviews, etc. and does allow content files to be attached through live chat function but does NOT have a student management component for grading and instructions or a … Incentivized Helpful? Brandon Cluff Associate Game Designer Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I personally prefer Udemy because of its simplicity. Blackboard Learn has more options for how the content can be delivered to its users; Udemy only provides instructors the ability to upload videos and insert multiple choice questions for tests. Ultimately, it depends on the … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn is very similar to Canvas by Instructure since they are both essential Learning Management Systems. Canvas is a bit more rigid in the structure and does not permit faculty to customize the course navigation menu fully. Blackboard Learn allows faculty to … Incentivized Helpful? RD Renee DiBiasio Assistant Principal Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology We use another product just like Blackboard Learn, and I also have used Google Classroom. I like Blackboard for this because the system and tabs are easy to map and navigate. I also think it appeals more to the students we have today who can connect better with technology than … Incentivized Helpful? Nicolas Hanhan Distance Education Instructional Coordinator Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn is more user-friendly than Moodle. Blackboard offers support to customers which is not available effectively when using open-source learning management systems such as Moodle. Incentivized Helpful? Amy Westby High School Counselor Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard has been good for putting together course work and class discussion, which Google Classroom does not feature and Moodle is too laggy to work well. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology . Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn is more robust because it allows for much more dissemination of materials for higher-level courses. Assignments are seamlessly connected in Blackboard Learn versus Google Classroom, where you have to access Google Docs to see your instructor's comments. Edmodo … Incentivized Helpful? Anissa Harris Senior Faculty Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I am not a decision-maker about our learning platform but I have used both Canvas and Blackboard Learn for several years. From a teaching perspective, Canvas is SIMPLE and clean for a new user. However, Blackboard offers more options and creativity for integration and exporting … Incentivized Helpful? Rick Lupton Systems Programmer Analyst Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard has a vast training system to allow for supporting the product. While Moodle provides OpenSource code to allow for customization, it requires and investment in technical staff to program the software to do what you want. Blackboard has on-premise and hosted … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Very similar, equally effective in my experience. Perhaps the communication features in Blackboard are stronger. Incentivized Helpful? Matthew Deakyne Academic Services Manager Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology We did a formal evaluation of the LMS a few years ago, and selected to remain self-hosted on Blackboard Learn. At the time, we were not ready to upgrade or migrate and it was easier to remain with the system we already had. If we started from scratch - Canvas is the clear … Incentivized Helpful? Mark Fitzgerald Adjunct Professor Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology It can be configured to do anything you want. It is Blackboard's blessing and curse. I think it has the biggest feature set in the industry. It confuse people and leads to strange UIs. But some organization and working together you can find something that will work well for … Incentivized Helpful? Lori Riegel Alumni Representative Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I have used Schoology before, and I think Blackboard Learn has many more features, and is easier to navigate. It is well organized, and easy to customize for each user. Schoology might be better suited for a mobile device, but when the mobile version of Blackboard is not up … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard Learn compares favorably to the other learning management solutions out there but has a leg up if you are using other Blackboard products. We liked Absorb a lot but it was ultimately more costly for us based on our current infrastructure. Moodle and Canvas are … Incentivized Helpful? Timothy Sawah IT Project Manager Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology Blackboard is more expensive than its direct competitors but has better customer support and a wider variety of features. Courses are more structured in blackboard. The graphics are less messy compared to Moodle and Edmodo. Blackboard has more interactive features and the code … Incentivized Helpful? Erica Terry Advising and Admissions Coordinator Chose Blackboard Learn by Anthology I believe that blackboard is more user-friendly than the other modalities I have used and taken online course work in as well. I think it is setup in a logically way, making it easy to navigate. Incentivized Helpful?	Canvas Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas This is much easier to use than Blackboard. Everything is easy to locate. The interface is clean and intuitive, which makes navigation smooth for both instructors and students. Assignments, grades, and messages are all centralized, reducing confusion. Setup is quick, and the … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas Canvas is much more robust, has more features, and is more accessible. In canvas it can be specified to your specific organization and have its own domain which I do not think that Coursera can do. Coursera is good for sharing a single course or CEU but does not have the same … Incentivized Helpful? WH William Hazevoets Student Chose Canvas Canvas is in the experience way better than Google Classroom. Canvas has a more robust agenda system that also allows adding in new personal deadlines. [Assignments] can be submitted past [the] deadline (if allowed), Incentivized Helpful? JH Jarne Horemans Student Chose Canvas Canvas is more secure, has a cleaner design, and has more features. For the features, they have in common canvas still stacks up against [Smart school] by going for the extra mile. Besidfor e that, [the] canvas looks a lot more [professional] than [Smart school]. I didn't make … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas Canvas is a stronger platform. I used it as a teacher AND as a student in graduate school, and it is just the most put-together, professional version of a learning management system that I've used or seen. I do assume that Canvas is more expensive than its competitors, which … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas I believe Canvas is worse than all of them. In my experience, it is harder to use, uglier to look at. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas Moodle is open source and it is free. So we can implement our own server with Moodle very easily. But it is not very customizable. When we need a new feature, it is very hard to change as we do not have the ability to change. Canvas has been great help in this because we can … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas NONE Incentivized Helpful? Brett Flitton President Chose Canvas I've used a few other management systems and Canvas is one of the better ones I've tested. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas Canvas is a powerful learning management tool that combines so many key elements of an actual classroom and allows teachers to mirror their classroom environment into a virtual platform. It is simply amazing what can be done on Canvas. Grading systems/analysis, progress … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas Canvas takes the better parts of both Skyward and Google Classroom and combines them to work pretty seamlessly - grading, assignments, attendance, document/file sharing - all integrated into one platform. In addition, the internal communication feature makes communication … Incentivized Helpful? Devarajulu Ravichandran Vice President and CIO Chose Canvas Much more refined user interface Incentivized Helpful? Patrick Woessner Coordinator of Instructional Technology Chose Canvas Canvas was far easier to use, more feature rich, and much better supported. Teachers and students prefer it to the other solutions we've evaluated or used in the past. Anything that kids can use with minimal instruction is a major win for schools. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas Simple design interface combines with powerful functionality within the platform. Incentivized Helpful? Shay Kotian Software Engineer Chose Canvas How content is delivered using Moodle is not up to the mark when compared to Canvas. The user interface is clunky when compared to a much simple and easy to understand user interface that of Canvas. Configuring Moodle can be quite tedious if one comes from a non-IT background. … Incentivized Helpful? Ashley Milton Alumni Development Manager, College of Education Chose Canvas I was not part of the team that selected Canvas, however, I used Blackboard as a student and very little as a staff member. Blackboard was especially difficult in navigating organizations or shared sites. I used it to organize mandatory training for students in one of my … Incentivized Helpful? DH Danielle Healey ESOL Teacher Chose Canvas Canvas has some unique features that are superior to Google Classroom, but I prefer Google Classroom because of its ease of use. It does have some of the same problems as Canvas though in terms of assigning work to particular students. Incentivized Helpful? KD Kari Doherty owner Chose Canvas I have not used any other platforms for this type of experience. I appreciated the thorough introduction that was offered to onboard onto the platform. It made it easy to use right off the bat. Incentivized Helpful? Victoria L. Graduate Teaching Assistant Chose Canvas Canvas surpasses Blackboard not only visually, but technically as well. It offers more customization options, as well as more features for students and teachers a like in regard to grading, notifications, and uploading files. It also seems to stream videos more successfully, … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas Canvas is a pricey option, at least when compared to something open source like Moodle. Personally, I don't feel that Canvas has the same ability to customize as Moodle. However, the customer support from Canvas makes it stand out. With an open-source platform, it might be … Incentivized Helpful? Nicolas Hanhan Distance Education Instructional Coordinator Chose Canvas Canvas is more cost-effective when compared to Blackboard Learn. Canvas has lately worked on features improvement especially in the grade center, for example, moving columns around like an Excel sheet, a feature not found in Blackboard Learn. Incentivized Helpful? Stefanie Cash Digital Marketing Manager Chose Canvas Canvas is the only platform we have used as a learning management system Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas The Canvas interface is easier for students to use and navigate. It is also cleaner so students enjoy using the tool more than Sakai. Canvas was easier for our IT department to implement. Training faculty on how to use Canvas was easier than Sakai. The analytics in Canvas are … Incentivized Helpful? Christopher Sweets Manager, Systems Administration Chose Canvas Canvas's ease of use and ease of administration were huge deciding factors in the decision to use Canvas as our preferred LMS. We found that on average Canvas took 1/3 the clicks to accomplish the same tasks as Blackboard, and the structure of data in Canvas is far superior to … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Canvas I believe Canvas out does all of these because of its robustness. It allows for more design opportunities including HTML and HTML5 and has many built-in features that are not offered by all of the other LMSs. Some of those features are discussions, assignments, pages, quizzes, … Incentivized Helpful?

TrustRadius Insights
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Canvas
Highlights	Research Team Insight Published July 16, 2020 Blackboard Learn and Canvas are both learning management systems (LMS) designed primarily for colleges, universities, and other higher education institutions. Blackboard is the classic academic LMS for higher education, with a broad range of features designed to meet the requirements of many different institutions. Canvas is a cloud-based LMS that excels at providing core LMS features efficiently and effectively. Since both platforms are aimed at meeting the needs of sizable learning institutions, medium-to-large organizations make up the majority of the user base for each. Features Blackboard Learn and Canvas offer very similar feature sets, but they each stand out in different areas. Blackboard Learn offers a wide array of features designed to fit many different needs. For instance, it offers multiple communication paths for both students and educators, including an email portal, built-in live chat, and discussion forums. These tools help students collaborate without leaving the platform, which can be particularly valuable for fully-online classes. Recent additions to Blackboard Learn include read-only messaging options for one-way communication and improvements to the integrated content editor. Canvas excels at delivering LMS fundamentals. Users find its document and assignment management features to be robust, and they also appreciate its numerous content creation tools, including video editing tools. Reviewers also highlight Canvas’s gradebook capabilities, which includes features to help give students full visibility into their grades and gives educators options for additional feedback. Canvas continues to improve their UI options, with recent additions such as a navigation history bar to help users return to recent pages. Limitations Although both Blackboard Learn and Canvas are fully-featured LMS platforms, they also have limitations that are important to evaluate before choosing either. Blackboard is often criticized for its UI. It’s notorious for being hard to use, especially for users with less technological savvy. Some users specifically call out Blackboard Learn’s in-system content editor for being buggy and unintuitive. The interface issues also extend to the mobile application. Additionally, its online grading capabilities are relatively limited and can be difficult to use for some educators. Some reviewers claim that Blackboard Learn is not cost-competitive with Canvas, but that information is not publicly available. Canvas, on the other hand, has a noticeably steep learning curve. It also lacks the depth of collaboration abilities that Blackboard Learn offers. Some users specifically wished for built-in video conferencing tools or better quiz proctoring options. Also, while Canvas’s content creation tools are generally well-regarded, some users find that creating and administering tests and assessments is more difficult than creating other content. Pricing Pricing for both Blackboard Learn and Canvas is available via a quote from the respective vendors.

Features

Blackboard Learn by Anthology

Canvas

Learning Management

Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology 8.6 Ratings 5% above category average	Canvas 9.8 Ratings 18% above category average
Course authoring	9.00 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Course catalog or library	9.00 Ratings	9.80 Ratings
Player/Portal	8.00 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Learning content	6.10 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Mobile friendly	9.00 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications	7.00 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Assignments	9.00 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Compliance management	9.00 Ratings	9.80 Ratings
Learning administration	10.00 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics	9.00 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Social learning	9.00 Ratings	9.90 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning	9.00 Ratings	9.80 Ratings
Gamification	00 Ratings	9.60 Ratings

Best Alternatives
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Canvas
Small Businesses	iSpring Learn Score 9.6 out of 10	iSpring Learn Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies	Schoology Learning Score 9.7 out of 10	Schoology Learning Score 9.7 out of 10
Enterprises	Schoology Learning Score 9.7 out of 10	Schoology Learning Score 9.7 out of 10
All Alternatives	View all alternatives	View all alternatives

User Ratings
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Canvas
Likelihood to Recommend	9.9 (0 ratings)	8.6 (0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	4.6 (0 ratings)	9.3 (0 ratings)
Usability	10.0 (0 ratings)	10.0 (0 ratings)
Support Rating	7.7 (0 ratings)	9.0 (0 ratings)
In-Person Training	- (0 ratings)	10.0 (0 ratings)
Online Training	7.0 (0 ratings)	8.0 (0 ratings)
Implementation Rating	10.0 (0 ratings)	8.5 (0 ratings)
Product Scalability	- (0 ratings)	8.0 (0 ratings)

User Testimonials
	Blackboard Learn by Anthology	Canvas
Likelihood to Recommend	A school with a well-established technology imprint with their students (for example, ours is a BYOB school where every student has their own laptop and must bring it to school every day and where over 99% of our families have reliable broadband at home) is a reasonable scenario for using The arrogance and intransigence of the sales force is quite disconcerting… They are no longer the only game in town and don't yet realize it. Less well-off schools/families may find it a challenge if students must be on campus or at a public library in order to use the technology. Obviously, during the pandemic, this became problematic for some districts. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	If you have a school you can let teachers easily create new deadlines which [automatically] get shown in the calendar. Teachers can also [temporarily] hide deadlines [until] they've given the explanation about the tasks. [Besides] that the teacher can also choose what should be uploaded, should it be a link, file, pdf, link,... JH Jarne Horemans Student Read full review
Pros	Provides HTML quality course content that is easily retrievable and viewable. Provides multiple methods of communication: email, threaded discussions, real-time "live" online discussions, as well as grade portal. Allows facilitators multiple methods of grading or providing feedback: threaded discussions, rubric scoring, personal comments, inline viewer, or download/upload attachments. Incentivized Anissa Harris Senior Faculty Read full review	Learning management - Even as the educational landscape rapidly shifts due to current events, Canvas is a great LMS for providing a consistent learning environment for students. Mobile accessibility - Students can access their courses on Canvas from a variety of devices, including their smartphones. Rich content - Instructors have the ability to create dynamic and engaging content for their courses. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Cons	Although the current graphic user interface is easy to use, it can be improved with larger fonts, dynamic menus, and attractive graphics. The system does not include a module to pay the school fee. The roster tab lacks detailed information about students. Incentivized Timothy Sawah IT Project Manager Read full review	Their integration with Big Blue Button was a bust for distance learning. Would be great to see them collaborate with Zoom or Google Meets. Their "feature request" process is slow and cumbersome at times because it relies on user "up votes" to get ideas addressed by the developers. They seem to have a lot of turn-over with their staff. We get a new Customer Success Manager far more frequently than with other vendors. Incentivized Patrick Woessner Coordinator of Instructional Technology Read full review
Likelihood to Renew	There are several aspects of Desire2Learn that outweigh the benefits of using Blackboard. I find that the Desire2Learn system is a bit more user friendly and looks more up-to-date. However, the decision to renew systems is not up to me because the entire University uses the same system. Regardless, I think I would choose Desire2Learn over Blackboard because of its improved user interface. James Gurney Research/Teaching Assistant Read full review	Several factors contribute to my "10" rating. First, our university just made an enormous switch to Canvas, after we were with Blackboard for almost a decade. So garnering buy-in was critical, and not something we took lightly. After nearly 18 months (start to finish) of training faculty, educating stakeholders, and migrating courses, I am not looking to make a change again anytime soon. But I am happy with the result and the product overall and that is also demonstrated in my rating. Melissa Metzger Director, Academic Technology & Digital Media Read full review
Usability	It is very usable for both faculty and students. The interface is pretty intuitive and most students can use it without a lot of additional training. Faculty do need some training to effectively use the interface, but they usually get it pretty quickly. We have had to create some additional programming to give faculty a way to delve deeper into the content. Inez Whipple E-Learning Instructional Designer Read full review	The functions in Canvas are well integrated and consistent across the application, and mostly intuitive. Overall navigation and setup is streamlined through integrated features and navigation. The feedback we've gotten from our program participants is that it is easy to learn to use. It also integrates well with third party software like Google Docs and Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing software Incentivized Jeanne Rewa Online Instructional Designer Read full review
Support Rating	Itʻs a good platform for certain things such as tests. Blackboard may not be the most user friendly but there is always room for improvement in any website, business, etc. When used with other platforms such as Google Classroom, Blackboard can be more effective, but when used by itself I feel it is not as impactful from a student perspective. QT Quincy Tamaribuchi Student Read full review	I do not personally use Canvas support since we have a central office that helps us. However, our central office always has the answers we need and are always able to solve our issues - so I would assume that get great support from the Canvas team on their end. They also offer great training, which uses materials directly from Canvas Incentivized Ashley Milton Alumni Development Manager, College of Education Read full review
In-Person Training	No answers on this topic	The training sessions were broken down into several days as well as different levels depending upon the knowledge of the user Incentivized Bethany Cleveland, PhD Adjunct Professor Read full review
Online Training	No answers on this topic	The online tutorials and videos are very clear and addressed the issues/questions that I had about using the system. Incentivized Bethany Cleveland, PhD Adjunct Professor Read full review
Implementation Rating	Blackboard's Managed Hosting was top-notch in getting us up and running quickly. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Once you purchase and sign the contract there is nothing to install or hardware to buy. You can almost immediately start using it and have courses up and going within weeks. We signed in December and had pilot courses online ready to go for the start of school in January Incentivized Kevin Reeve Director - Teaching and Learning Technology Read full review
Alternatives Considered	Blackboard is the all around better fit for our intuition. It provides the "bells and whistles" we require in having a diverse faculty and flexibility in course delivery. The "bells and whistles" aren't cheap, but we have found that budgeting for this large expense has been more than worth it for us. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Canvas is in the experience way better than Google Classroom. Canvas has a more robust agenda system that also allows adding in new personal deadlines. [Assignments] can be submitted past [the] deadline (if allowed), this isn't allowed by Google [Classroom], If you're too late you can't submit anything anymore. In Classroom [assignments], presentations/theory, and [announcements] are all put in 1 feed instead which gets confusing way faster. Incentivized WH William Hazevoets Student Read full review
Return on Investment	It has answered all my needs for distance learning and met most of the objectives The only negative I can think of is not having access to the past course material and not being able to download the lectures Another positive is the zoom integration feature Incentivized Meena B Information Technology Project Manager Read full review	Teachers have consolidated their content onto one platform which has decreased reliance of students on so much support staff assistance to access content. Canvas has helped make technology transitions more seamless for the school community. Once teachers have set up their page, Canvas really takes care of it all- they have much more time to focus on content creation and synthesis rather than the actual learning management system. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
ScreenShots	Blackboard Learn by Anthology Screenshots

Features

Limitations

Pricing