Have you been wondering why UBC had two learning management platforms — Connect and Canvas — during the 2017/18 academic year?

UBC started offering courses in Canvas, our new platform, last September. Each faculty developed its own plan for moving courses to the new system — which means that depending on what faculty/department you’re in, you may have been taking courses in both Connect and Canvas this time last year. But if you’ve ever felt frustrated with having to use multiple learning platforms, we have some good news: Connect will be retired August 31, 2018, for students and professors alike.

Repeat: For the 2018/19 Winter Session (and beyond), Canvas will be your go-to for course-related materials and info. But even though Connect will be permanently retired, it couldn’t hurt to learn more about staying organized while using different learning platforms — as some courses will continue to use other platforms to deliver course info, such as UBC Blogs.

If you’d like a little more context to understand UBC’s move to Canvas, feel free to dig a little deeper into the history of learning technology at UBC.

Looking Ahead

Sure, learning technology platforms can be complicated to use. No argument there. But with some courses having more than 200 students enrolled in a given section, we can all recognize the value of having an online learning platform like Canvas.

And whether you’ve already had a full course load using our new platform, or still aren’t sure if ‘Canvas’ refers to some type of cloth, we’ve got you covered.

If you’d like some hot tips that even seasoned Canvas professionals might not know about, look no further. Did you know that you can personalize your Canvas dashboard and your notification settings?

Or if you need to reboot your academic routine, why not read our top 5 tips for taking Canvas quizzes. And after that quiz, you can look at what your hypothetical final course grade could be with a few clicks by using the “What-if” calculation in Canvas.

From Buchanan to Forestry, UBC has traded in Connect for Canvas. So check out the Canvas resources, get online, and have a great year.

-Laura Nalos, UBC Chemical Engineering Student