At one point, Canvas was simple, straightforward, and worked like the Web. Now, it's bloated, everything is hidden inside contextual menus. And the grade book is centered to the expense of everything else. Like all the other broken learning management systems.

Even just adding a note to the home page, saying you're not going to use it and linking elsewhere, is cause for gnashing of teeth.

The problem is pedagogical, not technological. We don’t need another new edtech tool. Canvas WAS the new edtech tool that was going to solve the problem of the LMS. It didn’t.

In higher ed, too little effort is made to support a culture of pedagogical thinking. Teachers are not prepared (or supported in their efforts) to subvert the intentions of a system that makes critical pedagogical decisions for them and ultimately teaches them how to teach.

LMS systems don’t recognize teaching as a craft with varied philosophies, a long history, and idiosyncratic practices. Because too many institutions don’t recognize teaching as a craft.

What #highered institutions should do is take every dollar they spend on their learning management systems and invest in first-year faculty programs and pedagogy seminars for continuing faculty.

Then, in lieu of an LMS, let administrators find ways to administer that don’t undermine the basic mission of the institution.