With the emergence of the pandemic, students’ daily routines revolve around Canvas. Canvas serves as the portal for daily assignments, tests and homework. As this newfound Learning Management System (LMS) made its way to become a favorite for schools, it did the exact opposite for many students.

Despite its recent spike in popularity among teachers, Canvas emerged February of 2012. It has since been used in colleges, universities and, as of the Coronavirus outbreak, the majority of school districts.

The Canvas LMS most likely gained such popularity because of its convenience and availability among educators, prompting schools to utilize the LMS to manage their curriculum. Some students, however, oppose the usage of the LMS because of the homework attached to it.

The amount of homework assigned to students varies depending on the class. Some classes include simple busy work, while others contain entire lessons each day. Regardless, students feel encumbered by the homework assigned on one day alone, and they struggle with the motivation to complete it all. Additionally, students, able to close their electronics at any given time, feel disconnected to the work. Having an entire platform of schoolwork makes it that much simpler for students to put it down. The unpredictable workload of Canvas combined with a lack of motivation results in a mixture of stress and anxiety for students.

Submitting homework assignments online leads to confusion for students, as well. Using a variety of apps, even with Canvas as the primary platform, results in technical difficulties. Using unfamiliar apps becomes strenuous for students to turn in assignments, and it’s common to receive a poor grade because of it. Moreover, some educators face similar struggles. Teachers find it difficult to post assignments students can easily understand, and creating straightforward homework often proves troublesome.

Above all, students are bothered most by Canvas’s tendency to glitch. Freezing, crashing and losing submissions cost students time and effort, and making up work becomes a struggle. Students rely heavily on Canvas, and technical difficulties with the LMS have a serious impact on students’ ability to work. Although consequences for these difficulties don’t have much severity in terms of grading, it does result in frustration toward the LMS and toward the assignments within it. For students, the LMS designed for convenience is troublesome to use.

The usage of Canvas and other online learning platforms has become the norm in the day of the pandemic, and has impacted the way assignments are given to students. In the midst of Covid-19, schools continue to learn how to use such apps to their advantage and to minimize the setbacks seen today.