Top 5 Reasons Why Canvas Enterprise Beats Open-source LMS-s
In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, the choice of a reliable and feature-rich learning management system (LMS) plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective teaching and learning experiences. Canvas, a widely acclaimed LMS, offers two distinct options: Canvas Enterprise and Canvas open source. While both options have their merits, in this blog, we aim to shed light on the advantages of choosing Canvas Enterprise over its open-source counterpart and other similar open-source offerings. So, let’s dive in!
- Self-Hosting: When Free Isn’t Actually Free
When self-hosting Canvas open source and other similar LMSs, there are real costs involved in running and maintaining the LMS. These costs include technology expenses such as internal hosting, servers, additional software, and bandwidth. Increased usage of the LMS can lead to increased costs, and some institutions may need to invest in additional hardware, data storage, and backups. Furthermore, self-hosting may require additional staff to manage IT, consult or train on Canvas, and handle modifications. Consider the staff time spent on maintenance, troubleshooting, LMS capacity planning, budgeting, security, penetration testing, training, and documentation. While Canvas open-source code is free, it’s important to assess the expenses associated with software, hardware, and staff resources.
2. Canvas Enterprise Isn’t Free, but It’s Worth It
Unlike free alternatives, Canvas simplifies the costs of self-hosting by consolidating them into one manageable expense. With Canvas, you can focus your team’s attention on more important challenges rather than just keeping the LMS running. The value of Canvas lies in its hands-free hosting, security, backups, and updates. Canvas ensures unparalleled hosting and service with minimal downtime, taking care of security vulnerabilities and offering fast response times. Additionally, Canvas is designed to promote faculty adoption and student engagement. Its easy-to-use interface encourages adoption, and the platform presents an opportunity for your institution to innovate and reimagine course design.
3. Commercial Open Source is the Best
Canvas is a true open-source project that supports not only open-source software but also open standards, open content (Commons), and open education (Canvas Network). This commitment to openness makes Canvas the best of both worlds — combining the freedom of open source with the benefits of a growing open-source community. Canvas sets the pace for usability, reliability, and openness, outshining other LMSs. The platform values simplicity, choice, and quality features for teachers. With an elegant interface, Canvas allows students to focus on learning. Its open API and strong LTI support enable seamless integration of new and external tools without disrupting functionality during version updates.
4. Self-Hosting Puts You and Your Community At Risk
Protecting teachers’ and students’ data is a critical responsibility for institutions. However, ensuring data security can be challenging. While some institutions have the resources to invest in infrastructure and data redundancy, many do not. Canvas is designed with privacy protection and security compliance in mind. It takes advantage of the most secure cloud hosting service, AWS, and has a dedicated security team. Every byte of your institution’s data is automatically backed up in multiple data centers across different geographies. Canvas conducts open, annual security audits, offering increased transparency through external scrutiny of its code on GitHub. Its cloud-native architecture allows for hotfixes without downtime, ensuring the safety of your data and community.
5. Migrating to Canvas is Easier than You Think
Transitioning to a new LMS can be intimidating, but Canvas is here to ease your concerns. Canvas makes the migration process simple and straightforward. The platform is designed with simplicity in mind, refining features that teachers love and focusing on their needs. Canvas allows for seamless course imports, enabling teachers and students to get back to learning quickly. It provides excellent
Canvas Enterprise provides institutions with a comprehensive suite of advanced features, robust support, and unparalleled scalability, enabling them to harness the full potential of a premium LMS. Whether you’re an educational institution, corporation, or government entity, Canvas Enterprise should be your preferred choice for powering transformative online learning initiatives.
This article was originally published on our company blog.
