Case Study: Seattle Pacific University achieves expanded teaching possibilities with Canvas LMS

Change to Canvas Expands Teaching Possibilities at University

Seattle Pacific University, a private Christian liberal arts university in Seattle with about 4,000 users, wanted to expand blended and distance learning but found its decade-old LMS was mainly a document repository. Faculty and academic-technology staff were frustrated by low usage, poor online communication, and a lack of vendor responsiveness, leaving the university without a platform to support formative assessment or new digital pedagogies.

After surveying stakeholders and piloting options, Seattle Pacific migrated from Blackboard to Canvas in 11 months and rolled it out campus-wide in summer 2016. Canvas proved intuitive and flexible, increasing teacher LMS usage by 10%, enabling richer instructor–student interaction and course redesign, and freeing IT to focus on strategic work—positioning the university to grow its online and blended teaching.

Seattle Pacific University

Rolin Moe

Director of Academic Innovation