Case Study: San Diego State University improves Canvas adoption and communication with Instructure’s Canvas LMS and Impact

San Diego State University streamlines Canvas adoption for 32,023 users with Instructure

San Diego State University (SDSU) faced the challenge of migrating its learning management system from Blackboard to Canvas while simultaneously adapting to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The key hurdle was efficiently driving user adoption and engagement with the new Canvas LMS and overcoming communication barriers during this period of intense institutional change. The vendor, Instructure, provided its products Canvas LMS and Impact to address this.

Using Instructure's Impact tool, SDSU delivered targeted, in-app messages to specific user roles within Canvas, which created a two-way communication stream. This allowed the team to gather feedback, reduce support escalations, and make data-driven decisions to improve the user experience. The solution fostered a sense of being heard among students and faculty and was so successful that it led to a strategic collaboration with the university's communications leadership for broader implementation.

San Diego State University