Canvas – Our Central Learning Environment
Canvas by Instructure launched across The University of Manchester on Monday 29 September 2025, replacing Blackboard Learn as our new Central Learning Environment (CLE).
Canvas offers a modern, flexible, and user-friendly learning platform to students and colleagues. It allows us to deliver a more consistent student experience, increased flexibility in the delivery and repurposing of teaching, and an improved and more intuitive platform.
The rollout marks a major milestone in the transformation of our wider digital learning environment and we now join a global community of Canvas users.
Embedding Canvas at our University
Following the successful launch in September 2025, early feedback has been positive overall. Students have praised Canvas’s intuitive interface and colleagues are appreciating the ease in which they can create and deliver courses with dynamic content.
Work is still ongoing to fully embed Canvas at the University. We are listening to feedback and continuing to deliver technical improvements to enhance the experience for our students and colleagues.
The project team and governance groups across the University are supporting the delivery of processes and procedures to enhance the experiences for all our people. We will communicate future developments and features as they become available to ensure colleagues benefit from improvements.
Canvas microsite
Find supporting information to help you get more out of Canvas.
Access the SharePoint microsite
Student Canvas support
Help students get the most out of Canvas and access any support needed.
Access information and support
Access Canvas
Log into your University of Manchester Canvas account.
Access your Canvas account
How did we get here?
Canvas was announced as the replacement for Blackboard Learn in November 2023, following a rigorous testing process involving over 260 students and colleagues to identify users’ needs.
Since then, the project team has worked collaboratively with colleagues, including technical and eLearning teams, to deliver a robust and stable platform for our people.
Governance groups, with representation from Faculties and University areas, were established to contribute, review and support the decisions and actions needed to implement the transition. The governance structure changed and adapted to meet the needs of the project, with involvement and collaboration from colleagues to actualise key decisions.
Project governance
Representatives from across the University have been key to the successful delivery of Canvas.
Multidisciplinary governance groups have been one of the project’s strongest assets, with cross-working providing an exemplar of collaborative working. These groups continue to ensure Canvas is developed with teaching, learning and student experience as its key driver.
Governance has adapted to meet the needs of the project based on the stage of the Canvas journey.
- Implementation (March 2024– January 2025)
- The DLE Advisory Group oversaw review the design and delivery of the technology infrastructure and the associated change in processes, reviewing decisions from the following subgroups: IT subgroup, Pedagogical Standards subgroup, Design subgroup, User subgroup, Change subgroup.
- Realisation (February – July 2025)
- Governance was restructured to meet the changing project needs, streamlining into Priorities and Solutions groups overseen by the Realisation Group and DLE Advisory Group. The Realisation Group was responsible for ensuring Canvas is supported from a technical perspective, and required activities were completed within the required timeframe.
- Business Readiness (August 2025 onwards)
- The Business Readiness group was created to guide the University in preparing for change, embedding the Central Learning Environment into Institutional practices and maximising its benefits for both students and colleagues. Daily meetings were also established between technical and eLearning teams to support the first month of readiness stage of the Canvas journey.
Contact us
For any queries regarding Canvas, contact your local eLearning team through the usual channels or contact us by clicking this form.
