THE UNIVERSITY is considering a transition to a new learning management system (LMS) to replace Canvas, the Varsitarian has learned.
The planned shift is said to be part of the University’s digital transition and was hatched even before the cyberattack on Canvas earlier in May.
The Varsitarian sought comments from Asst. Prof. Jerralyn Padua, the assistant to the rector for information and communications technology, but she declined.
The development comes after the global cybersecurity incident involving Canvas’ parent company, Instructure, that exposed user data such as names, email addresses, and course information and disrupted services at several institutions worldwide.
READ: UST Cloud Campus ‘under maintenance’ amid global Canvas cyberattack
Earlier, UST placed the Cloud Campus under “security maintenance” following the incident, temporarily limiting access to the platform as a precaution.
In a May 11 memorandum, Padua said forensic investigations showed “no evidence” of unauthorized access, compromised credentials, or data exfiltration within the University’s Canvas setup.
The Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) said the security breach was isolated to accounts designed for independent educators, tutors, and trainers whose schools did not have a paid institutional Canvas.
In a security incident update on May 11, Instructure apologized following the unauthorized access in its platform and a vulnerability discovered on its “Free for Teachers” platform.
“The data fields involved include information like usernames, email addresses, course names, enrollment information and messages,” Steve Daly, chief executive officer of Instructure, said.
Instructure also confirmed it had “reached an agreement with the unauthorized actor involved in this incident.”
UST and other Dominican-run schools adopted Canvas as their LMS in Academic Year 2023-2024.
READ: UST, other Dominican schools to shift to Canvas next academic year
UST however is not contemplating a return to Blackboard, the LMS used during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Varsitarian has also learned.
The shift to Canvas in 2023 ended UST’s two-decade partnership with Blackboard, which had served as its LMS since 2003.
Under Blackboard, UST became one of the first in the Philippines to implement a large-scale e-learning program.
Other top Philippine universities such as Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University have been using Canvas as their learning management system since 2020 and 2019, respectively.
UST officials earlier described Canvas as a “robust and intuitive” platform, citing its communication tools, data analytics, and capacity to support hybrid and flexible learning setups. With reports from Czeantal Naomi P. Delos Santos
