When I first started UCSB in the Fall of 2019, I remember feeling confused when being introduced to Gauchospace. I only had experience with Canvas and didn’t understand this new school website that was so specifically tailored for UCSB courses. It took some getting used to, but it was not too long before I familiarized myself with the platform and saw it as my new normal.
This feeling of comfort in the familiar was shaken when I logged onto Gauchospace at the start of this fall quarter, and saw that Canvas was once more making a comeback in my life as our course website. Of the four classes I was taking, one was completely run through Canvas, forcing me to relearn Canvas and the upgrades it has since taken. I’m sure many others have courses that have transitioned completely to the platform already as well.
Now, I have nothing against Canvas. My past and current experience with it has gone relatively well. The platform is quite easy to navigate, both as an app and on a desktop. It also has a clean and academic aesthetic that’s pleasing to the eye that Gauchospace sometimes lacks. You can easily find the assignments and readings grouped together as a “module” or just look in the assignments folder to see which ones are due next.
When you submit an assignment on time, your screen is showered in colorful confetti that just makes you feel proud of yourself, as you should be! College is hard both inside and outside the classroom, so having that little acknowledgment of effort is very nice touch. There is also the nifty little tool that allows you to calculate your overall grade using possible grades on ungraded assignments, making it easy for students to see what score they need to achieve in order to raise their overall grade.
Gauchospace on the other hand is much less advanced. It doesn’t have quite the aesthetic appeal Canvas does, unless professors know what they’re doing when they’re setting up their course page. The grading can also be a little tricky to navigate. Despite being in my fourth year, I still have no idea how to accurately calculate my grade through Gauchospace, showing just how difficult it can be to efficiently use the site. There is also no confetti or acknowledgment of effort when submitting assignments. There is only an acknowledgment that an assignment was submitted either on time or late, not quite as much pizzazz compared to its successor.
Though Gauchospace is still considered the main platform right now, it now includes a portal to Canvas, making the transition for the entire school to the newer platform much easier. According to the Daily Nexus, this will be the last year Gauchospace will be in operation, with Canvas set to take over completely by the next school year.
The reason behind this new development is due to the platform that Gauchospace runs on, Moodle, undergoing changes that cannot support the UCSB server and maintain the secureness it has previously provided. The risk to campus data was too big to ignore. The Daily Nexus also claims that all other UC campuses, with the exception of UC San Francisco, are in the process of or have already transitioned to Canvas.
While the reasoning behind the change is understandable and perhaps even necessary, I still find myself preferring Gauchospace. If only because it feels pretty poetic to start UCSB with Gauchospace and to leave just before the site stops operating altogether.