Evaluating Microsoft Teams, Blackboard, Canvas, and Zoom for

Online Teaching Effectiveness: A Multi-Dimensional

Comparative Study in Higher Education

Tariq Saali1,* Tassawar Kamran2

1 American University in the Emirates, UAE

2 Global College of Engineering and Technology, Muscat, Oman

Received: October 28, 2025 Revised: December 03, 2025 Accepted: January 10, 2026 ⋆ Corresponding author

ABSTRACT

The rapid institutionalisation of online and hybrid delivery models in higher education has left instructors and

academic administrators managing a fragmented landscape of dedicated learning management systems, video

conferencing platforms, and collaborative productivity suites that overlap substantially in function but differ markedly

in pedagogical affordance. Selecting a platform or combination of platforms is consequential for instructor workload,

student engagement, and learning outcomes, yet the evidence base for such decisions remains limited to narrow singleplatform

evaluations or anecdotal comparisons. This paper presents a systematic multi-dimensional comparative

evaluation of four widely adopted platforms—Microsoft Teams, Blackboard, Canvas, and Zoom—drawing on

original survey data from 284 instructors and 642 students across five higher education institutions. Nine evaluation

dimensions are examined: content delivery, real-time collaboration, assessment and feedback, usability, technical

reliability, student engagement support, accessibility, analytics and reporting, and third-party integration. Quantitative

analyses include one-way analysis of variance across all nine dimensions, Bonferroni post-hoc comparisons, Pearson

correlation analysis, and multiple regression modelling of the predictors of instructor overall satisfaction. Canvas

achieves the highest composite scores for usability, analytics, and integration; Blackboard leads on assessment

and reporting depth; Microsoft Teams leads on real-time collaboration; and Zoom leads on content delivery in

synchronous sessions but performs poorly on the asynchronous dimensions where dedicated learning management

systems are strongest. The paper synthesises findings into a platform selection framework and eight evidence-based

recommendations for practitioners designing or evaluating technology-enhanced teaching environments.

Keywords: Learning management systems Microsoft Teams Blackboard Canvas Zoom Online teaching

effectiveness Educational technology evaluation Student engagement Higher education

1. INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a mass experiment in online

higher education that would under normal circumstances have

taken a decade to materialise. Between March 2020 and August

2021, virtually every higher education institution (HEI)

worldwide moved its instructional delivery to remote or hybrid

formats, deploying or accelerating the adoption of video

conferencing tools, learning management systems (LMS),

and integrated collaboration suites [1, 2]. Post-pandemic, the

majority of HEIs have retained significant online or hybrid

provision, not as a contingency but as a deliberate pedagogi-