Canvas

EdTech Scores Big With Canvas

The EdTech Support and EdTech Ecosystem teams have been working on the Next Generation Learning Management System (LMS) project since 2017 and their first large rollout of courses on the selected LMS, Canvas, has yielded impressive feedback! 

Led by Director of Educational Technology Services Dan Suchy, alongside Katherine Collins, EdTech Support Manager, and Paul Jamason, Systems Integration Engineer and Ecosystems Manager, this project has been a truly collaborative effort across both teams.

"Changing learning management systems is one of the most impactful changes to a university," said Dan. "It must be handled with technical expertise and precision, and the ability to make our faculty and students feel supported throughout the transition. I'm immensely proud of how the teams have come together to make Canvas a success."

For those less familiar, an LMS is a software application that connects instructors and students so that course materials and activities are shared online. Typically, students are able to take quizzes, post to discussions, and submit papers through the LMS. The introduction of Canvas represents a passing of the torch as it is far better suited to meet the evolving needs of the campus community, surpassing the capabilities of its predecessor, TritonEd. Loaded with features, Canvas offers a simplified gradebook, convenient feedback tools, insightful analytics and an app for more flexibility. 

"This achievement has been no easy feat, but thanks to the hard work of the EdTech support and EdTech Ecosystems teams, Canvas is finally here," said Dan. 

“The thing about the EdTech project team that sets them apart from others that I’ve seen, is that they really care," added Katherine Collins, EdTech Support Manager. "We all know meeting deadlines and providing deliverables are key to any project, but this team particularly excels at placing the voice of the customer first. From the way that the system is configured, to the way they lead trainings and offer support, they really have the interest of the entire campus at the forefront of everything they do."

In terms of the Canvas experience, the majority of instructors took less than 12 hours to prepare a course in Canvas the first time. Once the course was set up in Canvas, future courses could be set up with even faster times.

The feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive. 

"My students never complained about Canvas. In fact, I'd say they had a much more intuitive sense about how to use it than I did. From my part, I've enjoyed how easy it really is to use to post content and review student work. I also like the interface," said one anonymous user. 

Another anonymous user elated, "This is amazing! With so many hours going toward course preparation, it's nice to know that the Canvas side is easy. It's enabling me to focus more on what's really important about course preparation."

Looking forward, the EdTech Support and EdTech Ecosystem teams are working with other IT Services experts to stream real-time Canvas usage data to the Student Activity Hub (SAH). Canvas will be a rich source of SAH data to help develop learning analytics and ultimately increase students' academic success.