April 16, 2025 • 23 mins
Drs. Breana Bayraktar and Lila Fleming visit us to discuss Canvas, including key ideas, tips, and considerations whether you’re an experienced Canvas user or new to teaching.
Resource: Information about the Canvas transition https://lms.gmu.edu/
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Episode Transcript
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Rachel (00:08):
Hello and welcome to Keystone Concepts in Teaching a
higher education podcast fromthe Stearns Center for Teaching
and Learning.
In this podcast, we shareimpactful and evidence based
teaching practices to supportall students and faculty.
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho, andI'm very excited to be joined by
this episode's guests to talkabout Canvas, our learning
(00:28):
management system.
So in this episode, I'm joinedby Dr.
Lila Fleming, who's an AssociateProfessor in Global and
Community Health, and theBachelor's Program Director for
the Community Health Program.
I'm also joined by Dr.
Breana Bayraktar from theStearns Center for Teaching and
Learning, where she specializesin blended learning and hybrid
pedagogy and the scholarship ofteaching and learning.
(00:51):
So thank you both so much forjoining us.
I'm very excited to have youhere and talk about Canvas.
Lila (00:56):
Thank you so much for having us.
Breana (00:58):
Yep.
Happy to be here.
Rachel (01:01):
So we have a lot going on with Canvas.
So whether you're new to Canvas,whether you are coming from
another institution, anotherlearning management system,
whatever the case may be,hopefully we'll have something
here for you.
But let's talk about, just for afew minutes, the Canvas
transition for Mason.
We're moving the learningmanagement system from
(01:21):
Blackboard to Canvas, and it'sbeen a bit of a transition.
And, Breana, you've definitelybeen leading a lot of the
training for this and Lila,you've been a faculty mentor and
really on the leadership out infront for Canvas as well.
So let's talk about what facultymight be considering or doing if
they haven't yet learned Canvas,haven't moved to Canvas, or are
(01:41):
perhaps are new to Mason andthis learning management system.
Breana (01:46):
Well, I can get us started.
I would say that there's reallythree things that I would tell
anyone, and that's to start withsort of our ongoing training
resources.
So at the lms.gmu.edu site, it'sa place where we have a lot of
information about the Canvastransition, but we will have
ongoing training resourcesthere, both asynchronous and
(02:10):
synchronous, live opportunities.
So anybody wanting to get sometraining will be able to find a
lot of resources there.
Everyone should have withinCanvas a course called Growing
With Canvas, and we have a lotof recorded training videos so
that someone can sort of walkthrough step by step everything
they need to get started withCanvas.
(02:33):
And then we have an emaillms@gmu.edu that people can use
if they need to reach out withquestions about sort of, you
know, do I have my course set upyet?
And any sort of problems orissues that they run into, the
folks that staff that emailaddress can either answer it or
get them to the right place.
(02:55):
So those are kind of the basicthree places I would say to go.
Lila (03:00):
Absolutely.
I actually thought also the ideathat talk to other people that
have worked on Canvas already.
So as a faculty member, myselfand as a mentor has been really
useful to get an opportunity tochat one-on-one with many of our
faculty members in my college aswell as other colleges.
And that also helps you kind ofthink about what are the things
(03:21):
that you need to get started asyou're moving from Blackboard to
Canvas, or if you're brand newto Canvas.
Rachel (03:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's a great perspective.
Thank you.
And so as we're thinking aboutCanvas, so whether we're new to
it, whether we're not, it's agreat tool, especially as we
engage across differentinstructional modalities.
So can you tell us a little bitabout some of the features,
like, let's sell it a little bithere.
What are some of the featuresthat maybe most of interest to
(03:49):
faculty right now?
Lila (03:52):
That's a great question, if you don't mind.
I can take a little bit of that.
So one of the things that I havefound about Canvas is, it's
easier to use.
So it's a little bit morestreamline LMS, which makes it
easier, more intuitive forfaculty members to start
building their own courses.
So that's one of the things thatI have found really useful.
(04:13):
And as I was kind of creating myown classes and transferring my
courses from Blackboard toCanvas, there is some tools that
I have found to be really usefulas I build my modules.
Things like the Copy To tool,which allows you to copy
something like a module or apage of the module.
So those are things that willkind of help you kind of
(04:33):
transition on, or if you want touse a particular page in your
course across different courses,that becomes really useful.
And I have also used thisduplicate feature as well that
lets you, once you have a reallynice page that you're like, I
wanna use this in every module.
For example, your moduleintroduction page, you can use
that duplicate feature to justensure that you maintaining a
(04:56):
very cohesive look to youronline course.
Particularly in a synchronousonline and hybrid courses.
It is very important to maintainthat consistency and that will
give that opportunity tomaintain consistency.
Breana (05:10):
I think that if you are someone who is coming to Canvas
and you have not used a learningmanagement system a lot in the
past, whether it's canvas orBlackboard or a different one, I
think that you'll appreciatemost the sort of student
centered pieces that I thinkmake the student experience much
better when using Canvas.
(05:32):
And so thinking about the waythat students will be engaging
with your material, in Canvasit's largely through their to-do
list, which is somethingBlackboard doesn't have.
And their to-do list gives themsort of assignments and
assessments.
It spans across all of theircourses.
So it's one place students cango to see everything that's due.
(05:56):
And a lot of students will usethat as the primary way they
interact with everything intheir courses.
So this is where I think reallymaking sure that all of your
assignments, even assignmentsthat you're going to collect in
person, or you're giving a gradefor participation, that
everything is logged in Canvasso students can see all of that
(06:17):
and see, you know, how they'reprogressing through the course.
You can even make pages withinstructions show up on their
to-do list by assigning them adue date, which I think is
really great for making surethat students are at least
navigating to the page andseeing the information that's
there.
I think if you're someone whohas used an LMS lot in the past,
(06:40):
I think what will be reallyhelpful for you to think about
is the sort of guidance orpacing pieces that Canvas will
allow you to do.
So you can set up requirementsfor the way you want students to
move through your learningactivities and through your
assessments.
And I think that's reallyhelpful because sometimes we
have students that really wannaskip ahead or they skip around
(07:03):
within a course.
And sometimes that's fine, butsometimes we really want them to
have more of a structured pacingthrough our activities.
Rachel (07:12):
We scaffold for a reason, right?
Breana (07:14):
Yeah, exactly.
And Canvas, I think does thatreally well.
So those are kind of like thestudent pieces I think make
Canvas a big change fromBlackboard, but make the
experience a lot better.
Lila (07:27):
Yeah, and that was actually a really great point.
And I also wanted to add thecalendar feature that is such a
great area that you can actuallyset calendar specific things
like office hours.
You can actually put in youroffice hours in the calendar and
that will appear within thatcourse.
So you will be able to accesssome of that information through
that syllabus link withinCanvas.
(07:47):
So students will be able to seethat as well.
Or even put major universitydeadlines that we have.
Things like when to drop acourse, or what are the things
that you need to think about ifyou're applying for graduation.
So you can add those dates, veryimportant dates that maybe not
necessarily are course centered,but are things that students
might find useful as they'removing through their semester.
Rachel (08:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
We have a lot of great tools, alot of things to make it a good
experience and a prettystraightforward experience for
both students and faculty.
So I think we have a lot ofgreat opportunities here.
So I guess as we also talk aboutthis, I'm interested in
exploring how faculty who maybeare less new to Canvas or who
(08:32):
are thinking about how mightthey level up their teaching.
Particularly, how might theyconsider using Canvas as a tool
to say level up the face-to-faceexperience.
We don't maybe as often havethat large Canvas component.
So how might they consider usingCanvas as that kind of tool?
Lila (08:55):
That's a great question.
For me, if I'm teaching aface-to-face course, one of the
things that I find the LMS canbe very useful is to share
materials.
So even starting with thatpoint, so things like syllabus,
course schedule, those thingsshould be very easily for
students to access.
And that's an something that theLMS can provide.
(09:15):
And it gives you like anorganizational tool as well.
So if you are an instructorthat, for example, shares
PowerPoints, you can do thisfrom a week to week basis, so
that way it separates thematerial for students as they're
kind of going through thecourse.
It also allows for you to thinkabout maybe assignment
submissions.
This is a centralized way thatyou can have students submit
(09:37):
their assignments rather thanbringing in print copies which
is also great.
They're not printing, they don'thave to-
Rachel (09:43):
Handwriting?
Lila (09:44):
Exactly.
Not writing by hand.
So that's always great.
So these are ways that we candefinitely use it in the
face-to-face courses and eventhinking about the grade book,
how you can share and allowstudents to see how they're
progressing in the course.
I think there is nothing morefearful than being a student
that you're in a class and youhave no idea what your grade is.
(10:07):
And this is an opportunity foryou to use that grade book,
which is pretty straightforward.
So it would allow you to kind ofbring up that face-to-face
component in to a differentlevel.
And that would be alsoincredibly useful for students
so they know where they'regoing.
Breana (10:22):
I would just add onto what Lila is saying, that Mason
students are coming to ourcourses with a lot of
experience, sort of livingwithin a learning management
system.
So whether they're coming to usstraight from high school, or if
they maybe are our transferstudents from the community
college system, they're veryused to their teachers and their
(10:44):
instructors using some kind ofmanagement system for materials,
sharing PowerPoints, as Lilasaid, but also most of their
assessments.
And so students I think, reallyhave an expectation that they
will be able to access materialsthrough Canvas.
(11:05):
And so everything that we can doas instructors to make those
materials available to them in away that is gonna be really
helpful and organized andaccessible to all of our
students, is really gonna makethat experience a lot better for
them.
And it really makes it betterfor us because the more we
(11:27):
provide sort of in thatproactive and organized way,
there are fewer questions thatwe end up fielding as the
semester goes on.
Where do I find this?
How do I do this?
Right?
That's what I think is what'sreally great about having the
LMS as a place for all of thoseactivities.
It tends to cut down on thenumber of those sort of, I don't
(11:50):
know what I'm doing questions.
And helps us save time for, youknow, better questions from our
students'cause the questionsdon't end.
Rachel (11:57):
Yeah, they'll be there no matter what.
Lila (12:00):
Yeah, and not so many emails.
Right?
That actually is going to reducethat, the ability for the
students to just know whatthey're doing rather than have
to wait to hear from theinstructor.
So it's a centralized point.
Rachel (12:11):
Absolutely.
So it's a little bit more workon the front end, especially for
the faculty who are movingcourses from Blackboard to
Canvas and going through thoseand proofing and changing and
hopefully seeing this as, youknow, maybe an opportunity too.
So can you tell us a little bitmore about how this beyond
being, certainly, and we fullyacknowledge a lot of work, how
(12:34):
this might also be a teachingopportunity?
Breana (12:39):
I think that it is a great teaching opportunity
because it's a time where we canreally look at our courses and
see how well what we had inBlackboard is serving our
students, but also serving us.
So I know that for me, and Ithink for a lot of our
colleagues, our Blackboardcourses, if we taught sort of
(13:01):
the same one every semester orevery couple semesters, those
courses started to get reallybloated.
So, you know, in my courses Iwould have a lot of different
quizzes, a lot of differentactivities, discussion board
options.
And in Blackboard we tended tojust sort of keep all of that in
there and then add new things.
And after a few semesters itbecomes sort of this behemoth
(13:24):
course.
But the move into Canvas I thinkis a great time to pare that
down because those materials cancontinue to live in your sandbox
or in your sort of practicespaces, but you can selectively
send specific pages andassignments into your active
course, and it just makes itcleaner and easier for us to
(13:45):
manage.
But in terms of it being ateaching opportunity, I think
it's a space where we can alsoconsider how well our
assessments are really helpingus to evaluate our students and
how well they're meeting ourlearning outcomes, and then
thinking about the differentlearning activities.
(14:05):
Are those helping students toprepare for those assessments?
So like the backward designprocess, as you say it, it is
work to be able to take ourcourses from Blackboard and get
them Canvas ready and then, youknow, really get them student
ready.
So while we're taking that time,I think it's also a space where
we can look at the courses thatwe've maybe inherited or have
(14:28):
been working with for a longtime.
And make sure that they're stillserving our students in the best
way.
Lila (14:36):
Those are absolutely great points, Breana.
I really do think it's soimportant for us to kind of go
back and start kind of thinking,oh, what does it look like when
I first built this course andwhat I really wanted students to
get out of this course?
So this is that opportunity tobe able to really think through
every material that you have andbe more methodical in how we are
(14:58):
creating those courses inCanvas.
One of the things to keep inmind is you really don't want to
have that kind of extra materialand extra information when you
have a live course.
So this is where creating yourcourses in a sandbox is going to
be really important.
And in lms.gmu.edu, you can findinformation about how to get a
(15:19):
sandbox from the university andthat sandbox won't be connected
to a semester and won't beconnected to a particular set of
students.
So it allows you to puteverything that you need in that
course, and you copy those intoyour live course, and that
allows you to ensure that yourlive course is nice and clean
when your sandbox kind of holdseverything you want.
Rachel (15:40):
It's definitely good for us, good for our students.
You know what we have in thelive course.
But that sandbox is a great,essentially play space.
You know, trying out things,trying out different tools.
Did this work, did this notwork?
Maybe I need to find anothervideo on something, you know,
before our students see it.
You know, all of those kind ofthings.
It's a great space to justexplore and see how Canvas works
(16:03):
and how we might move thingsaround, as well as the storage
like you both mentioned.
So I guess also what I'd like totalk about is really focusing on
adjunct faculty.
With our adjunct faculty,getting access to canvas can be
a big thing.
So what might adjunct facultyconsider or maybe know a little
(16:23):
bit more about the process?
Breana (16:24):
I think with our adjuncts in particular, going to
their department point ofcontact, and so that might be
your department chair, but itmight also be sort of an
administrative unit lead.
That's the place to startbecause they're the ones that
need to make sure that all ofthe sort of human resources
pieces are all in alignment.
(16:45):
Because that all needs to happenbefore anyone can even get
access to Canvas.
So if you're a sort of newlyhired adjunct or you've come
back to Mason after a break,making sure that you're fully up
to date in all the HR systems isthe first piece.
And then I would say that theycan ask who their sort of
(17:06):
department Canvas mentor likeLila, or maybe their course
coordinator is because these arefolks that have had extra
training and extra experienceand can help someone get
started.
I mean, we already talked a lotabout sort of the general
training resources that areavailable, but I think reaching
(17:26):
out to the individuals that havesome experience and some
expertise can be a really goodway to get started.
And I think I should mention aswell that like we are all new to
Canvas.
Even our folks that are reallyexperienced, it's still a new
thing here.
And so I think it's a reallygood opportunity to ask the
(17:47):
questions, to say, Hey, how doyou do this?
How can I figure this out?
Without feeling like you'reasking a question that you
should already know the answerto.
Because we're all sort of stillasking these types of questions
of each other.
And so hopefully everyone feelslike they're in a space where
they can ask questions and gethelp, and it's sort of an
(18:09):
expected thing.
But if you're someone who'salready really comfortable with
Canvas, then maybe you can bethat person in your department
that other colleagues can cometo with their questions.
Lila (18:22):
Absolutely.
And to add a little bit to thatas well, just make sure that you
give yourself time, whetheryou're an adjunct or a full-time
faculty member.
Even though we have this greatsystem where our Blackboard
courses are being transferredonto Canvas, those courses are
not ready to be taught onCanvas.
So there is still going to be alot of work that needs to
(18:44):
happen.
So the earlier you can get intothat Canvas site and look at
your Blackboard transfer courseand being able to see what it
looks like because it's notgonna look like it looked on
Blackboard, it is not gonna beready for it to be just
delivered on for the nextsemester.
There is going to be cleanupthat needs to take place.
(19:04):
So I think the sooner you areable to log onto Canvas and
start looking at your course andtrying to figure out how you're
going to be updating it, thebetter.
So don't wait until like a weekbefore the semester starts.
That will definitely be verydifficult to do.
I will highly recommend that thequicker you can get yourself
into Canvas, the better.
(19:25):
So you can plan ahead and youcan have the time.
Again, coming back to reviewingyour course and going through
all those materials you can besure that your students are
gonna have a great experiencewhile they're in your course.
Breana (19:38):
And if I can just add, we also have a group of really
excellent instructionaldesigners.
And so if you are someone whowants to use some maybe more
advanced third party tools, oryou have some experience with
Canvas at another institutionand you want to kind of learn
(19:59):
what the next steps are formaking your course even better,
these are folks that have a lotof expertise in all kinds of
different spaces and can helpyou think through what you can
do to make your course moreengaging, more interactive, and
just a lot more fun for yourstudents.
So you can set up sort ofone-on-one time to work with one
(20:21):
of our instructional designersand they're just a really great
group of people.
Rachel (20:27):
Yeah.
Alright, well that sounds great.
As we wrap up for today, I thinkhere, you know, we're really
looking at our keystone conceptof engagement.
So whether we're looking atfaculty engagement with the
learning management system, butalso how faculty can use this as
a tool to engage their students,we have a lot of different
aspects of really thinkingthrough that engage, how do we
(20:51):
interact, how do our studentsinteract, and the way we make
this course an experience or amore streamlined experience.
So with that, any otherthoughts, parting things you'd
like to share with ourlisteners?
Lila (21:07):
I think one last thing that I would love to share is
just to ensure that you haveloads and loads and loads of
opportunities to grow withCanvas, and I mean grow as an
instructor.
Grow with your students.
We're all kind of on the sameboat.
We're all learning.
Some students are gonna be brandnew to this, so this is an
opportunity for us to be able totalk to each other and work
(21:30):
together to make sure that wecreate a really good experience,
both for the faculty that arebuilding the courses, but also
for the students that are goingto be taking those courses so we
can ensure that they have thebest learning opportunity.
Breana (21:45):
I think one of the most valuable things I've done as
I've built Canvas courses andtaught them and then gone back
to sort of revise them, I ask mystudents about their experience.
And even to the point of askingthem to pull up the Canvas site
and sort of walk me through howthey get to different pieces
(22:07):
within the course.
And that really reveals a lotabout how they engage with our
materials and what they skipover, what they don't notice.
And it makes my next versioneven better.
So if you have the opportunityto ask your students about how
they're using Canvas, that canreally provide a lot of
(22:27):
interesting information, Ithink.
Rachel (22:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
Even using the Canvas StudentView isn't quite maybe what
we're looking at there.
But it's still a good tool too.
So with that, thank you so muchfor your time.
I think we've covered a lot ofgood things about Canvas, so
wherever people are coming from,and joining us from Blackboard
to Canvas or previous use orbrand new to teaching, whatever
the case may be, I think we canconnect with a lot of great
(22:52):
resources.
So thank you both so much foryour time and I'm excited to see
where all of this goes.
Lila (22:58):
Thank you so much.
We really appreciate being here.
Breana (23:00):
Yeah, it's been a great conversation, so thank you.
Rachel (23:03):
Absolutely, and make sure to catch our next episode,
so every two weeks on whateverplatform you listen to or
streaming directly through ourwebsite as well.
So thank you so much.
Hello and welcome to Keystone Concepts in Teaching a
higher education podcast fromthe Stearns Center for Teaching
and Learning.
In this podcast, we shareimpactful and evidence based
teaching practices to supportall students and faculty.
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho, andI'm very excited to be joined by
this episode's guests to talkabout Canvas, our learning
(00:28):
management system.
So in this episode, I'm joinedby Dr.
Lila Fleming, who's an AssociateProfessor in Global and
Community Health, and theBachelor's Program Director for
the Community Health Program.
I'm also joined by Dr.
Breana Bayraktar from theStearns Center for Teaching and
Learning, where she specializesin blended learning and hybrid
pedagogy and the scholarship ofteaching and learning.
(00:51):
So thank you both so much forjoining us.
I'm very excited to have youhere and talk about Canvas.
Lila (00:56):
Thank you so much for having us.
Breana (00:58):
Yep.
Happy to be here.
Rachel (01:01):
So we have a lot going on with Canvas.
So whether you're new to Canvas,whether you are coming from
another institution, anotherlearning management system,
whatever the case may be,hopefully we'll have something
here for you.
But let's talk about, just for afew minutes, the Canvas
transition for Mason.
We're moving the learningmanagement system from
(01:21):
Blackboard to Canvas, and it'sbeen a bit of a transition.
And, Breana, you've definitelybeen leading a lot of the
training for this and Lila,you've been a faculty mentor and
really on the leadership out infront for Canvas as well.
So let's talk about what facultymight be considering or doing if
they haven't yet learned Canvas,haven't moved to Canvas, or are
(01:41):
perhaps are new to Mason andthis learning management system.
Breana (01:46):
Well, I can get us started.
I would say that there's reallythree things that I would tell
anyone, and that's to start withsort of our ongoing training
resources.
So at the lms.gmu.edu site, it'sa place where we have a lot of
information about the Canvastransition, but we will have
ongoing training resourcesthere, both asynchronous and
(02:10):
synchronous, live opportunities.
So anybody wanting to get sometraining will be able to find a
lot of resources there.
Everyone should have withinCanvas a course called Growing
With Canvas, and we have a lotof recorded training videos so
that someone can sort of walkthrough step by step everything
they need to get started withCanvas.
(02:33):
And then we have an emaillms@gmu.edu that people can use
if they need to reach out withquestions about sort of, you
know, do I have my course set upyet?
And any sort of problems orissues that they run into, the
folks that staff that emailaddress can either answer it or
get them to the right place.
(02:55):
So those are kind of the basicthree places I would say to go.
Lila (03:00):
Absolutely.
I actually thought also the ideathat talk to other people that
have worked on Canvas already.
So as a faculty member, myselfand as a mentor has been really
useful to get an opportunity tochat one-on-one with many of our
faculty members in my college aswell as other colleges.
And that also helps you kind ofthink about what are the things
(03:21):
that you need to get started asyou're moving from Blackboard to
Canvas, or if you're brand newto Canvas.
Rachel (03:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
That's a great perspective.
Thank you.
And so as we're thinking aboutCanvas, so whether we're new to
it, whether we're not, it's agreat tool, especially as we
engage across differentinstructional modalities.
So can you tell us a little bitabout some of the features,
like, let's sell it a little bithere.
What are some of the featuresthat maybe most of interest to
(03:49):
faculty right now?
Lila (03:52):
That's a great question, if you don't mind.
I can take a little bit of that.
So one of the things that I havefound about Canvas is, it's
easier to use.
So it's a little bit morestreamline LMS, which makes it
easier, more intuitive forfaculty members to start
building their own courses.
So that's one of the things thatI have found really useful.
(04:13):
And as I was kind of creating myown classes and transferring my
courses from Blackboard toCanvas, there is some tools that
I have found to be really usefulas I build my modules.
Things like the Copy To tool,which allows you to copy
something like a module or apage of the module.
So those are things that willkind of help you kind of
(04:33):
transition on, or if you want touse a particular page in your
course across different courses,that becomes really useful.
And I have also used thisduplicate feature as well that
lets you, once you have a reallynice page that you're like, I
wanna use this in every module.
For example, your moduleintroduction page, you can use
that duplicate feature to justensure that you maintaining a
(04:56):
very cohesive look to youronline course.
Particularly in a synchronousonline and hybrid courses.
It is very important to maintainthat consistency and that will
give that opportunity tomaintain consistency.
Breana (05:10):
I think that if you are someone who is coming to Canvas
and you have not used a learningmanagement system a lot in the
past, whether it's canvas orBlackboard or a different one, I
think that you'll appreciatemost the sort of student
centered pieces that I thinkmake the student experience much
better when using Canvas.
(05:32):
And so thinking about the waythat students will be engaging
with your material, in Canvasit's largely through their to-do
list, which is somethingBlackboard doesn't have.
And their to-do list gives themsort of assignments and
assessments.
It spans across all of theircourses.
So it's one place students cango to see everything that's due.
(05:56):
And a lot of students will usethat as the primary way they
interact with everything intheir courses.
So this is where I think reallymaking sure that all of your
assignments, even assignmentsthat you're going to collect in
person, or you're giving a gradefor participation, that
everything is logged in Canvasso students can see all of that
(06:17):
and see, you know, how they'reprogressing through the course.
You can even make pages withinstructions show up on their
to-do list by assigning them adue date, which I think is
really great for making surethat students are at least
navigating to the page andseeing the information that's
there.
I think if you're someone whohas used an LMS lot in the past,
(06:40):
I think what will be reallyhelpful for you to think about
is the sort of guidance orpacing pieces that Canvas will
allow you to do.
So you can set up requirementsfor the way you want students to
move through your learningactivities and through your
assessments.
And I think that's reallyhelpful because sometimes we
have students that really wannaskip ahead or they skip around
(07:03):
within a course.
And sometimes that's fine, butsometimes we really want them to
have more of a structured pacingthrough our activities.
Rachel (07:12):
We scaffold for a reason, right?
Breana (07:14):
Yeah, exactly.
And Canvas, I think does thatreally well.
So those are kind of like thestudent pieces I think make
Canvas a big change fromBlackboard, but make the
experience a lot better.
Lila (07:27):
Yeah, and that was actually a really great point.
And I also wanted to add thecalendar feature that is such a
great area that you can actuallyset calendar specific things
like office hours.
You can actually put in youroffice hours in the calendar and
that will appear within thatcourse.
So you will be able to accesssome of that information through
that syllabus link withinCanvas.
(07:47):
So students will be able to seethat as well.
Or even put major universitydeadlines that we have.
Things like when to drop acourse, or what are the things
that you need to think about ifyou're applying for graduation.
So you can add those dates, veryimportant dates that maybe not
necessarily are course centered,but are things that students
might find useful as they'removing through their semester.
Rachel (08:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
We have a lot of great tools, alot of things to make it a good
experience and a prettystraightforward experience for
both students and faculty.
So I think we have a lot ofgreat opportunities here.
So I guess as we also talk aboutthis, I'm interested in
exploring how faculty who maybeare less new to Canvas or who
(08:32):
are thinking about how mightthey level up their teaching.
Particularly, how might theyconsider using Canvas as a tool
to say level up the face-to-faceexperience.
We don't maybe as often havethat large Canvas component.
So how might they consider usingCanvas as that kind of tool?
Lila (08:55):
That's a great question.
For me, if I'm teaching aface-to-face course, one of the
things that I find the LMS canbe very useful is to share
materials.
So even starting with thatpoint, so things like syllabus,
course schedule, those thingsshould be very easily for
students to access.
And that's an something that theLMS can provide.
(09:15):
And it gives you like anorganizational tool as well.
So if you are an instructorthat, for example, shares
PowerPoints, you can do thisfrom a week to week basis, so
that way it separates thematerial for students as they're
kind of going through thecourse.
It also allows for you to thinkabout maybe assignment
submissions.
This is a centralized way thatyou can have students submit
(09:37):
their assignments rather thanbringing in print copies which
is also great.
They're not printing, they don'thave to-
Rachel (09:43):
Handwriting?
Lila (09:44):
Exactly.
Not writing by hand.
So that's always great.
So these are ways that we candefinitely use it in the
face-to-face courses and eventhinking about the grade book,
how you can share and allowstudents to see how they're
progressing in the course.
I think there is nothing morefearful than being a student
that you're in a class and youhave no idea what your grade is.
(10:07):
And this is an opportunity foryou to use that grade book,
which is pretty straightforward.
So it would allow you to kind ofbring up that face-to-face
component in to a differentlevel.
And that would be alsoincredibly useful for students
so they know where they'regoing.
Breana (10:22):
I would just add onto what Lila is saying, that Mason
students are coming to ourcourses with a lot of
experience, sort of livingwithin a learning management
system.
So whether they're coming to usstraight from high school, or if
they maybe are our transferstudents from the community
college system, they're veryused to their teachers and their
(10:44):
instructors using some kind ofmanagement system for materials,
sharing PowerPoints, as Lilasaid, but also most of their
assessments.
And so students I think, reallyhave an expectation that they
will be able to access materialsthrough Canvas.
(11:05):
And so everything that we can doas instructors to make those
materials available to them in away that is gonna be really
helpful and organized andaccessible to all of our
students, is really gonna makethat experience a lot better for
them.
And it really makes it betterfor us because the more we
(11:27):
provide sort of in thatproactive and organized way,
there are fewer questions thatwe end up fielding as the
semester goes on.
Where do I find this?
How do I do this?
Right?
That's what I think is what'sreally great about having the
LMS as a place for all of thoseactivities.
It tends to cut down on thenumber of those sort of, I don't
(11:50):
know what I'm doing questions.
And helps us save time for, youknow, better questions from our
students'cause the questionsdon't end.
Rachel (11:57):
Yeah, they'll be there no matter what.
Lila (12:00):
Yeah, and not so many emails.
Right?
That actually is going to reducethat, the ability for the
students to just know whatthey're doing rather than have
to wait to hear from theinstructor.
So it's a centralized point.
Rachel (12:11):
Absolutely.
So it's a little bit more workon the front end, especially for
the faculty who are movingcourses from Blackboard to
Canvas and going through thoseand proofing and changing and
hopefully seeing this as, youknow, maybe an opportunity too.
So can you tell us a little bitmore about how this beyond
being, certainly, and we fullyacknowledge a lot of work, how
(12:34):
this might also be a teachingopportunity?
Breana (12:39):
I think that it is a great teaching opportunity
because it's a time where we canreally look at our courses and
see how well what we had inBlackboard is serving our
students, but also serving us.
So I know that for me, and Ithink for a lot of our
colleagues, our Blackboardcourses, if we taught sort of
(13:01):
the same one every semester orevery couple semesters, those
courses started to get reallybloated.
So, you know, in my courses Iwould have a lot of different
quizzes, a lot of differentactivities, discussion board
options.
And in Blackboard we tended tojust sort of keep all of that in
there and then add new things.
And after a few semesters itbecomes sort of this behemoth
(13:24):
course.
But the move into Canvas I thinkis a great time to pare that
down because those materials cancontinue to live in your sandbox
or in your sort of practicespaces, but you can selectively
send specific pages andassignments into your active
course, and it just makes itcleaner and easier for us to
(13:45):
manage.
But in terms of it being ateaching opportunity, I think
it's a space where we can alsoconsider how well our
assessments are really helpingus to evaluate our students and
how well they're meeting ourlearning outcomes, and then
thinking about the differentlearning activities.
(14:05):
Are those helping students toprepare for those assessments?
So like the backward designprocess, as you say it, it is
work to be able to take ourcourses from Blackboard and get
them Canvas ready and then, youknow, really get them student
ready.
So while we're taking that time,I think it's also a space where
we can look at the courses thatwe've maybe inherited or have
(14:28):
been working with for a longtime.
And make sure that they're stillserving our students in the best
way.
Lila (14:36):
Those are absolutely great points, Breana.
I really do think it's soimportant for us to kind of go
back and start kind of thinking,oh, what does it look like when
I first built this course andwhat I really wanted students to
get out of this course?
So this is that opportunity tobe able to really think through
every material that you have andbe more methodical in how we are
(14:58):
creating those courses inCanvas.
One of the things to keep inmind is you really don't want to
have that kind of extra materialand extra information when you
have a live course.
So this is where creating yourcourses in a sandbox is going to
be really important.
And in lms.gmu.edu, you can findinformation about how to get a
(15:19):
sandbox from the university andthat sandbox won't be connected
to a semester and won't beconnected to a particular set of
students.
So it allows you to puteverything that you need in that
course, and you copy those intoyour live course, and that
allows you to ensure that yourlive course is nice and clean
when your sandbox kind of holdseverything you want.
Rachel (15:40):
It's definitely good for us, good for our students.
You know what we have in thelive course.
But that sandbox is a great,essentially play space.
You know, trying out things,trying out different tools.
Did this work, did this notwork?
Maybe I need to find anothervideo on something, you know,
before our students see it.
You know, all of those kind ofthings.
It's a great space to justexplore and see how Canvas works
(16:03):
and how we might move thingsaround, as well as the storage
like you both mentioned.
So I guess also what I'd like totalk about is really focusing on
adjunct faculty.
With our adjunct faculty,getting access to canvas can be
a big thing.
So what might adjunct facultyconsider or maybe know a little
(16:23):
bit more about the process?
Breana (16:24):
I think with our adjuncts in particular, going to
their department point ofcontact, and so that might be
your department chair, but itmight also be sort of an
administrative unit lead.
That's the place to startbecause they're the ones that
need to make sure that all ofthe sort of human resources
pieces are all in alignment.
(16:45):
Because that all needs to happenbefore anyone can even get
access to Canvas.
So if you're a sort of newlyhired adjunct or you've come
back to Mason after a break,making sure that you're fully up
to date in all the HR systems isthe first piece.
And then I would say that theycan ask who their sort of
(17:06):
department Canvas mentor likeLila, or maybe their course
coordinator is because these arefolks that have had extra
training and extra experienceand can help someone get
started.
I mean, we already talked a lotabout sort of the general
training resources that areavailable, but I think reaching
(17:26):
out to the individuals that havesome experience and some
expertise can be a really goodway to get started.
And I think I should mention aswell that like we are all new to
Canvas.
Even our folks that are reallyexperienced, it's still a new
thing here.
And so I think it's a reallygood opportunity to ask the
(17:47):
questions, to say, Hey, how doyou do this?
How can I figure this out?
Without feeling like you'reasking a question that you
should already know the answerto.
Because we're all sort of stillasking these types of questions
of each other.
And so hopefully everyone feelslike they're in a space where
they can ask questions and gethelp, and it's sort of an
(18:09):
expected thing.
But if you're someone who'salready really comfortable with
Canvas, then maybe you can bethat person in your department
that other colleagues can cometo with their questions.
Lila (18:22):
Absolutely.
And to add a little bit to thatas well, just make sure that you
give yourself time, whetheryou're an adjunct or a full-time
faculty member.
Even though we have this greatsystem where our Blackboard
courses are being transferredonto Canvas, those courses are
not ready to be taught onCanvas.
So there is still going to be alot of work that needs to
(18:44):
happen.
So the earlier you can get intothat Canvas site and look at
your Blackboard transfer courseand being able to see what it
looks like because it's notgonna look like it looked on
Blackboard, it is not gonna beready for it to be just
delivered on for the nextsemester.
There is going to be cleanupthat needs to take place.
(19:04):
So I think the sooner you areable to log onto Canvas and
start looking at your course andtrying to figure out how you're
going to be updating it, thebetter.
So don't wait until like a weekbefore the semester starts.
That will definitely be verydifficult to do.
I will highly recommend that thequicker you can get yourself
into Canvas, the better.
(19:25):
So you can plan ahead and youcan have the time.
Again, coming back to reviewingyour course and going through
all those materials you can besure that your students are
gonna have a great experiencewhile they're in your course.
Breana (19:38):
And if I can just add, we also have a group of really
excellent instructionaldesigners.
And so if you are someone whowants to use some maybe more
advanced third party tools, oryou have some experience with
Canvas at another institutionand you want to kind of learn
(19:59):
what the next steps are formaking your course even better,
these are folks that have a lotof expertise in all kinds of
different spaces and can helpyou think through what you can
do to make your course moreengaging, more interactive, and
just a lot more fun for yourstudents.
So you can set up sort ofone-on-one time to work with one
(20:21):
of our instructional designersand they're just a really great
group of people.
Rachel (20:27):
Yeah.
Alright, well that sounds great.
As we wrap up for today, I thinkhere, you know, we're really
looking at our keystone conceptof engagement.
So whether we're looking atfaculty engagement with the
learning management system, butalso how faculty can use this as
a tool to engage their students,we have a lot of different
aspects of really thinkingthrough that engage, how do we
(20:51):
interact, how do our studentsinteract, and the way we make
this course an experience or amore streamlined experience.
So with that, any otherthoughts, parting things you'd
like to share with ourlisteners?
Lila (21:07):
I think one last thing that I would love to share is
just to ensure that you haveloads and loads and loads of
opportunities to grow withCanvas, and I mean grow as an
instructor.
Grow with your students.
We're all kind of on the sameboat.
We're all learning.
Some students are gonna be brandnew to this, so this is an
opportunity for us to be able totalk to each other and work
(21:30):
together to make sure that wecreate a really good experience,
both for the faculty that arebuilding the courses, but also
for the students that are goingto be taking those courses so we
can ensure that they have thebest learning opportunity.
Breana (21:45):
I think one of the most valuable things I've done as
I've built Canvas courses andtaught them and then gone back
to sort of revise them, I ask mystudents about their experience.
And even to the point of askingthem to pull up the Canvas site
and sort of walk me through howthey get to different pieces
(22:07):
within the course.
And that really reveals a lotabout how they engage with our
materials and what they skipover, what they don't notice.
And it makes my next versioneven better.
So if you have the opportunityto ask your students about how
they're using Canvas, that canreally provide a lot of
(22:27):
interesting information, Ithink.
Rachel (22:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
Even using the Canvas StudentView isn't quite maybe what
we're looking at there.
But it's still a good tool too.
So with that, thank you so muchfor your time.
I think we've covered a lot ofgood things about Canvas, so
wherever people are coming from,and joining us from Blackboard
to Canvas or previous use orbrand new to teaching, whatever
the case may be, I think we canconnect with a lot of great
(22:52):
resources.
So thank you both so much foryour time and I'm excited to see
where all of this goes.
Lila (22:58):
Thank you so much.
We really appreciate being here.
Breana (23:00):
Yeah, it's been a great conversation, so thank you.
Rachel (23:03):
Absolutely, and make sure to catch our next episode,
so every two weeks on whateverplatform you listen to or
streaming directly through ourwebsite as well.
So thank you so much.
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