NET+ Canvas Newsletter
December 2022
In this version of the NET+ Canvas Newsletter, learn about the latest updates from Instructure about Canvas, comments and feedback from the Canvas Advisory Board, as well as best practices in Canvas use around the Internet2 Community.
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Instructure Updates
The latest from Instructure regarding Canvas product offerings.
Confetti for Everyone: Reflections from Campus IT Leaders
This year at Educause, Instructure brought together an off-campus panel of three IT leaders to discuss how their institution is navigating the great re-think in higher ed. The panelists reflected on best practices their campus have honed and how those translate into a future vision of teaching and learning centered around technology driving student success. Read more here.
Higher Ed is Changing: Students Need Flexibility, Equitable Access & Employable Skills
Students are questioning the value and return on their educational investment. Watch this on-demand webinar to learn how these institutions are meeting their student’s needs. Watch here
Preparing Students for the World of Work
according to results from our 2022 global study, The State of Student Success & Engagement in Higher Education, now in its third year. For the study, we worked with Hanover Research, seeking input from 7,572 students, administrators, and faculty from two-year, four-year, public, and private higher education institutions across 23 countries. Each year, our goal for the survey is to define measurements of student success, identify factors for engagement, and shed light on the path ahead for higher education Read more here
Creating an Open Pathway for the Next Generation of Learners
We can all agree that the job market has changed to such a degree that our traditional methods of preparing learners for the workforce and assessing their career readiness are at a crossroads. Ensuring that these methods appropriately prepare learners for the workforce is as vital to higher education institutions as it is for employers. Questions about the efficacy of existing methods leave students wondering whether the value of an undergraduate education is even worth the (potentially quite high) cost of admission. Employers are searching for specifics — not necessarily specific academic achievements, but specific skills, experiences, and attributes that will increase prospective employees' likelihood of success. Read more here
Click here for all things Higher Education by Instructure.
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Canvas Advisory Board Updates
Upcoming Meeting: January 11th, 2023
The next Canvas Advisory Board meeting will be on January 11th, 2023. Agenda items will be finalized and posted during the 2 weeks leading up to the meeting.
A complete listing of all Canvas Advisory Board meeting agendas can be found here.
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December Meeting Recap
The agendas for our upcoming 2022 meetings have been published for your viewing. Please note, these are working documents and subject to change so please check back for any updates on a regular basis.
Thank you to all who participated in this month’s meeting for your insightful feedback, ideas, and discussion! Should you have any questions or want further information around the work being done by the NET+ Canvas Service Advisory Board or a copy of the Partner Program Report, please don’t hesitate to visit us at https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/x/7BOJCQ or contact us at netplus@internet2.edu and we will be happy to respond.
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NET+ Canvas Program Update
Service Advisory Board Goals for 2022
Goal #1
Continue to have timely discussions about Customer Experience as it relates to Instructure products and services, the NET+ Canvas program, our community, as well as future Instructure M&A conversations.
Deliverable: Continue to update/refine Canvas Institutional Profiles for effective collaboration within the program.
Deliverable: Bring to light community needs that are not being addressed otherwise in these areas.
Goal #2
Instructure to conduct semi-annual product roadmap discussion and a review of the R1 Peers/I2 product feature request list.
Deliverable: Continue to develop and refine, with Shaun Moon and Kevin Turco, a strategy and process for I2 and R1 Peer universities to provide Instructure with actionable information on pain points and unmet needs. The strategy and process should be synced with Instructure's product development cycle and allow Instructure to clearly communicate status and progress back to the universities.
Goal #3
Initiate advisory board input on Instructure’s platform strategy as it relates to third party vendors and data integration/mash-ups.
Deliverable: Focused discussion with Kevin Turco and Karl Lloyd.
Deliverable: Focused discussion on what universities are doing with Canvas data and live events. What action do the data feed?
Deliverable: Implement this goal's outcomes effectively within the Canvas Institutional Profiles for further collaboration.
Goal #4
Continue Instructure product strategy discussions with Jared Stein.
NET+ Canvas - HELPFUL LINKS
Around the Community
Commentary from I2 Canvas users: advice, best practices, feedback.
R1 Peers
The Canvas Peers Research Universities Group (or R1 Peers Group) brings together representatives from large public and private research universities to share best practices around using Canvas and the surrounding ed tech ecosystem to support teaching and learning. They also collaborate closely with Instructure (Canvas vendor) and sit on the Internet2 NET+ Canvas Service Advisory Board to improve the Canvas platform and user experience for research universities. This group represents more than 250 members from 45 institutions of higher education and research across the United States, and around the world.
For context, recently the R1 Peers Group has collaborated in the following areas:
- Tier 1 support
- Archiving
- 3rd party integrations
- Pain points
- Data privacy
LRS Standards SIG
The Learning Records Store (LRS) Special Interest Group (SIG) assembles use cases for an LRS, creates an LRS reference architecture, and develops implementation/engineering best practices. The SIG promotes open standards that enable data from a variety of teaching and learning tools to be included in the LRS.
This group is chaired by the University of Washington and meets monthly on the fourth Wednesday of the month, however the LRS SIG is currently on hold until May 2022. For more information or to join this group, please reach out to Matthew Buss (mbuss@internet2.edu). Thank you.