NET+ Canvas Newsletter
February 2023
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.
Canvas Credentials 101
Digital badging can be complex. Canvas Credentials makes it easy. Watch now to discover how to ready students for the future of work with Canvas Credentials. Watch more here.
Pillars of Today's Higher Ed Classroom: Canvas + Impact
While it’s commonly known that socioeconomic factors greatly impact students in higher education, understanding which factors rise to the top can be challenging. According to our global 2022 State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education report, there are many socioeconomic factors impacting student success and engagement, and four in particular have increased in importance from 2020 to 2022. Learn more here
Instructure Welcomes LearnPlatform to the Family!
We’re so excited to announce that LearnPlatform is joining the Instructure family. The addition of LearnPlatform to Instructure has so many exciting benefits for all our amazing customers and partners. Our missions are well-aligned, with both focused on driving student success, powering effective teaching, and supporting improved learning outcomes for all. Read more here
Post-Pandemic Perceptions of Online Learning in Higher Education
Moving forward from the impact and disruption that the pandemic created for higher education, The World Economic Forum touts the importance of online learning, advising that “lecturers and teachers should embrace the opportunities offered by digital distance learning to revolutionize education for the better.” Read more here
Click here for all things Higher Education by Instructure.
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Canvas Advisory Board Updates
Upcoming Meeting: March 8th, 2023
The next Canvas Advisory Board meeting will be on March 8th, 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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Meeting Recap
The agendas for our upcoming 2023 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.
This month’s meeting consisted of reviewing advisory board goals and planning for the remainder of the calendar year.
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 2023
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.