NET+ Canvas Newsletter
December 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.
2023 State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education
The experiences of the past few years have shifted higher education in paramount ways, leaving institutions with a critical obligation to understand and prepare for what students believe they need to be successful and engaged. To identify trends and movements within higher education, Instructure worked with Hanover Research to field a survey in 17 countries. We asked 6,100 current students, administrators, and faculty from 2-year, 4-year, public, and private higher education institutions for their perspectives on factors impacting student success and engagement. Find the ebook here.
AI Foundational Guide for Higher Education
Taking these initial steps described in the AI Foundational Guide will help lay the groundwork for your institution to strategically harness the power of AI on your campus, and help protect against some of the potential negative aspects of AI. As we’ve already seen, AI and its uses are evolving rapidly, so taking these initial actions are important to begin to keep pace with this evolution. Download the PDF here.
Through the Eyes of Educators: Insights into Student Engagement
When students are engaged, they are more confident, ask more questions, make connections, and take ownership of their learning. So how can educators increase engagement? We asked education professionals from our community to share their unique perspectives on student engagement, as well as their strategies to boost meaningful involvement. Download our crowd-sourced collection of engagement strategies below. View the ebook here.
Bridging the Skills Gap with Competency-Based Education
For many institutions, competency-based education (CBE) has been an effective approach in bridging the skills gap, as it allows students to advance at their own pace based on their ability to demonstrate mastery of a skill, or “competency.” And it can lead to better student outcomes. Here’s how. Read the blog article here.
10 Benefits of Technology in the Classroom
Classrooms that use technology reap many benefits. From accessibility to increased personalization and rich digital resources, teachers are learning how to use technology best to meet the needs of their diverse student population. Read more here.
Click here for all things Higher Education by Instructure.
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Canvas Advisory Board Updates
A complete listing of all Canvas Advisory Board meeting agendas can be found here.
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Meeting Recap
The agendas for our 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.
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 Dana Voss (dvoss@internet2.edu). Thank you.