Canvas Across the Globe
We're the biggest educational system in the world. We have 112 colleges and across the 112 colleges there are about eight different course management systems being used. When we chose Canvas we started with the idea of what's best for students and what's best for the system as a whole. We had students with us and they were overwhelmingly in favor of Canvas. The first thing I do when I wake up is check Canvas. It helps me a lot with my education because it really makes sure that I'm staying accountable and staying on top of all my assignments.
Everything that you could possibly need is right in front of you. There's constantly the question of, what else can Canvas do? You know, what else can we do with Canvas and how can we use it to enhance our students' experience? Before using Canvas we were really an uphill battle a lot of the time just in fighting the technology part of things as opposed to just building our content. It's been really exciting to actually be able to do that now. It's a lot simpler to use. What amazed me was when people got their hands on Canvas they became very excited very quickly.
Once they saw it they were very keen to get off the old system and get onto Canvas, and that was a snowball effect. More academics are using it. People who wouldn't use the old system are using Canvas and they trying to do more with it as well. So in a very, very short period of time we're seeing greater uptake, we're seeing greater engagement. At City University the use of LMS is not mandatory, so it's voluntary.
In the first semester that we adopted Canvas roughly 1,500 courses signed up for that and it's all purely because they just want to use it. And that's incredible because adoption rate went from 0 to within that one semester. Training for Canvas is usually for new colleagues. We don't need to keep re-showing people how to do it because it's so easy. Anyone with the most fundamental computer literacy could use this system and use it without fear.
Canvas gives so much more time for the teaching side of teaching. I like to say that online education isn't more work, online education is different work. In so many ways we actually have more contact with technology, with our phone in our hands we can actually have more connection with students.
Everything that you could possibly need is right in front of you. There's constantly the question of, what else can Canvas do? You know, what else can we do with Canvas and how can we use it to enhance our students' experience? Before using Canvas we were really an uphill battle a lot of the time just in fighting the technology part of things as opposed to just building our content. It's been really exciting to actually be able to do that now. It's a lot simpler to use. What amazed me was when people got their hands on Canvas they became very excited very quickly.
Once they saw it they were very keen to get off the old system and get onto Canvas, and that was a snowball effect. More academics are using it. People who wouldn't use the old system are using Canvas and they trying to do more with it as well. So in a very, very short period of time we're seeing greater uptake, we're seeing greater engagement. At City University the use of LMS is not mandatory, so it's voluntary.
In the first semester that we adopted Canvas roughly 1,500 courses signed up for that and it's all purely because they just want to use it. And that's incredible because adoption rate went from 0 to within that one semester. Training for Canvas is usually for new colleagues. We don't need to keep re-showing people how to do it because it's so easy. Anyone with the most fundamental computer literacy could use this system and use it without fear.
Canvas gives so much more time for the teaching side of teaching. I like to say that online education isn't more work, online education is different work. In so many ways we actually have more contact with technology, with our phone in our hands we can actually have more connection with students.