Glasgow Clyde College is comprised of three campuses on the west side of Glasgow, catering for circa 17,000 students and covering a diverse range of subjects. The vibrant community college serves the needs of the local and wider Glasgow community, endeavouring to meet any skills gaps in the community. Glasgow Clyde College is focused on the quality of teaching and learning and chose Canvas to help support their pedagogical goals.
The Challenge
Glasgow Clyde College were keen to engage with academic staff and see improvements across teaching and learning. While their incumbent VLE, Moodle, had a negative reputation among staff and had been used as a basic content repository, the eLearning team wanted to empower staff to see the VLE differently. Speaking with academic staff, the eLearning team were able to showcase that a new VLE could be used to create purposeful learning pathways and allow students to engage with materials in a meaningful way. A key takeaway from these discussions was a need to have more automation across systems, especially considering enrollment, account structures and courses.
Key Insights
Glasgow Clyde College moved from Moodle to Canvas with the goal of building meaningful learning pathways for students
The adoption of Canvas was a resounding success due to a combined effort of the new eLearning team and Canvas' 'easy to use' functionality
Since implementing, staff have grown in confidence and students receive a standardised learning experience across all their courses.
The Solution
Armed with a business case for transitioning to a new VLE, Glasgow Clyde College set out on a mission to review the leading VLEs and select the best fit for their needs. A real driver in pushing the project through was access to funding that the college could use to make improvements. This funding would cover the purchase of a new VLE and a team of four learning technologists and a project manager to join the eLearning team and support the transition. Canvas was selected as the best choice for Glasgow Clyde Collge and the implementation began in January 2020. While managing the major adaptations to teaching and learning that the pandemic ensued, Glasgow Clyde College successfully migrated all content from Moodle to Canvas by August 2020, ready to begin using the platform fully in September of that year.
Being able to migrate from Moodle to Canvas in the midst of the Covid 19 Pandemic is a testament to the hard work of the eLearning team supported by a smooth Canvas implementation process. The combination of having a well-resourced eLearning team and introducing a new VLE was a recipe for success. Academic staff were motivated to engage with Canvas and our learning technologists were able to fully support staff as they migrated content over.
- Niall Hardie
Head of Libraries and eLearning
Implementing Canvas
Facilitating teacher buy-in was a well-considered operation that focused on discussions with staff over how Canvas would bring about positive change. The eLearning Team named the project, DELTA - Delivering Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment and gave a clear call to action to the Senior Management team explaining expectations from them and how the learning technologists would facilitate migration.
In the midst of the pandemic, the eLearning team spoke with full curriculum teams to provide an overview of the vision and worked in teams of 4-5 to ensure a standardised approach for students. The team produced ‘How to’ videos to make things simple for staff and were driven to increase the confidence and competence of lecturing staff in using Canvas. The results have been excellent with a massive increase in the technical ability of teachers with great usage of Canvas across the college.
Glasgow Clyde College also ensured students were prepared and well equipped to make the transition to Canvas. Working with the Student Association, the eLearning team spread the word across Campus that Canvas would be live in September four months in advance.
The team went on to provide a range of resources for students to access so that they could jump straight into Canvas at the beginning of the term. Resources were made for staff to include in their courses such as downloading the student app and how to submit assignments, and they created a Canvas Course ‘Canvas in 6 easy steps’ allowing students to learn the platform within the platform. The early impressions survey that was completed in October 2020 collated feedback that highlighted Canvas was easy to use and that students enjoyed using the app, proving that the efforts made had been a resounding success.
Staff at Glasgow Clyde College are encouraged to keep on learning with '2 minute Tuesdays.' Every week the eLearning team send out a video showing staff how to do something within Canvas, encouraging staff to ask for more training if they're interested.
The Results
Staff and students are engaged with the VLE and by providing a template for each course, courses across the college have a standardised look and feel. The eLearning team knew it was important to refrain from using all of Canvas features from the offset as to not discourage less tech-savvy staff from engaging. This has ensured the biggest difference in VLE usage for the majority of staff, improving the student experience for the majority of students. Glasgow Clyde College are looking forward to building on these foundations with staff by continuing to increase the confidence and competence of staff.
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