Canvas Certified Programs: Learn Research-Based Best Practices for Online and Blended Learning

I'm Aaron Keep. I'm from Instructure. I run Canvas certified programs. You can see a little bit more about me. There, I've been working for instructor here since twenty sixteen, but I am a lifelong educator. And I want you to meet my amazing panel.

Joining me today are all people who have been through either Canvas certified educator or Canvas certified technical admin or both. So we've got some rock stars up here. And, you can you can see them all up here, but first, there's West. You can see that West is joining us from Chesterfield County Public Schools in Virginia, West, you graduated from CCE. Correct? And you're currently in CCTA.

Over here, we have Carrie Gardner. Carrie is from the Piper Unified School District in Kansas. She is a Canvas certified educator graduate, and she's also one of our facilitators, which means that she helps to teach the courses. Next to me is Paul Hollowman. Did I say it right? Yep.

Okay. Paul is from, Lorenzo Walker Technical College, which is in Florida and call County. He is also a graduate of the Canvas certified educator program, the higher ed version, and he's currently in the CCTA program. Over here, we have Gopu here on. Gopu is from Laquana College, which is in Pennsylvania.

He is, a graduate of both programs and a facilitator of both programs. Rockstar. Go poo. Next to him is Folesity Trepto. Folesity is from the DC Everest Schools.

And so is Tammy, who's right They're they're, they're a package deal. They are both graduates of CCE and CCTA, and they both also facilitate well, they facilitate, CCE. And one day, I'm gonna tech, talk them into facilitating CCTI as well. There's and then there's Tammy. I didn't mean to say it like that.

Tammy. Tammy. Really don't wanna try to pronounce her last name. Tammy Everybody calls me Tammy T. Trevitusky.

I do know how to spell it though. Tammy is from the Nisieira School, with Velicity. She's been through both programs, and she's a facilitator of CCE. I did wanna tell you a little bit about the programs for those of you who don't know what they are, haven't heard of them before So Canvas certified educator, we do have a both a higher ed version and a k twelve version. What Canvas certified educator is is a series of, six courses.

There are four core courses and then two electives. You select the track. All of the courses are, facilitated. They also have due dates, but They're kind of suggestions. They're asynchronous.

So we we do have folks in CCE from all over the country, and I have to tell you When it started, I was a consultant on the learning services team. And someone said, would you like to work on this? And professional learning was always one of my passions when I was in the, in the classroom and when I was, educator. And I said, sure. And it was kind of like, we'll see what happens with it. That was November of twenty twenty.

We had our first cohort go through. We've had over thirteen hundred people graduate from the program in both K twelve and higher ed. And some of these folks were in the beta of that. So they're they're coming up for their recertification. And don't worry.

I have a good doc at the end with all the good information it. So there'll be a QR code, but please feel free to take pictures. Canvas certified technical admin, so where CCE is for the faculty, Technical admin is for anyone who has the admin shield in Canvas. This is the newer program. We released this in February of this year.

We already have ninety eight graduates as of when this slide was made. There's probably at least twenty more who graduated since then. This one has two asynchronous facilitated courses. You can see the names of them there, and then you take an elective, and the electives that we have for that are are pretty exciting. One is more professional development leaning, and the other is on the a on using the Canvas API.

So what I wanted to do today was really hear from the folks who've been through the programs. So you can hear what it's like to be in it, what they learned, what was surprising to them. So let's go ahead and dig in. And my first question, you can see there on the screen for the panel here. Why did you decide to pursue becoming a canvas certified educator? So for my folks who are Canvas certified educators, who wants to start with this one? You did come to talk, though.

Hi. My name's Paula. I work at a technical college in Florida. As Aaron said, And, our director found a grant to, to cover the cost of it's very cheap for one person to take the courses. But our our director found a grant.

So, the whole faculty was invited to participate. And, it was a real game changer. On the instructional coach, for our technical college. But there's only one of me. And so when every single teacher needs help, it's hard to provide that support.

So, but now that we've had, twelve different people on our campus complete the CCE, I can then delegate. And I can say, Hey, this person right down the hall actually knows how to help you with this, and they can get that help right away instead of waiting for me. A day and a half later, I can finally get there. So that was our prime motivation, and it's been it's been quite successful. And that actually segways perfectly into my response that I come from a k twelve large k twelve school district just outside of Richmond, Virginia, And we have sixty five instructional coaches that are all based in our schools.

And then there's one of me at the central office. So we were so happy to have this experience to point our people toward and to say here is a great way to, really up your canvas game where in instructional design is concerned. Out of our sixty five instructional designers, we had thirty opt in when we first offered it and we put them through altogether in two cohorts. They got to do it together, so that was outstanding. Hi everybody.

My name is Tammy Trebotusky. And in two thousand nineteen, I transitioned from a science classroom teacher to technology integration specialist for our school district the same year that we onboarded Canvas for our teachers. And, the last training day that Aaron was with us, I didn't have a sub So I missed that last training day and I remember watching the videos and feeling like that I was one Google search ahead of every one of our teachers. I was like, oh my gosh and now I'm onboarding teachers to the campus, learning management system. So what it did is it really allowed me to glean best practices and have those aha moments and, be able to feel that I could really ensure that our teachers were learning in our professional development best practices.

I can probably speak a little bit from the, administrative angle about why the CCE was so valuable to me. I think a lot of times, like, when we're overseeing instructional designers, we don't really have an appreciation for the pedagogical angle of their work. And, as an administrator going through the CCE was really enlightening to kind of see that other side. And I think it's really helped me in being an administrator, you know. Thanks.

I think that, and we're gonna get a little bit more into but I think when a lot of people started taking Canvas certified educator, they thought it was gonna be like just a training program about Canvas on steroids. Like, I'm just gonna learn to push more buttons. Like, show me the secret canvas buttons. There aren't any secret canvas buttons. This is a different kind of program.

So I was hoping to hear from some of the panelists when you got into it. What were your initial thoughts about the program? And I know Carrie, you have a good response to this one. So I I'm a Google certified. I'm an Apple certified. I don't even know what they're called anymore.

But, those are all the clickety clicks. Like, I just had to show that I knew how to use a Google whatever. And with this, there was so much pedagogy in it. But as I went through it, it really reminded me of why I wanted to use Canvas and how I could use it in my classroom, and it wasn't just like was just, like, like, shooting darts in the dark, like, oh, maybe this will work in campus, but it really gave me a foundation to help me really understand why I was using camp in certain ways. And I really thought I was like an expert.

Like, as I went into this, I was like, I'm not gonna learn anything new. I already know all the clickety clicks of Canvas, but as I went through it, I found that there so much more to it where I was able to really be intentional about my canvas use instead of just, like, blindly like, oh, this looks pretty on a page. Instead, I was, like, thinking about accessibility. I was thinking about blooms, and I was thinking about Samar and all of the things that would really help impact my instructional design instead of it just being like, oh, I thought that would look cool on a page. So, great.

Paul, did you have something for that? Yeah. Yes. The all the courses in CCE are they're they use a, an acronym called panda just to, construct their modules. Okay? So The p is for prepare. Do you need to prepare your learners so that they know what they're gonna learn and why they're going to learn it? And then you activate.

A is for activate. You activate their background knowledge. Right? Then they navigate through the material. That's the end. Right? They're learning the material.

Then they demonstrate, that's the D. They demonstrate what they've learned. And then finally, they, articulate what they've learned. They kind of reflect on it. Well, our faculty who were look going through these courses were like, why don't we use this methodology, this this approach to teaching And we are now a panda campus.

It's, it's amazing. If you look at most of our, our teachers' courses, they have set up panda modules. And, it's really changed not just what they click on, but how they approach teaching itself. You. So what did you think you would learn versus what you actually learned? Does anyone wanna jump in on that one? Hi, everyone.

And I know that this has been touched on a couple of times already, but I too, like, went into it thinking, okay, this is gonna be like the next version of growing in canvas. If some of you have kind of gone through that that coursework, right? Like, oh, I'm gonna learn even more to do with discussions. And what I found out, like, some of you have already alluded to is it's like, oh my gosh, like, features of Canvas are a supporting star in this program. At the heart and who the lead character is is that good teaching. Like, from day one when I entered the program to when I finished, it is clear that this was all created by teachers, for teachers.

Like, every single grain of the program was like, great teaching. Is what I walked away with. So It's great. West, did you have anything for that? Okay. And and make no mistake when I say this, everything that my fellow panelists have said about pedagogy being at the center.

That's a hundred percent true. And, it was evident from the start that that was the the goal from the beginning. But one thing that pleasantly surprised me as someone who had already moved into EdTech when our school division rolled out canvas is just how much I learned from a purely visual standpoint. All of the all of the different visual layouts that the course developers used to all the creative ways they set off content and all the creative ways they drew the eye to where the mark is done button was. So I gained a lot for, I I do part time work for our online high school building out some online courses, and I just got a ton of takeaways just for that purely visual piece that I I am using currently right now.

So that was great to see too. Alright. So I'd love to hear what your favorite courses or resources are in the CCE program. Who wants to tell me about it? She has Well, so you wanna no. No.

No. This actually works perfectly because going along with what, West just said, I loved core four because it's all about using other tools. So core four is called oh, sorry. Yep. It's called transformational practices.

Go ahead. Transational practice. Right. Yeah. I'm like, just core four.

But the great part about it is it's like even as you're going through the course, you're seeing like a genially used or, now think of any other tools, but you singly. Bingly. Thank you. Yeah. Like other tools that are being used within Canvas in ways that I'd never thought of using it before.

And so I think that that's why for me, Core Fort was such a game changer for me in terms of seeing, like, Campus isn't we're acknowledging that there's other tools out there. And then it's finding ways to really bring those into your courses and use them intentionally. You're gonna I'm gonna use that word a lot today because it truly is about finding the things that work well and then capitalizing on that and intentionally using it to really bring about a learning experience online that isn't just, like, oh, it's a canvas page or it's a canvas discussion. It all of a sudden becomes an actual learning experience. And what was cool it's cool for me as a facilitator too is I, in core four, people are sharing other tools and there are tools that I've never heard of.

Again, I thought I was like, I know all the tools. I don't know all the tools, apparently. And so it's kinda cool as participants show and share tools that I'd never seen before, and finding ways to use them in canvas. It's just really cool to see, not only through the course design how tools are used, but then also learning from participants on other tools I think that's a really good point too that I wanna be sure we brought up. The courses are really engaging.

And so in every module, there's an assignment And then there's always a discussion. So that's the articulate part of Panda. So you're sharing with the other people who are in your cohort. What you did for your assignment. And the assignments that you're building are things that you're going to use, whether you are in charge of professional learning and you're creating courses for other teachers or you are a professor and you're writing a new course or redesigning or you're a you know, third grade teacher and you're writing a new course.

Everything that you're doing is not for it's not a test. We don't have tests. There's no seat time. It's stuff that you're gonna create that you will use. And that through the sharing, I think, of the participants, you're also learn there's learning going on from people who are in there with you.

Alright. Who else is a favorite? I will go ahead. Core one. It was absolutely my favorite. And tell us what Core one is.

Corona's foundational frameworks. So with the foundational frameworks, I Oh my gosh. You're putting me on the spot. With the foundational frameworks, when I first I first started that course, I was like, whoa. This is intense, but that's exactly why I fell in love with going through core one was because of the panda method and per being prepared, doing the different activities, but the number one thing that stood out was the piece where you had to intentionally demonstrate your learning.

You had to your last assignment was to take your what what you do for a living, how you use Canvas, and for mine, it was professional development, and build out that experience to demonstrate your learning of the tools. And one of the tools that is shared in there is a hyperdoc that takes all of the Canvas tools and it compares it to the levels of Samar and blooms. So that way, you know how to intentionally use and up your game with every canvas tool. And when I saw that road map, I was like, yes. This is what I need to help my teachers.

And and coach others. So, I I loved each each additional class after that. There's six classes that you take. I loved each one more than the next and exactly. I mean, you learned so many new things and I learned so many new things from facilitating, but core one was the a moment for me.

And Folesse has a favorite too. I'm going. I'm going. I am a core to engagement strategies. Can I Can I please get a gold star for that? Yes.

You can. Engagement strategies. Yes. I am a core two fan girl all the way. And because it's all about engagement strategies, and I'll be honest with you.

So like being an elementary classroom teacher and your studying engagement strategies, And one of them, for example, was wait time. I was like, how are you gonna be able to use Canvas for wait time? Like, come on. And then it would be like, boom. This is how you can. I was like, what? Oh my gosh.

You don't just have to use these face to face. Like, you can use them in asynchronous learning and blended learning online learning face to face, like all of those things. And then something crazy happens with mastery paths that is just like a mic drop in that course. I was like, what? So, like, like, the novelty is not worn off. That is the course I facilitate by far the most.

If you come through court too, you'll probably meet but I I love it and I'm still amazed by it and I'm still learning from it and learning from all the participants who who engage in it. So Do either one of you, Paul or West? I'm not gonna put you on the spot. That's alright. No favorites. They loved everything.

Alright. So, anyone wanna share how what you're doing now with what you learned? Like, how are you applying what you learned right now? Tammy or Paul? Oh, you are talked a little bit. Well, so with onboarding new teachers, you know, unlike a a k twelve school or an academic, post secondary institution, I work at a technical college So pretty much a hundred percent of our teachers that we hire have amazing industry experience and zero teaching background. So they don't know what they don't know. And my job is to keep them off the ledge.

Right? So onboarding them is really, really important. So we try to them a little bit of time without any students where I get to meet with them and really slowly introduce them to why we use Canvas. How we use Canvas before it's like, alright, go build your course. So CCE has a a very direct effect on my daily life as I onboard new teachers. And we've technically already kinda touched on what I was gonna say on this part about the panda piece.

So we'll just move along. We're gonna move along to to to, talking about a technical admin, the newer program. So, I wanted to hear from Gopu and Filicity. Why did you decide that this was something that you wanted to do. Cause you, you were on, you had done the other side, and then you wanted to do the back end.

So tell me about it. Sure. So, lack of one of college, where I work is a very small college. We have around a two thousand So we already have like a very lean staff to begin with. So we're always looking to find ways to make processes leaner, more smooth.

And I can tell you honestly, the CCTA program has really helped us to, put the right structure in place so that our work is more efficient. The, you know, and we're we're able to set aside time for more like strategic work and things like that. So like in core one, for example, a CCTA, we talk a lot about the account structure and really looking at how the subaccounts are set up, how permissions are assigned And that has been really instrumental in not only setting up our structure to make it more efficient, but it's also helped me to build relationships with, like, program directors and division chairs is have the right conversations. And, you know, it's kind of interesting how that CCTA programs really brought our campus closer with campus as the central piece, you know. So And you were already, like, implemented and set up, and you had struck in place.

Right? So this was a this helped you to like refine it. Right. So we had implemented Canvas three years prior, four years prior. So, yeah, really helped to, you know, fine tune some of those issues. Yeah.

That's great. That's right. Yep. Yeah. And I was I'm just gonna piggyback off of what you said.

So we had already used HAD Campus for five years. And, people ask, well, why did you take it? Like, you already had it all set up. And it was like, when we initially set it up, we went by our, support team to kind of help us set those admin settings. But right now, you're looking at stage. Our two admins for our Canvas instance.

Here we are. Our background is teaching. Our background is not IT. We are not programmers. We're not like we're teachers.

And so we were like, we should probably take this. So we understand what those settings are, what all of that is on the admin shield. Because as we saw this morning, that road map this product is so great because it's continually improving and things are continually, changing and and being better. So we have to have a firm understanding of and not be afraid. Usually, we're like, I don't you push it.

I don't wanna push it. Like, you turned it. I'm not toggling it on. What is it gonna do? I don't know. Maybe a great time.

Beta first. Oh, wait. We just may not talk about test and beta instance as well at this time. Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah. So that's why you're like, we're like, wait, let's take it so we can kind of understand this. So we got so much more out of it than that. And then, Go, I think you touched a little bit on on this one too. Like, what did you, what did you learn versus what you thought you were gonna learn in this one? Yeah.

Similar with TCE, I I thought it was just gonna be like, and back end of the admin settings. Like, this is how you navigate these different options or these different settings, but I kind of because I completed CC, you know, for TCE, before I took the CCA to a program, I had a feeling that it was gonna talk a little bit more about the kind of the function of it, like the broader purpose. Right? And I think that's really what I took away. Kinda like what I touched on earlier. Just building those relationships with the right people on our campus It's also helped me, I think, to create better onboarding experiences for new program directors and subaccount administrators.

That was a real weak point in our process. Because if you really think about it, they're kind of like mini admins in their own area. Right? So, we were under utilizing a lot of our admin potential And that's what's really helped me. It's definitely helped me to take more of a leadership position in our college. That's for sure.

That's fantastic. And then I know felicity and and West both wanted to talk about this. What would you like to share about how you're applying the CCTA program at your school's West. Do you wanna start? So my far and away, my favorite part of the technical admin course was the API elective. I came from the classroom into the role I'm in now had no sort of programming background or anything like that and had been trying to poke around and explore on my own with some YouTube videos and other resources like that wasn't really getting very far just because of the nature of, I I guess the the globally applicable nature of that sort of of tool, but I was so happy to have a from scratch, from the from the very beginning.

The course was clearly designed that way for someone who was eager and interested to learn about this sort of thing but hadn't had the opportunity to before to come in and dig in at at a comfort level that was appropriate for them. Like, you could go really deep. You could you could pace yourself, you know, however you wanted to do it. And, the other thing I'll add to in that environment was that the the, course and program facilitators through that whole experience were very flexible and responded to feedback, the weekly announcements that that came out, were were in in direct response to the feedback that participants were providing in the moment. So, that that level of responsiveness was outstanding too.

Did you wanna say something about it? I'm actually gonna kinda do two part here. So, like, one of my favorite features of this program and honestly the CCE program as well were those discussions, which we had touched on earlier, how it's a chance for you. Not only did you share share what you created, but to to connect with other people within your course. And we all know, like, everyone in here is an educator of some sort. When you put discussions in front of your kids, like, you're like, oh, nobody's gonna respond.

That is one of the best parts about this program is you have ways to respond like you're given a task. Like, do warm, cold feel feedback and that type of thing because we know how vulnerable all of our learners can feel in those discussions. And so I loved that that I felt comfortable enough to share my plan. And so as you're working through that technical admin, you're building a plan for your district. Like we said, all of the assignments that you do are for your district to better what you're doing already.

And so we're building this plan and we would share in discussions that, oh my gosh, these people up on the stage and people out and Chris just left, like, they're my people, like, I, like, learned so much from them, and we would sometimes those discussions, the thread would be, it would be like, hey, can we just jump on a Zoom call? Like, I wanna see more of what you're doing, how you're setting up your subaccounts, and tell me why. Tell me the big what? Maybe I should be doing that. Right? And so that was by far the most valuable part. And then we have this plan. And Tammy and I are so proud of our plan.

Like, we took it to our our tech director and we're like, Hey, this is our plan moving forward. And he was like, dang. That's that's amazing. Like, because I think a lot of times what happens is, like, when you when you bring Canvas in and you if you wanna get it started, but you're not writing down why you're making decisions about things that you're deciding. And so what this, what the Canvas certified technical admin forces you to do is write it down.

And it's a living document. And Casey Testerman is in the back of the room. Casey and I wrote this. Casey, right? And this was her ID her idea was this living breathing document that you can go back to. And if you win the lottery and you're out, someone else will know, like, Oh, that's why we we have our subaccounts set up that way.

Just to add one. Yeah. Just to to second that as well. Also, there's a table you put together of, like, all your sorry. And just to second that, there's just a table that we set up in CCTA where you outline the specific permissions that every subaccount administrator has.

And I think just finishing this program with a real documented structure for your account is priceless. So, yeah. That's awesome. I have one more yes I am to that. And with our plan, our network director, and our SIS, who people who are in charge of our SIS had been in our district for a very long time.

They retired this year. And with confidence, Philosophy and I could actually as we were onboarding these people have conversations about why our, like, campus was set up the way that it was with infinite campus, which was our student information system. Them. So they've been it has been an invaluable learning experience and resources that we came out of that with. That's really exciting.

Thank you. So I'd love to know, now we're gonna talk about both programs together. Paul, I know you wanted to talk just a little bit about this one. How did you feel about the support and the customer service you got from the CCE team and the CCTI team? So I don't know. If if you take courses online, you know, graduate courses, stuff like that, you you know that you know, you can you can send an email to a professor or you can use the Canvas inbox.

And, you know, within three days or so, you'll get a response. You're hoping. Right? We in CCE, it was like almost instantaneous. It was unbelievable. And there are certain things that are kinda difficult to understand at first if you're not coming from, a certain background.

So, Yeah. We we felt extremely well supported, and we've kinda modeled that on our own campus now. So we've systematically developed mentors, across the campus both physically and geographically across the campus and we're trying to model, that kind of response. So it's pretty great. Just to just to call out this one other aspect to what I was saying earlier about the instructors being flexible and the support that they provide.

If you do if you or any of your colleagues look up these programs, don't be you like you'll see in catalog, all of the courses there are laid out. And especially in the case of certified educator, there are six of them. Don't be put off or intimidated by that. One of the things that I didn't mention in my earlier answer was that the the facilitators and and, instructors, they understand that life happens. And so they provide the structure of this is the content for this week.

And this is the area of focus for this week But things happen, things happen in your district, things happen at home. It's it's not something where Oh, I don't know if I can keep up with this. They might, you know, remove me. No. No.

Jump in and and they'll be with you. And I can tell you that one of the facilitators that's here, he put in our Slack channel last night. I just got a submission from October twenty twenty two. And we will grade it, and that person will finish the course, and they will get their badge. And there were people this morning who we we have, CC, CCTA lanyards, and they were like, but I didn't finish and I have late assignments.

And I was like, oh, stop it. Come on. You're that doesn't matter. We want we wanna support folks that are in the program. So at your institution, any insights from either or both programs, and I know both Folesity and Gopu wanted to to say something about this that you that are particularly valuable that we haven't highlighted yet.

Anything else? Yeah. So specifically, of the things that I that really stood out to me was we talk a lot about blueprinting, like templates, cross listing, you know, using the comments tactically I think for me, just really learning the strategy that works best for our college is is a huge kind of outcome of this It's not just about learning what these things are, but finding the right solution for your situation. And so I know in our case, for example, we didn't find that, you know, using a a templating approach was appropriate for some subaccounts. And so we decided not to take that approach. And so sometimes things may not work for your situation, but being able to have the reflective opportunity to think through is what the real value is.

And I would say for us, you know, for Tammy and I, we lead a lot of our professional development as well as coaching our teach and so following that panda method as we're coaching them to kinda set up that learning that has been so valuable for us as well as that living breathing document for the admin of things that we have that to kinda keep us on our toes and and keep us moving in the right direction. And I know Tammy, for this one, I think did you have a a something that you wanted to elaborate on about, something that has changed in your organization, case study or success. Yeah. Flocity and I work with, teachers k k twelve in our district, and we have a program where we, do coaching cycles with twenty of our teachers. And this has just been really impactful to make sure that we are designing lessons with intention, and for impact and using these strategies.

It has really helped move our PLCs and our teachers forward. So it's been really helpful. That's great. And then anyone, what what do you think really sets apart these certifications. I know, Carrie, you said you're you have other certifications.

Oh, we have Apple certified educators here as well represented. What how is this different? Well, and for record. I don't wanna diminish those other ones. I mean, there's no one to I just wanted to have stitches. No.

No. I feel like earlier, I kinda said that. I was like, oh, yeah. I don't even remember their names. But, no.

Truthfully, like, it I mean, it's great to have both those. They I feel like it's a little bit faster of a program where this you, like, really get in the weeds of things. And what's really cool is you really become this community. I I my first group that I was a facilitator for, like, I still remember some of their responses. Now I've graded so much.

I'm not sure I remember as much in the middle of it, but you become this little, like, cohort group that you go through these things together. And so you've got this whole community of people. It's not just, oh, I in a silo got this certification. No. I went through this program the discussions led to me becoming a better educator.

And so for me, that's what really set it apart. Is there anyone I was just gonna say what really sets it apart for me was that every single activity you do is centered around what you do in your like, all of the assignments are build something that's going to make you a better educator. Like, you don't usually find that in other programs as well as there is voice and choice. You get to choose your elective. There's multiple different ones, and you can pick the path that's right for you, and they're continually improving.

We just found it from Aaron. Hey, we're adding two new electives. Like, I gotta check those out. So I I just I love that piece to it. It's not just a stagnant program.

It's continuing to grow and get better. And, we actually have an announcement. We're announcing something new in this session. You're gonna be the the first people to know. We're adding something new.

So I'm gonna tell you all about it. Beginning in October, we're going to have and I just got goosebumps. Sorry. We're gonna have Canvas certified institution. What Canvas certified institution will be, is, you know, we believe that those that anyone who's chosen to use Canvas as their learning management system already has made a commitment to, new ways of learning.

And did you take a picture of that? These people didn't These these folks didn't even know. Those schools, though, that are making a commitment to further send their faculty, their staff, their instructional designers, whomever it is through the Canvas certified educator program. We want to acknowledge that commitment that they're making to making those further changes in education. And so, for institutions who have ten percent of their faculty and staff, go through, and it could be over a number of years, the Canvas certified educator program, and have at least one Canvas certified technical admin We will designate them as a Canvas certified institution, and I'll tell you what that means. There will be a support pack that comes with that.

So you will have help in getting started. We'll have materials to help you promote the program. Seriously, I have the slides. You don't have to take pictures of it. There aren't you serious? Oh, he couldn't be here.

Right? You're yeah. His boss couldn't be here. So you gotta tell. We want you to be support. We want to be the support for your launch.

So someone from our team will help you support the successful launch of it. During the program, we will have drop in help for participants who are going through the program. We will give whoever the admin is from your institution a participant tracking link so you can see How far they're going? Who needs a little bit of a nudge? You know, who's who's gonna go get her there? We have customized learning journals for further reflection, that's not something that folks outside of this program will have. So that's an additional benefit. And a swag kit to distribute to your staff.

Everyone loves swag. And then this is a really exciting part. We'll also extend that CCE learning experience by giving you professional development, like ready made professional development that you can deliver to the rest of your staff who isn't going through this program. So they will have those supports to you will have that support so you can all be speaking the same language. Even though you might not have the ability to put everyone through the program.

We have some additional benefits. On top of that, there will be collaboration opportunities with leaders from other Canvas certified institutions. So we're gonna create a net of Canvas certified institutions that can lean on one another. You'll have the ability to engage with the Canvas education team at least once quarterly. That means a session, a zoom session with thought leaders here at instructure that no one else is gonna get invited to.

Invitations to other events, will have a directory of all the server certified institutions you get a certificate and a banner, like a physical banner that you can put in your building. And then we'll give you access to the Canvas certified institution artwork that you can include in your communication so that you can say, we have made this commitment. We are a Canvas certified institution. We have done this education and, and promoting the forward thinking of education is important to us. And Carrie has been piloting it at our institution.

So, Carrie, I just wanted you to tell us a little bit about what that was like. Yeah. So I actually just recently transitioned to a much smaller school district. So I was in a really large school district in a suburb of Kansas City. And, I was able to go through the program myself.

And when I went to the smaller district, I was like, I have to bring this to this district. We only have one high school, one middle school, two elementary schools, technically, but really it's like k two and three five. So really only one elementary school. And I was like, these teachers, they started using canvas during the pandemic, and they are still in COVID canvas. And they need to see the power of this tool and how it can really enhance the learning in their classrooms because they already know the clickety click.

They know how to do that. What they don't know is how to use it intentionally. And so what was really cool is we would talk to him. I was like, I think I can get, like, maybe ten teachers, maybe fifteen, maybe. And I was, like, so nervous.

Like, put all the stuff out there, sent all the emails, And then, like, all of a sudden it just came, like, flooding in. I had over twenty teachers that were, like, invested in this. And what was really cool is we did it k twelve. So as those discussions and the courses are happening, all of a sudden, we're bringing this campus together teachers that are normally in isolation don't normally talk to elementary teachers or elementary teachers aren't talking to secondary teachers. Also, we've got this, like, really great collaboration happening.

And what's really cool is I actually come from an elementary background, but now I'm a secondary instructional coach. So I know that there are great things in both spaces that they need to see from each other. And this gave them that opportunity to be like, oh, I'm a high school English teacher, but you're doing some really cool, like, station rotations with canvas and elementary. I think I could do that in my high school classroom, and those things were happening that weren't happening before. And so it was just really cool.

I talked about community earlier. This, like, took it to a whole another level because they were in a physical community, and now they're able to, like, have this really cool virtual space to collaborate that they didn't have before. And also the ones that were in buildings together, they'd see like, oh, they posted about this. We were able to have them go on learning walks. So they saw the plan in Canvas, and then they actually got to go into each other's classrooms and see it in real life.

So there were just some really cool things that happened because we were on a campus together, and able to do some things that, we just were able to do if I'd just been like, oh, I just enrolled as an individual. Like, it was so cool to see it as our school community really coming together and we actually call them Canvas champions. Is that a different question? Nope. Okay. So the expectation sorry.

Yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna take up all the time. I'll talk faster. Like, I don't talk fast enough already. Whoo.

But no, what was really cool is we actually call them Canvas champions. So the expectation is with that PD package, instead of it being me, the lady from district office at the high school coming in and being like, alright, I'm gonna teach you some more about Canvas. All of a sudden, it's now gonna be the teacher that's next door to them, telling them about things that they learned and that they're doing in their classroom. And again, it becomes, hey, you talked about this during PD. Can I come see that in your classroom? Or can you tell me more about that? Instead of it being me, the random lady that came to their building every once in a while.

It's like their friends, their colleagues are like, yeah, this is really cool. Let me help you with it. So, just some really great things have come of of us being part of this pilot. And, I'm excited to see where it's going. This is really cool.

Coming in October. Thank you very much, Carrie. Alright. So I told you I promised that I would have all the things. So I have a QR code that you can scan.

I'm sorry to take a breath. So that will take you to the resources from this. The session, it'll be the slides. West, can you can Good thing. I didn't sit there.

So that will take you to a document that has information about all of this. It'll have these slides, all the programs, the new information about Canvas certified institution as well. There's a place to tell us if you're interested in any of them and and I can, I can definitely talk more about it? So I'll leave that up for just a second. Okay. Come up.

Come get closer. Cause I got a QR code on the next screen too. Sure. About large institutions like university system, would you go as a whole university system according to campus to get It could be multiple buildings. It probably individual campuses might be better for a large a large university system or a large community college system, we think even in a large school district, it might be better for different individual schools.

It'd be probably easier to hit that that ten percent threshold. Yeah. It doesn't have to be the whole, all of everybody. We will will certify the individual school or campus for sure. No.

I started small in my school. Like, it I can absolutely see it working on a bigger campus for sure. Sure. Any other question? So, Wes, and your is that question for I think, Paul, you had a grant, right, and and West that your district paid for it. It was a handmade upgrade that both.

Both. Yeah. Yep. Some some people self fund and go through on their own and it's not paid by their institution, and then we have institutions that pay for us. We've got both.

Yep. Alright. Yeah. We've got folks up here who did both, and it it and, and I think there's a place for you on both. For sure.

And and I'm not just trying to sell you. I I I do think that If you're if you're rolling ball stones, what? Oh, okay. I have a bit ly too. Oh, there we go. West, your head? Is it not or is it? The bitly also is canvas underscore certified underscore inscon twenty three.

I know, but I want them to have this stuff. You can find me anytime, and I'll I'll I'll I could try to print these out too as you have them. On put it on your face, West. Should I leave it up still? Sure. Yep.

What is the how many hours? We we estimate it takes two to three hours a week. Yep. About ten hours of course. Yeah. It's not to kill you.

We don't wanna. And then real quick, if you haven't heard, we're also doing Panda pros. So if you don't know what Panda pros is, Panda pros is from the learning services department, which I'm a part of, Panda Pros is a free, one on one online. We've done it in the past two years before this year as well. Sessions are available.

Anyone who uses Canvas can sign up. It's a forty five minute slot with a Canvas expert. Sessions start on July thirty first, and they're running through the end of September, and the QR code to sign up is there. We love doing them. We love connecting with faculty instructional designers for, like, your one on one.

Hey, I got this Canvas problem. Help me fix it. So I wanted to also put a plug in for that. If you have any other questions, I'll be outside. Thank you so much for coming. And, and, and thank you to my amazing panel.