Learning Management System Initiative at Northwestern. A new generation of learning technologies is here.Come join the exploration at Northwestern.
Educational technology is moving at a very fast pace and Northwestern is preparing for new capabilities. New tools make it easier and more effective for Northwestern faculty to connect, engage, evaluate, and teach our “grown up digital” students. Last fall, Northwestern began a multi-year initiative for faculty to evaluate next generation Learning Management Systems (LMS) and to shape recommendations that will result in improved capabilities for the University's electronic teaching environments. Exploring new opportunities to... Enhance collaboration between and among students. History The University deployed one of the first versions of the Blackboard Course Management System in 1999.
In October 2012, the University's IT Governance Education Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC) identified the need for a comprehensive review Process Participate Explore. Join a Pilot. Learn More. Share Feedback. Next-Generation Online Learning Management System Selected. As a result of USF’s need to upgrade from Blackboard 9.0 to 9.1, the USF System Learning Management Committee decided in 2011 to evaluate other options in learning management products.
Faculty, students and staff reviewed three learning management solutions: Blackboard 9.1, Moodle and Canvas during a system-wide evaluation process. After several months of review, Canvas, a product of the educational software company Instructure, was selected. Students participating in the evaluation were excited about the mobility and calendar features available in Canvas. Faculty who taught classes with Canvas found the platform to be intuitive and adaptable. Collectively, more than 80 percent of faculty and students participating in the review voted in favor of Canvas. The transition from Blackboard 9.0 to Canvas has already started this semester with a limited number of courses running in Canvas. Instructure Canvas: A New LMS Entrant. We’re making progress on getting the Sakai conference keynote videos online, but while we wait for those to be ready for the kick-off to the conference post series, I’d like to take advantage of the unexpected lull to write a bit about a new LMS entrant that I had an opportunity to learn about recently.
Instructure‘s Canvas product is one of a new generation of LMS’s being created by start-ups that seem to be suddenly popping up everywhere. It has some of the Web 2.0 features that you would expect, like easy personal profile integration with external social networking sites and easy video embedding. But unlike, say, NIXTY—another start-up that really emphasizes open education—Instructure’s big theme seems to be getting back to basics—in a good way. First, a little background. The company was founded by two BYU graduate students who were unhappy with how clunky and out-of-date their school’s LMS felt. The end result feels quite nice: Google+ Comments. New LMS from Instructure Goes Open Source. Learning Management Systems | News New LMS from Instructure Goes Open Source By Dian Schaffhauser02/01/11.
Reviews. Canvas LMS brief technical review. Jul 06 2012.
Inside Higher Ed Review. Go and check out Instructure's new Canvas LMS.
You can play with the system, as I have been doing, by signing up for a free course account. Next, go ahead and read what Michael Arrington has to say about Instructure over at TechCrunch. You can also check out the story in the Chronicle about Instructure's winning of a big Utah statewide LMS contract, and the reaction (and subsequent change of heart) of Desire2Learn.
I spent a fascinating hour discussing Instructure with CEO (and major funder) Josh Coates. Coates and his team are passionate about challenging the incumbents in what he sees as a broken LMS market, what Casey Green refers to as "a mature market with immature products,: (Josh quotes Casey in his presentation). Even if you are not in the market for a new LMS, I recommend that you contact Instructure's director of public relations, Devin Knighton, and try to set-up a webinar with Coates. Key Features of Canvas. Various CANVAS How Tos. Webinar: Get to know Canvas — the smart and easy learning platform-Archive : Help Center. Compare - Higher Education. Choosing an LMS comesdown to 3 simple questions. 1 Will it get used?
No matter which LMS you choose, if it doesn’t get used, then what’s the point? All the features in the world mean nothing if no one uses them. Read more » No matter which LMS you choose, if it doesn’t get used, then what’s the point? Canvas, on the other hand, is committed to safeguarding the end-user experience, delivering focused value through well-designed features. Want to see these features in action? 2 Is it reliable? Canvas is native cloud, reliably hosted on Amazon AWS, which processes more than a million requests per second with 500,000+ servers. As a mission-critical app, your LMS has to be reliable. That’s because Canvas is native cloud, hosted on Amazon AWS. 3 Will it adapt to your needs?
The best platform allows your institution to expand and adopt new technologies as they surface, which is just another reason we believe you’ll find that Canvas is the best choice.