OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Reporting period September 2016 – September 2017
The Learn@OregonState Advisory Committee guides the design, implementation and development of the Learn@OregonState ecosystem in alignment with OSU’s strategic goals as defined by the IT Instructional Governance Committee. Members serve on the Unizin Teaching and Learning Group and bring OSU’s needs and goals to the Unizin development process. The committee’s charter is to review, evaluate and prioritize proposed changes to the Learn@OregonState platform. Evaluation criteria are based on impact to learners, instructors and data, as well as potential legal, technical, FERPA and disability access issues.
The Learn@OregonState Advisory Committee works in partnership with a standing team called the Learn@OregonState Task Force. This team works directly with tools in the platform; they meet bi-weekly throughout the year to review new features, upgrades, integrations, user communication and support, vendor relationships and product management, and ongoing evaluation and assessment of current and new learning tools.
In February Robin Pappas led instructors, advisors, and instructional designers on a one-day ‘rapid evaluation’ of Unizin’s Course Monitor (beta version). This tool is a course-level dashboard embedded in Canvas that, once released, will display data on student performance and engagement based on activity in Canvas (missing/complete/on-time assignments, quiz results, etc.). The evaluation team suggested improvements to Unizin for their next round of development.
Leaders from Ecampus and Information Services participated in Unizin’s Teaching and Learning Group summit in April 2017. This was a working meeting to take stock of current activities across the consortium, and define next steps for the Faculty Communication, Learning Analytics and Learning Management System sub-groups.
In May and June 2016 the Canvas product manager distributed two separate surveys; one to OSU instructors, faculty and GTA’s, and a second one for students. Both surveys included questions to solicit quantitative and qualitative feedback on perceived value of Canvas tools and features as well as use of and satisfaction with Canvas support options. A summary of key findings and recommended next steps will be released in October 2017.
The Solutions Architecture task force and the Learn@OregonState advisory committee have reviewed and approved the following tools and updates in Canvas.
The url to access Canvas is oregonstate.instruture.com, which can be difficult for Canvas users to find and remember. The Solutions Architecture task force secured the domain canvas.oregonstate.edu to serve as a redirect to the Canvas login page. The learn.oregonstate.edu home page was also redesigned to improve access to tools and updates such as outage notifications
The Canvas team helped test an integration between the OSU mobile app (developed by 3rd party provider DubLabs). The mobile app displays course and grade information to students, as well as other OSU resources
This integration allows scores from Kaltura interactive video quizzes to populate the Canvas gradebook. In-video quizzes can improve student engagement with video content and assess comprehension.
The free, open-source Universal Design Online content Inspection Tool (UDOIT), enables faculty to identify and quickly accessibility fix issues in their Canvas course sites.
Technical development was completed by Information Services to update the process that bring nearly real-time enrollment updates from Banner to Canvas. The old process relied on a Blackboard server, whose de-commissioning early in 2017 prompted the update.
Canvas Mastery Paths allow instructors to customize learning experiences and tailor access to assignments and content, based on student performance.
The OSU Canvas team investigated applying term start dates to Canvas courses in spring 2017. We do not apply term start dates because, until recently, student access to course sites would have been restricted. However programmatic changes in Canvas offer more flexibility; applying term start dates offers potential improvements in sorting and finding current vs. future term course sites.
Canvas offers a ‘native’ cross-listing tool that allows instructors to merge the enrollments two or more sections into a single Canvas course site. OSU currently has a programmatic way to bring enrollments from multiple sections into a single site. The Canvas team is reviewing benefits and any potential complications of enabling the native Canvas functionality.
Canvas has native functionality that allows instructors to create sections in their course sites. The OSU Canvas team is investigating programmatically creating the sections in Canvas course sites and enrolling students in them. The resulting change will allow instructors of large enrollment courses to make use of many native Canvas features such as groups, differentiated assignments, and section-specific communication
Known issues:
Through our partnership in the Unizin consortium, OSU can leverage a competitive licensing rate for a tool called NameCoach. NameCoach allows students to record their name so that faculty (and potentially other students) can hear how it should be pronounced. OSU could also use a separate NameCoach tool with similar functionality to be used at commencement, at no additional charge.
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Lynn Greenough (chair) | Academic Technology |
| Alex Axelsson | Disability Access Services |
| Mike Bailey | Computer Science and Faculty Senate |
| Tasha Biesinger | Academic Technology |
| Raven Chakerian | World Languages and Culture |
| Jon Dorbolo | Technology Across the Curriculum |
| Dianna Fisher | Extended Campus - Open Oregon State |
| Lindy Foster | Enterprise Computing Services |
| David Goodrum | Academic Technology |
| Julie Greenwood | Undergraduate Studies |
| Jacob Jones | Associate Registrar |
| Cub Kahn | Center for Teaching and Learning |
| Brian Lindsley | Extended Campus - Research Analyst |
| Bill Loges | Faculty Senate Computing Resources Committee |
| Tamara Mitchell | Professional and Continuing Education |
| Jane Nichols | Libraries |
| Robin Pappas | Information Services |
| Tabitha Pitzer | Associated Students of Oregon State University |
| Shannon Riggs | Ecampus – Course Development and Training |
| Derek Whiteside | Information Services – Web and Mobile Services |
| Kara Witzke | OSU-Cascades |
The Solutions Architecture task force reviews and approves the majority of proposed updates to Canvas. The following table illustrates the criteria that generally determine whether a request falls within the purview of the task force, or whether it should be reviewed by the larger advisory committee:
| Criteria for Task Force decision (i.e., authority to act on request, and report results to Learn@OS Advisory Committee) | Criteria for escalating to Learn@OS Advisory Committee for review and disposition |
|---|---|
| Canvas feature (developed by Instructure) that is Optional (either for a defined time or on-going) | Tool/feature not intended for all Learn@OS users |
| OSU has existing contract with 3rd party provider | Requires review of academic or other policies |
| No contractual or functional impact if used/accessed by non-ONID users | OSU development resources needed (beyond LMS admin capacity) |
| Publisher with LTI integration | License or resources supplied by department outside of Information Services |
| Technical requirements won’t exceed capacity of LMS admins’ routine work | Significant impact to Learn@OS users (training, functionality, technical support. . . ) |
| Product manager identified (if 3rd party system) |
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