My next official Instructure blog post was published today, a brief list of general tips on keeping the design of your online learning simple and usable: Online Course Design: Keep It Super Simple.
I could have gone on for pages on this topic (in fact, I did, for about 2000 words before cutting to around 600). That’s my way of saying there’s plenty of room for exploration and discussion, so go ahead, check it out, and leave a comment.
I’ve just had my first official blog post for Instructure (my new employer–more on that soon) posted on the company blog: Canvas Tastes Like Open. This post explains some of the ways that the Canvas LMS is truly open, and how Instructure has advocated and supported openness since day 1, be that open source, open licensing, open sharing, or open learning experiences.
So check it out and leave a comment there if you can!
Phil Hill writes a useful perspective on the historically slow acceleration LMS market today in New Mentality Entering LMS Market. His attention focuses on newcomers Instructure Canvas (which, of course, I’m familiar with) and LoudCloud (which I really should check out, as it seems to echo Jon Mott’s compelling perspective on the OLN and the CMS as disaggregated components).
While Canvas, the LMS we’re using at UVU, does have easy-to-use grading and assignment features, I’m always interested in new tools and services that pop up. Enter Engrade.com, a free, online toolset that focuses on providing a robust and user-friendly online gradebook (more…)
While UEN is preparing a production-grade instance of the Instructure Canvas learning management system for the Utah System of Higher Education Consortium, we’ve begun a wiki to document Canvas’s features, and to develop faculty and staff training materials. And while my own institution, Utah Valley University, is hosting the wiki, the authoring and maintenance of this wiki is a new, collaborative effort involving most of Utah’s colleges and universities (more…)
…and kicks off with a bangin’ new promo:
A nice homage to Apple--clearly one of Instructure’s design inspirations.
If you didn’t pick it up in the video, this release coincides with Instructure’s announcement that they’ve just opened their source code under the AGPLv3 license.
We just selected Canvas as our State’s LMS here in Utah, and this news only reinforces my opinion that the guys at Instructure are looking a lot farther ahead than anyone else in the LMS business. This isn’t to take any credit away from Moodle, which will always have a special place in my open source heart, but, well, if you haven’t tested Canvas--from either a “traditional” LMS or un-LMS perspective--it’s pretty easy to hop in and give it a test drive.
And now my Canvas package download is done. Expect some installation notes later on.
Instructure Canvas allows teachers to record video from a web cam directly into course pages, discussion posts or even as assignment feedback. It occurred to me that I can easily record my desktop activity instead of my web cam using a similar set-up to what I’ve used to live-stream conference presentations. A 3rd-party desktop app allows you to delineate video sources in place of the web cam, including the user’s desktop. While I still use the commercial software WebcamMax, this time I tested a free software called ManyCam (more…)
I’m pleased to repeat the news that local Utah company Instructure has won the RFP for the State of Utah’s LMS to replace Blackboard Vista. Here’s a snippet of the press release from Utah Education Network’s web site:
UEN committee selects Instructure to provide statewide Learning Management System for state colleges and universities
(Salt Lake City, UT) – A selection committee representing Utah colleges and universities has chosen Utah-based Instructure to provide a statewide Learning Management System (LMS) for Utah college students and faculty (more…)
Utah Valley University is part of a statewide consortium of public higher education institutions that share a learning management system provided by the Utah Education Network. The Blackboard (WebCT) Vista license expires in 2012, and we’re currently considering our options for a replacement. This week we’ve been treated to vendor demonstrations by each of three finalists–one private demonstration for consortium selection committee members, and one open demonstration for institution faculty, staff, and students.
During these first private demonstrations I compiled some notes as to what I thought was effective and ineffective/detrimental in the presentations. I won’t reveal who did what, but will be very general, and talk in terms of “Dos” and “Don’ts” (more…)
