Ep 160 | Canvas: Updates, implementation & incoming features

SPEAKER_01 0:00

One of the things that we face often is the plethora of platforms that I don't really have any idea where to go to know what's going on with my student, what should I be looking at? Where should I be looking? And then having two kids, one's at one school, one's at another, and they have different teachers, and one teacher's using one platform and a different teacher's using another one. So that was when we think about parents and them as a stakeholder group, how can we minimize the number of platforms that we're asking them to look at and spend their time on to try to figure out what's going on with their student? And so that was the biggest thing about getting parents in is let's minimize it.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. Remind, Class Dojo, Google Classroom. Different platforms used by different teachers to keep track of different school deadlines and teacher communication. It's dizzying, but thankfully, we have arrived at a streamlined solution. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you'll recognize my next guest from 2023 when we first discussed Canvas as an emerging communication system. She's the learning management coordinator, and today she's going to share how this app has officially replaced all the others, new improvements, features, and how it's working with the focus platform. Coordinating communication and upgrading networks, the thoughtfully techie Jen Montoya. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. When I say thoughtfully techie, that truly embodies how you approach everything. Because it's so easy in technology to roll things out, and it's like the hammer comes down, this is the way it is. But you have such like a human touch to that. And that's something I just really respect.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Oh, thank you. I think just in the kind of as I've been brought up in our school system and had some amazing leaders that have been over me and teaching me and guiding me, that human aspect is so important and understanding the why. And then making sure I think kind of the tenets that I try to live by and guide with whatever I'm over is really that they feel like it's be we're it's a collaboration. So it's not something being done to them, but we're doing it together. And there are things you got to put in place that not everyone likes, but at least let's talk about it. Let's figure out what's going on, how can we make that better? How can we help you utilize this so that you're not struggling as much in your world?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Yeah, exactly. Let's actually talk about kind of the behind the scenes of how you helped make Canvas so far the most helpful it could be with those meetings that you have. Because that just blew my mind.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

So this year we officially have Canvas for K-12. And so our secondary had come on a few years ago, and then middle school came on last year. But elementary was this was the first year rollout. And so that was a lot. And and now that our new assessment platform is also embedded within Canvas, it's a whole lot. And so all along we've been trying to get feedback. But what we've done this year now, that the full year's over, we scheduled 45-minute meetings with every single administration team at high school, middle school, and elementary. And we sent them an agenda that really was to have guiding questions on both the learning management side of Canvas and then also the Mastery Connect side of what's working, what's not, what are still the pain points that you have, where have your teachers found success as we've been in this for eight 180 days. And then from that, where do we need to go? What professional development do you need from us? What things do we need to work with the company that owns Canvas to work on that just are not working right? And so those meetings were amazing because one, the administration team took time out of their day and they're it was they were one-on-one. And so they really dug in. A lot of them pulled their teachers ahead of time, asking those questions. And so now it really sets us up for success because from those, we were able to identify not just what do the teachers need, but also the administration, how they're at a deficit, and because they're not utilizing it every day and they want to help their teachers and they want to grow and use it as a tool. And so we were able to kind of identify for next year what kind of professional development they wanted for administration, how often, in what setting. Same thing for teachers, and then also for parents, because that was another tenet that we were really talking about this year as we made that move, as you said in your intro, down kind of paring down to our focus platform and Canvas as our two main platforms in our ecosystem. So it they were just really beneficial, but again, it's about reflection. Like, what what how can we make this better? We're all in this together, we're on this journey. And so that that's been very helpful in getting people buy-in because if they feel like I have a voice, I can tell you like this is working and this is not, and they see evidence of you trying to help fix the things that are not or amplify the things that they are, they seem to be more on board of like, okay, I'll do this with you, I'll dig in, I'll see.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Exactly. I think that's what struck me is that it's such a brilliant way to get that buy-in. And so how has that been going from you know, 2023 to now as far as participation on the teacher side and participation on the parent side?

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Yeah, so we I was looking at the data, we track data all the time and lots of things, but I've been really purposeful. Last year we started to look at data for secondary and how many students were utilizing it. And from last year to this year for K-12, for as far as student or teacher usage, we've had a 97% usage increase. So in 23-24, we had 940 teachers utilizing the platform on a regular basis. This year we have 1,865 teachers that are utilizing it on a regular basis. When we look at our student increases, in 23-24, we had that was about a 66% increase this year. So we had about 17,000 last year of students utilizing actively, and this year we have 29,000, almost 30,000 actually students using it on a regular basis. And so that's been great to see that because that's a metric that we use. Not that it's the only thing that we use to see if this is successful. What we found also is when there's so many options to choose from and you want to go in a certain direction, we had to make a decision of, okay, we're turning things off, and this is what we're gonna use. And so we led up with communication, but it was still like, oh, they really did that. They really shut that off. I can't use that anymore. So so not that we ever want to like force someone's hands, but that we did have to make that decision. Like we were ready, like this is what we're gonna do, this is our focus. We got to pour everything in. And so this is what we're gonna ask our teachers to use and put our students in.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

If I was a teacher, you would have to shut it off because that's exactly how I am with new things. Like, I haven't updated my video editing software in three years because I'm like, no, they're gonna change something and then I'll have to learn it, and then I won't, you know, won't be able to do what I need to get in there and do. So what problem is Canvas solving now for parents that maybe it tried to before or didn't do well before at all?

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Well, and me actually, and speaking as a parent myself with two kids in our district, one of the things that we face often is the plethora of platforms that I don't really have any idea where to go to know what's going on with my student, what should I be looking at? Where should I be looking? And then having two kids, one's at one school, one's at another, and they have different teachers, and one teacher's using one platform and a different teacher's using another one. So that was when we think about parents and them as a stakeholder group, how can we minimize the number of platforms that we're asking them to look at and spend their time on to try to figure out what's going on with their student? And so that was the biggest thing about getting parents in is let's minimize it. Now it's a matter of getting them so that they feel confident in what they're looking at and how to help their student. And so that's our next big push this coming year is really making sure that our teachers are equipped. That was our focus this year. We're gonna continue that focus and grow. But what things are in the Canvas course that are gonna help a parent or guardian, whoever is connected to that student, like I can see what the math lesson was. I there's a video of the teacher teaching the math lesson. There is a resource for me to learn to say what that standard actually was so I understand what they're supposed to be learning. So that's where we're really trying to grow this year through content development for the teachers, but also those parent resources that are within. And then also in our parent family nights is to help them. How do you engage in the platform? What things should you be looking at? If you want to see an announcement, where would you go? If you wanted to see the lesson or the instructions for the lesson, where would you go? And so that's kind of that growing process. We're right at the beginning. And, you know, change is hard. And we do parent surveys at all of our schools. And so that's one of the things that that shift, especially in our elementary, as they're learning and being able to communicate with their families. That's been a sharp curve. But I think as we move forward and the teachers feel more accustomed to knowing how to communicate through the platform, how to put things into their course and the parents see more of that's where we'll really see kind of that positive growth of wanting to use it and seeing the value. Cause right now we're still at, I really like this other platform, even though there was a lot of them to jump, but it's something that that was very limited. So there's only certain pieces. Now we have a bigger, it's kind of like a Cadillac. You're not gonna know all the bells and whistles, your first time out of the car lot. You're going to grow and learn and then in time see, oh, this is much better. I get it. I understand now why you're asking me to change.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

So is your biggest hurdle with parent adoption selling the benefits right now at this state?

SPEAKER_01 10:23

I think so. I think so. And also we did make a big shift because security is really important to us in making sure our student data is protected. That's not just an internal district thing, that is state law, federal law, that we are very aware of who is connected to our students. And so one of the changes that we made this year is that we actually now have automated parents getting into Canvas after they've been verified through our student information system, which is FOCU. They have to have a parent portal account. And that meant that they have been verified, that they are the custodian of that child. And so they have the rights to see their students' academic records. And Canvas is part of that. And before anyone could connect to the kid, I could give my friend the code and they would connect to me. And so there was no security to that. And so that's just of getting in for the first time. That's also been a learning curve. And so now that's again why we are doing the district nights. We've created a family course that's linked to our district website that talks about okay, here's how you get in, here's how you look at different things, if you're having issues, here's where you reach out so that they can get a hold of us and then we can work with them. Schools are also starting to, now that they're understanding more about this platform and how to use it with their families, they're having us come and do family nights, or we are there. One school we did a canvas and coffee chat, and they just invited their parents and said, Hey, the canvas team's here, just drop in. We have coffee and donuts. And if you have an issue, if you're not sure what to do, if you're not sure how to get in, just drop in. Is that what's the point?

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Or like essentially it's just an in-person time to learn what it is you need help with.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

So there's different variations of how schools and how we've done it as a district. Typically, like the ones that we've done at the district level, it's more about engaging in the platform and learning the different pieces. And then after that, if there's parents or families that still can't get in, we're able to kind of problem solve that right away. The focus team is there too, because that's the driver. That's how that information is sent over, is what they have in focus. And then the schools, it's a combination. Like I said, that one school it was just a drop-in. And then other schools, it's like a 20-minute presentation, walking them through, but being there for support.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

So if a parent is listening to this and they're having trouble, like they're already sold, like, oh, I need to access this. They're having trouble with the how. Then they should contact their what school counselor or something and say, what does this look like at my school? Is it coffee in Canvas or is it family night? Is that the question they should be asking?

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Actually, we have our our contact right there on the our wet district website under our parent course, which is canvas at ecsdfl.us, they can reach out to us. They can reach out to their school to say, are you doing anything with parents and I need help? This year, as we're learning, a lot of the administration would then reach out to us and saying, hey, this parent has an issue. Can you help them? But through those meetings that we did with the admin, a lot of them are like, okay, right from the beginning of the year, we're going to go ahead and schedule these family meetings. Now we're getting this understanding it. Can you come and work with our families? And so this year I see it being a really big change of truly understanding it and leveraging the platform for them.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

You also mentioned recording the teacher's lesson.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Are there cameras in the classroom? So teachers have different devices. It's a mix. Some teachers basically they have like an iPad and they'll record themselves as they're teaching the lesson on their iPad, and then they'll upload that to their Canvas course for the day of like, here's your notes, if you missed it. Because that's the other big thing. Canvas is really helpful for, we have a lot of students that are absent for different reasons, that they can log in wherever they are. And if I've missed the lesson, maybe I'm out sick. But I can log in and I can stay up and because I can see my teacher teaching, or maybe they put a video, like a Khan Academy video or something to help, a resource to help with what they missed. So it is really to help also that like I missed a couple days, I was out with the flu, or and now I have all this catch up work. Well, they can log into Canvas if they're feeling well and keep up to date on what they're missing or what's going on. They're not out of the loop if they chose to log in. Those are part of like the learning for teachers of what they can do in Canvas and what they have the ability. We're constantly working with partners that are connected to Instructure, which is the company that owns Canvas, to think outside the box and think about what are the new innovative ways that we can help students and teachers have a more rich lesson, more engaging lesson. AI is at the very front of that.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Yeah. Like, isn't that connected to Khan Academy? Because I know about Khan Academy and I didn't know that we had it. Because isn't that the thing that uses the Socratic method to help students solve problems? It won't give them the answer, but it helps them walk through the thought process of finding the answer.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

So Khan Academy has two parts. It has the student tutoring side, and then it also has the AI side for the teacher for teacher creation. Currently, our district has what it's called ConMeGo, and that is integrated. Khan Academy partners with Instructure. And so that's embedded right within their Canvas course that they can use Conmigo to build content creation. They can build exit tickets. We had a teacher, one of them is like a creative poem for the day. So they just put in their topic that they were learning and a couple things that were about this class, and it created the most creative poem that the teacher posted that the kids got to see. Like this is how we start our day. So that's that side. We're exploring different tutoring options for our students. And the Khan Academy tutoring side with AI is one that we know like our neighboring school districts are utilizing. So one definitely that we're going to continue to explore. We also have, because we're a Google district, we have Gemini. And Gemini is really helpful for the teachers to be able to create content that is aligned to the standards. And so again, that the AI is just, it's really changing our world. I had a teacher at the beginning of the year when we were training with Canvas, and she said, okay, this was great. She goes, but what's going to create the lesson for me? And I said, Oh, I said, that's going to be AI through Gemini. And she goes, wait, I didn't really think you were going to give me an answer. I was just kidding. And I'm like, well, I'm not. And when I told her, she's like, oh my gosh. And it is, it's a new world. I mean, obviously we're learning and growing and what that is. So it's just an embedding of things.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

What I think is so exciting about this integration of technology and humans is that we have some very real problems in education right now. And one of them are teacher shortages, right? So if we can lift the burden a little bit for the things that we all love about teachers, which is those creative lesson plans and those like whimsical things that just make you fall in love with your teacher and by a product of that, in love with learning, right? So if we can make teachers' jobs easier, if we can reduce the number of hours that they're working outside of the classroom and create more of a satisfying experience for them, that will help teacher retention. It could attract new teachers. And then certainly being able to communicate with parents a little bit easier through these lessons. So I just want to summarize the benefits for parents real quick because you listed so many, but I just kind of want to put it all together. So let me see. I feel like this is testing me. See if I can get it. So they can parents can view lesson plans, sometimes even the video.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

It kind of depends on what the teacher publishes. So when I say lesson plans, maybe not the lesson plan itself, but the lesson, like the activity that the kids are going to be required to do or in pieces of it. Yes. So that they understand what's going on. The assignment.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

Yes. Okay. There you go. So I was using the wrong word, I think. Sorry. I'm glad you corrected me. Okay, so parents can see the assignment given by the class. They can see the due date. They might be able to see the video associated with that assignment. You alluded to that they can see definitions of certain aspects of these assignment features, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Yeah. And we're actually partnering with the math department. And so we're creating full parent resources that go right inside the teacher's Canvas courses based on their pacing that has a parent understanding of like, here's the standard in common language. What is it asking for your child? This is what's going to get focused on. And so everything else that you see in this module or for these lessons, assignments, are going to be around that. So that the task, so that again, I don't know what NSO11 means, but I can see it, I can read it, and it tells me. And so just having that idea of like, oh, and I can we can put do that at home. And that's the other part is what are suggestions for them to do at home with the resources that they have so that I don't have to be the expert in the room. Love that. And as my child's gone into higher level math and I hit a point and I'm like, well, I gotta study like a good hour before you ask me any questions about the math that you did today. Then I'll be able to help. So it's those kind of things, like those wins of like, you know, that I understand what's going on. I can help.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah. Does it also cover dates and deadlines? Because that's something I hear from parents is, oh my gosh, my kid told me at 10 p.m. that tomorrow is picture day, or, you know, at the elementary school level, crazy sock day or something like that. But then all at the high school level, we have things that matter as much as scholarship application deadlines and grant deadlines and deadlines for, you know, if you want to apply to be a foreign exchange student, I don't know. There's all kinds of things, right, swirling out there. Is Canvas a home for those? It is.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

So Canvas has an overall calendar. And what happens is that whatever the student is enrolled in, so whether it's an academic course or it's a club or a sports, whatever they, what Canvas courses they have, all of that gets populated on the calendar. And because the the parent or guardian who's connected sees exactly what the student sees in that manner, they can see that calendar with everything on it. And the they are able to see the due dates. They're able to see if there's assignments that the students actually submit in Canvas. It will do a line through it once it's submitted. So oftentimes I use it with my child of like, wait, you had an assignment on Tuesday and it's not crossed out. And it wasn't submitted. And then like that crazy sock day. Like I can see it when the teacher adds that on their calendar. Do you get push notifications? You do. So there's different ways that parents can access Canvas. One is directly logging into Canvas on an iPad or on a computer, and then there's the ability to set notifications. Like a web browser. Yes. But for push notifications for a phone, there's two app variations that parents can use. And that's part of the training of we try to show them there's a parent app and there's a student app. But I can log in on the student app as a parent, and there's some benefits to that. And so when we're doing our training, we show them both ways and show them that you get to choose which way you want to get in. Whatever you feel is the best way that works. For you or a combination, I even as a parent, I use the student app, I log in as myself, and it gives me a lot of information when I'm on my phone. And so I've set it to where if my child scores a certain grade or below a certain grade dings. Or if something is due, it'll ding and let me know that, hey, in two days, this assignment's due. So that's something that's been helpful. It's trying to make sure that everyone is aware of the options and what works best because it's not a one-size-fit-all. So I don't really want to see all the things for my 11th grader, but I would really want to see all the things for my five-year-old.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

I am so glad you brought this up. I wanted to ask you, since especially you being a parent with kids in the county, how does this app help with student responsibility and initiative? That's another challenge for a lot of parents because, you know, maybe they're swinging opposite of however they were raised and they have kind of a helicopter-y approach, which we all know handicaps that child as they move into the air quotes real world, right? Because they don't know how to make their own doctor's appointments or keep track of assignments at their first internship or job. So how do you find a balance with your kids of, you know, crazy sock day, but also, oh, deadline to apply for this scholarship.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

And this has been very real life for me, and I'll refer back to my high schooler. I would say, so in middle school, it was hard. I didn't, I could didn't have a whole lot of access to things. She was at Brown March, which is a phenomenal school, but things didn't get into focus in a timely manner to where I could do something about it ahead of time or check in. And they're changing that too. They're growing and it's awesome in Canvas. But now with her being in high school, one of the things that we did, she realized my mom can see everything. My mom. And so it really only took maybe a week or two of me like texting her, like, why, like, what's going on? And then it just kind of clicked. And she was able to realize, like, oh, just the way my mom is like probing and asking and looking, I can also start organizing myself. So she, it drove her to start setting deadlines for herself and prioritizing and and just the fact of knowing in the background. So, and if I hope she's not gonna listen to this, but I don't check very often anymore because he's proven that she can. But if I need to, because I still get the announcements and things like that, but I don't have to, I don't have to be on top of her anymore like that. She's learned. So it was helpful because I didn't allow her need her to fall all the way to the ground before I realized what was going on. But I I did let her kind of flounder a little bit, and then there were consequences. And then she was like, I don't like that consequence.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Okay. That's a really practical example. Because of course, every child is going to be different. Correct. But it's so helpful to have a real example from a real parent who's really using the app. Can students communicate with each other in the app for group projects? Can parents communicate with teachers and can teachers communicate with parents?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

So if a teacher creates group projects within Canvas, the kids who they put in that group can communicate with each other. They're working on the same documents, the same resources, and then one student submits it. As far as parents communicating with teachers, they are linked to all of the teachers that the students scheduled in through Canvas and Focus, because we have use them both for different purposes of communication, but a parent can use the inbox and directly communicate with the teacher. And one of the aspects that's new, again, through AI is translation. So I might speak Spanish. So I'm going to type my message in Spanish, but I can choose for it to go over in English, and the teacher would read in English. And then vice versa. The teacher is able to communicate with the students. They can communicate at a section level. So maybe I have three class periods in this Canvas course, and this announcement is only for my first period class because there might be a head and pacing. And so I want them to do something. But they can also individually send messages. And one of the things that's nice, especially from the Canvas gradebook, there's what's called a message students who from the assignment. So I can look at and set that of saying, okay, here's the assignment that was done. And Canvas has certain filters like message all the students who have not submitted this. And it will automatically pick up those students. And then I can say and tag all Canvas calls it observers. That's their families that are connected. Include the observers in the message I'm about to send. And then they type their message. It shows the teacher who this is going to go to. So if there's a student that they've given extra time, I'm going to take them out of that. And then I'm going to send it. And it's going to go to both. That's just like an email marketing campaign. And it's not just punitive. I mean, it's message students that have scored above this. Message, there's lots of options. And so that's been really nice because that can happen right in Canvas. In working with the focus team, what we're asking teachers to do is when we're really talking about individual student and logging and being able to make sure that we're we reach out to this parent three times, that's where we're really leveraging focus for that communication piece. And so one of the big aspects that, again, with that team approach between focus and Canvas, between the two, one of the biggest things that teachers said going away from the other platforms is they wanted to text their parents and their parents wanted text back. And having things go through an email or having to log into even an app, it was just not something that was like the biggest sticking point. And so we have really responded to that and explored between both platforms who had a texting feature. And so that's where we're looking at with focus is so that it's able to do a two-way and then also that language translation. So again, between that ecosystem of focus and Canvas, we're trying to meet all of those needs from all stakeholders. And it's not just Spanish, right? No, it's like 86 different languages. That's amazing. Oh my gosh. And I love them. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Well, that's so cool because like in the from the Philippines alone, right? There's all these different dialects that one island doesn't understand the other. I mean, that's major. It's not just like British English to English. So that is so exciting. Are there any other upcoming things for Canvas on the horizon that you are allowed to tell people about? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

So one of the neat things that are going to be launched out for teachers this coming year is it's called grading assistance and it's using AI and it helps them, especially when I'm looking at papers and my students submitting papers and reading that, it helps give them, hey, based on this rubric, this is kind of where we would like place in. This is why. And then the teacher's able to look at that and go, I agree, or I disagree, or I agree on this part and disagree. So it that's something that's like really cool that as we've kind of shared that with teachers, that's coming. They're like, really? And it's like, you still have to read that paper. You are still the teacher. But it's again, when we think about solving issues for them, is time. What how can we use things in a positive way? We don't want AI taking over our world. So, like, how can we integrate those things? I think from the parent side, that parent app and the student app is always evolving. And so the more enhancements that they've been making, like like I said, one of the newest ones is a teacher puts an announcement in their course. I can click the translate button, choose my language, and see that announcement in my language. And it's always evolving. One of the biggest things that, and I will do a shout out to Instructure, the company that owns Canvas, they are always bringing their customers together for feedback meetings. So when they have something that's come on, and the way things get built in Canvas is through the community of users. And so we'll send forward saying, hey, this isn't working right, or we'd like it to do this. They're responsive and they start working on that to try to solve that problem. And then they bring us together and we try it out and we test it. And so our district has been very blessed with being able to be at the forefront of some of those different new initiatives that they're releasing later on, but that we can test, we can give feedback and go, this was dreadful. Don't do that again. Or this really did solve the issue that we're trying. So that's been great of having a company that is responsive to our needs and not just like, yep, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Well, you made a great point. We don't want AI taking over our world, right? And there is like some legitimate concerns there, and people have questions. But I love how you're taking a very human approach because that's what many people in the forefront of AI development are predicting, is that AI will take some of these heavy lifts off of us, but it will also drive us towards more human touches. We will look for ways to be more connected. In fact, there's some predictions that those Zoom meetings may become less desirable because we'll want to be face to face in the same room with each other. So there's, I think there's a lot of human elements that we can mix in. So I'm so glad that you are in charge of this. And A, not me, and B, that you prioritize that human approach so much so that these really are thoughtful innovations. So thank you again, my four-time guest. I appreciate you so much. And I can't wait to celebrate even more innovations as they come. Thank you for having me. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of the Scambia County Public Schools.