Brief summary and intro of one model for faculty recognition and development for leveraging Canvas' full potential for Student Success & Engagement.

-Mike Welker,
Coordinator/Instructional Designer/ Canvas Admin
Ctr. for Teaching Excellence,
North Central State College,
Mansfield, OH

mwelker@ncstatecollege.edu

-Got this beautiful success widget of Canvas - but it is the FACULTY that make it go

-Faculty Turnover and instability new normal ??

-Need for getting learning curve flattened as much as possible

-Likewise centers of excellence need scaled rapidly

-Doing away with 'squishy' of good teaching and use of Canvas & tech toys into CONCRETE exemplars.

-Old development paradigm is not cutting it in new dynamic ed world

-Just in Time vs 'Sit n Get' passive info dumps

-Need a mix of live & on demand supports for folks to get most out of LMS - with LOCAL mentors & 'guardrails' for minimal and best practice.

Image: EdSurge - 'How Teachers Are Learning: Professional Development Matrix"
https://www.edsurge.com/research/reports/how-teachers-are-learning-professi...

-For both new or experienced faculty, we need to orient them & help map out where they are so they can set goals and focus effort & interests.

2 LEVELS:
a) LOCAL EXEMPLARS - Who is doing something that WORKS for success/ retention/ engagement with Canvas in my hall? My Department? My Building?
(rising tides lift all boats locally as local innovations scale)

b) EXTERNAL STANDARDS - What is the 'bar' at other places? What *IS* the best way to setup a module "out there" in the real world?
(can sometimes be more credible/ motivating as well as challenge insular "group think" urban legends)

Think of who has the most EFFECTIVE Canvas site(s) at your school?

What is the basis for that being the ones? Data? Narratives based on who you have had most contact with?

TRIANGULATING and going to the source is always wise to get a full picture of reality on the ground...

For LOCAL EXEMPLARSSTUDENT FEEDBACK:
- support/ admins UNIQUE position to be conduit from students

MENTORING/EXPERTS
- ALso can see/ share what others are up to
-Silo busting!

Can NEVER GO WRONG RECOGNIZING YOUR LOCAL FOLKS!
-Typical Faculty Feedback end of term / usually linked to administrative consequences - high stakes
- Thumbs Up = Informal low stakes conduit for encouragement and reinforcement
- Recognition affirms faculty's efforts and work to motivate/ encourage. Hoping to study linkages with faculty retention.
-SO many thumbs up winners: "REALLLY?? I don't think I am doing anything special??!"

1st iteration was 2016 - 'Canvas Artists' -NC State program inspired by 'Canvas Artists' Program

-Feedback from NCSC Faculty = 'Artists' confusing/ inaccurate etc.

-Distilled common responses as one page handout and emailed and placed in faculty mailboxes

-Took fun 'photobooth style pics' with mustache & paintbrush.

-Each winner got a green beret.

-Learned to streamline pieces such as NOT using an open ended email for winners best practice capture.

Streamlined Process Nuts & Bolts=
1- Advertised to students a 'nomination' survey link via campus email, campus digital signage, and of course Canvas Announcement.

2- Cut off set for each division based on votes and every faculty member above that vote threshold = a Thumbs Up Winner

3- Winners sent an email asking them to complete a BRIEF Survey of what canvas practices they use and how.

4- All who complete winner Survey get a mini case study page setup in our faculty Hub.

LOCAL Recognition benefits at multiple levels.
Goals:
-Tangible artifacts for office ('Hey what's that for?' Discussion starter!)
-Admin recognition for any potential rank/ advancement items
-Publicly accessible artifact mini case study online for presentations/ publication/ resumes (esp for ADJUNCT!!)

Example of student advertising for nomination.

We use a Survey Monkey that asks them to nominate any/ all faculty from each division as applicable.

This is Where we emphasize this is STUDENT SELECTED Recognition - no agenda for us.

Example of the 4 questions thumbs up winner survey faculty are emailed.

Goal was something QUICK/ minimal time but would allow us to harvest specific practices for how implementing established best practices but ALSO Innovations

Exposing this group to codified current set of 'best practices' list = good educational element as well.

Pre-pandemic, winners who completed survey were asked to setup a quick photo op for presentation of the certificate & 'trophy'.

Creates a visual element to make it tangible and can build social connections for NEW faculty.

Still exploring fully ways to leverage the Thumbs Up program to the max.

-Cadre to draw form for 'Expert panels' for dev days/ new faculty events.

-Referral contacts for 'mentors' in each division/ program

-**COMING SOON** "Canvas ArtWalks' (working title) for walkthrough open houses of Thumbs Up Winners' Canvas sites + Screenshots of their courses.

Mapping & DEFINING EXTERNAL Standards: Beyond local exemplars, providing a tangible 'bar' of capturing and defining for our faculty externally codified standards...

A tangible, practical guide for awkward 'in between-ers' -- not a newbie but also not sure where to focus for biggest impacts for sharpening up their Canvas sites.

Inspiration=Canvas' Course Checklists, as well as a push to start QM external certifications -- (as well as to eliminate common help ticket issues).

-Extracted high level common items from each as Guide Spine
-2nd page provides detailed breakout with links to each external standard for further engagement
-Next piece is to distill relevant technical program pieces to add accreditation standards as well.

-Key principle was to keep it as approachable and practical for faculty as possible

-Organized around general sections of Canvas with best practices bundled into 'what to do' items for each area. (Could not find a way to not break out accessibility)

Provided both clickable guide/ tutorial links for deeper dive/ more detail to keep it clean and high level.

-Provided clear breadcrumbs for directing specifically in each area to not assume they know where to find.

-Online version under development

GRADES - mostly housekeeping and for working efficiently