Adoption Consultant Update
One of my personal favorite weeks of the year is the Wyoming Innovations in Learning Conference. There was so much positive momentum around Canvas and MasteryConnect in Gillette. I spent the pre-conference day training a small group of Canvas users. I was able to work 1:1 with them throughout the day, highlighting Canvas tool uses such as Outcomes, the New Quiz Tool, and MasteryPaths. I was also fortunate enough to lead two general conference sessions. My first session focused on the use of Canvas Outcomes and the second session highlighted the Canvas Adoption Consulting process. The positive result of Innovations is that a few non-Canvas districts have shown interest in using it. We will have news of more districts coming on board in the coming months.
The next week in November we saw the only major driving event of the month; Roadshow XIII. The first stop was made at Fremont #1 in Lander, where we had an extremely positive discussions about increasing Canvas usage within the district. The expectation is that we will be offering training to a group of teachers at some point in the spring of 2020. Carbon #1 is in a similar situation, and is beginning official adoption planning. If you teach in Lander or Rawlins, Canvas is on it’s way.
I continued to Laramie High School in Albany #1 for 1:1 teacher training. Since they will be fully on Canvas as of Fall 2020, our time was spent anywhere from discussing Canvas basics, to engineering testing solutions using both Quizzes and new Quizzes. The last day of the trip was spent in Lusk, working with the teachers of Niobrara #1. Each of the school buildings had 90-minutes of training time, during which we discussed how to save time in Canvas, and how to create content. I heard, “This was the most useful training session I’ve been to in a long time” more than once.
As we continue to see Canvas usage increase throughout the state, don’t hesitate to contact me if you need training or specific Canvas Adoption Planning ideas.
Statewide Adoption Consulting Meeting
The purpose of these meetings is to discuss the state of adoption consulting in Wyoming, and to demonstrate new Canvas features. For the 2019-20 school year, there will be a meeting starting at 10 a.m. on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Expect to see your January invite coming soon after the newsletter. Email David to get added to the list.
Next Meeting: 10 a.m. on January 28, 2020
Statewide Canvas User Groups
Continuing our meetings
To sign up for monthly Statewide Canvas User Group meetings, email David.
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Canvas for Elementary - Learn about new successes the group members have seen, as well as provide a space to brainstorm future ideas to implement in their elementary classes.
- Next meeting date: 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, January 9, 2020
- Meeting link
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Canvas for Professional Development - Discuss how Canvas is being used for professional development around the state, celebrating successes and discussing how to bring effective and creative professional development to all staff members.
- Next meeting date: 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday, January 21, 2020
- Meeting link
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Creating Engaging Canvas Courses (Formerly Canvas for Secondary/Online Classes) - Share best practices and wisdom learned from our experiences teaching both online and in traditional classrooms using Canvas.
- Next meeting date: 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, January 16, 2020
- Meeting link
For past agendas and recordings email David.
Help Menu-The NEW Training Services Portal
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The Help Menu has a large number of resources available to understand how to use Canvas more deeply. As of November 16, a new resource has been added to all Wyoming Canvas instances, the Training Services Portal. To access the portal, go to the Global Navigation Menu, and select the Help icon.
Credentials won't be required as the Canvas login provides all the necessary information.
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There are four sections to the Training Services Portal, the first three are on-demand resources. The top section contains curated Learning Pathways that house a number of elements which, when connected together, can help get users started on their Canvas journeys. The second section contains a number of short, self-paced courses to help users learn a specific function or tool connected to the Canvas platform. The third section contains curated video content created by the Training Team, highlighting the use of a specific tool or feature. Finally, the fourth section is the new portal to sign up for and attend live webinar trainings. These are the same webinars that have been available for all of Wyoming, but are now housed within the new Training Portal.
Below is a Screenshot of what users will see when accessing the new Training Services Portal, which will allow users to preview or enroll in any of the self-paced options The live webinars will allow users to see a calendar of upcoming events and register.
The WDE made all of these Canvas resources available to all Wyoming K-12 Districts at no charge. It is now easier than ever to access all the resources needed to start learning how to use Canvas. As a reminder, the WDE is still offering 0.5 PTSB credits for completing seven live webinars.
Adoption Consultant David Stokowski’s travel around the state is currently bookended by his first onsite visit to Niobrara #1 to begin its Canvas planning, and his most recent visit back to Niobrara #1 to continue equipping teachers to use Canvas more effectively in the classroom. Stokowski has driven more than 20,000 miles through all 23 counties in Wyoming, visiting districts and colleges in every corner of the state.
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It’s been exciting to see Canvas launched into new places in 2019 (Sheridan #2 in Sheridan, and Albany #1 in Laramie), and to see Canvas being used successfully in some of our smallest districts (Weston #7 in Upton and Fremont #6 in Pavillion, to name only two).
The hope for this District Spotlight space in 2020 is to highlight uses of Canvas that center on student achievement and success. There are so many amazing initiatives being implemented for student success around Wyoming.
Please use this form to nominate an innovative Canvas user be it a teacher or administrator, or an initiative happening in your school to be highlighted in future newsletters. We look forward to sharing all of the amazing work our Wyoming educators are doing in Canvas.
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