Adoption Consultant Update
 April was spent at home. That’s it.
Of course that’s not the entire story, I imagine the general structure of my story is likely very similar to many of your stories. I spent the bulk of April working on ways to remotely support as many Wyoming teachers and districts as possible. The start of April was focused on adding new teachers to Canvas. All throughout the month, live Canvas webinars were offered on a variety of topics adapting each week to better support the rapidly maturing Canvas usage of teachers. I continue to offer live webinars; see what is coming up here.
In addition to the webinars, I have also created a Canvas Resource Course, which houses a number of videos on a variety of topics. By the questions that are coming from teachers, it is evident teachers have internalized a great depth of knowledge since the start of our Adaptive Learning Plans in early April. The transition from crawling, to walking, to running has been swift, but wholly unsurprising.
I continue to be amazed by what many have accomplished as staff, administrators, and teachers in the span of one month. Educators have been asked to completely change how they approach their jobs, shifting to an online modality with unfamiliar tools, all while balancing responsibilities at home. I am proud to have been a part of this Wyoming effort. Know that all this work is not in vain; all of the Canvas content created will be available for next year’s students. With the support of the Wyoming Department of Education, Canvas will be around for years to come, as will training opportunities to help take emergency Canvas knowledge and transform it into long-term understanding of Canvas best practices. Hopefully, I can resume my visits to districts in the not-so-distant future.
Canvas Best Practices
The New Rich Content Editor
Over the summer a commonly used Canvas feature will be changing. On July 18, 2020, the enhanced Rich Content Editor (RCE) will be replacing the current RCE, meaning the current RCE will be unavailable for teachers when they return from summer to teach their fall classes. In order to ease this transition, it is recommended that districts allow the use of the New RCE before it becomes an enforced change.
ADMINISTRATORS - Allowing RCE Enhancements
The new RCE is currently available for use in Canvas courses, but first it needs to be activated by district-level Canvas administrators. To activate this option for teachers and staff, administrators must navigate to the Admin Shield then select Settings. Once there, under the “Feature Options” tab, search for RCE Enhancements, and switch to “ALLOW.” Once switched to “ON,” this will enforce the feature so teachers and staff will only see the new RCE.
 TEACHERS - Activating RCE Enhancements
To preview the new RCE, activate the feature in a course. Navigate to the course settings, and find the “Feature Options” tab. Look for “RCE Enhancements” in the list, and turn the feature on:
 If this option isn’t available, the district/school Canvas admins have not activated the feature; contact them for assistance. There is a design difference in the look of the RCE, with the features now being aggregated under menu driven buttons. If there is a need to revert back to the current RCE, simply head back to settings, and turn RCE Enhancements off, but note this will no longer be an option after July 18, 2020.
District Spotlight
Uinta County School District #1 - Professional Development Course
Uinta County School District #1 recently created a course to help users learn both how to use Canvas and how to use other district resources and education technology tools. This course has been shared to the Canvas Commons for anyone to find and download. Go to the Canvas Commons and search for “Uinta PD;” the course should be the first result in the search.
This course contains Modules of content for some of the district’s tools that may be used in any district. This PD course contains tutorials on PowerSchool and PowerTeacher Pro, Zoom, Google Apps, SeeSaw, and Clever. If teachers need some training on these tools, or if a district could use some pre-assembled training, this course is useful. Thanks to Uinta County School District #1 for sharing this resource.
Statewide Adoption Consulting Meeting
These meetings are to discuss the successes, concerns, and needs of Canvas districts around Wyoming and to demonstrate new Canvas features. For the 2019-20 school year, adoption consulting meetings will start at 10 a.m. on the fourth Tuesday of every month. The May meeting should already be on calendars. Email David to be added to the email invite list.
Next Meeting: 10 a.m. on May 26, 2020
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