EDU632: Blog 2
- Rosa Conti
- Jul 31, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 19, 2022
Learning Management Systems: A 3-Part Reflection Series
Part 2 of this series demonstrates my learning from Units 3 and 4 of this LMS course by imagining how I might use Canvas in my corporate work. Read Part 1.
ENVISIONING CANVAS IN MY CORPORATE ROLE
Over the past two weeks, in Units 3 and 4, I learned about the functions and features of Canvas, a Learning Management System (LMS). I also created a mock course titled Public Speaking, intended for a collegiate audience. To do this, I used Ryan John’s Canvas LMS Course Design, Oliver Schinkten’s Learning Canvas (2020) LinkedIn Learning course, internet searches, and feedback from my classmates on our Blackboard discussion boards. I enjoyed the entire process very much.
Read my Canvas Reflection Paper
While I manage compliance course launches across my company, I chose not to use Canvas Bridge (suitable for corporate environments) as my free trial. I opted for Canvas Try It (education version) instead. This is for two reasons. My company adopted a new LMS last year (MyWorkday) and isn’t likely to use Canvas anytime soon. Also, I felt I was more likely to use Canvas after this degree if I became an adjunct teacher or instructional designer at a TBD college. Ultimately, I believed that familiarizing myself with the standard Canvas LMS promised more significant future benefits.
Therefore, I needed to stretch my imagination for this week’s assignment to visualize where Canvas might fit in my corporate work because our setting is clearly unlike a traditional classroom environment.
It was only until I realized that Canvas, like many other LMSs, is primarily a highly organized repository that I envisioned how I could leverage Canvas with my work.
While there are other repositories that we currently use, such as SharePoint and Teams, these do not have built-in instructional design features that accommodate lesson learning. In my role, I offer support and counsel on various topics, and I could use Canvas as a platform for educating and informing employees in a fun way.
For example, I create "how-to guides” in OneNote based on frequent questions I receive from colleagues. When future employees have a similar question, if an instructional guide has already been created, I refer them to the appropriate guide by emailing a link to the page. While employees can access the OneNote workbook at any time, the directions refer to one-off tasks; there is no process by which to follow.
In contrast, I could use Canvas creatively to offer asynchronous, on-demand micro-learning courses. Our corporate LMS currently houses compliance courses employees must take as annual requirements – whereas my envisioned Canvas courses would offer bite-size learning that employees would want to take to become better or more efficient at their jobs.
According to ispring (Kokoulina, 2022), microlearning is a skill-based approach to learning that delivers information in small, highly focused chunks.
For instance, I oversee our company’s annual Business Continuity certification process. Because business unit coordinators perform these functions within a SharePoint site only once a year, many forget how to do things. This requires me to respond to frequent and many emails, many of which I need to include screenshots or step-by-step instructions unique to the person’s ask.
A Canvas course could use modules to create a storyline of sequenced steps and embedded visual screen recording demonstrations (self-made videos). Because each coordinator would sign into the Canvas course as a unique user, it could also offer a to-do checklist they could manage.
This “course model” could be expanded to other topics, too, such as a “Microsoft 101” course where each unit teaches a different Microsoft tool used at our company: Outlook, Managing Files in a SharePoint Library, Mastering Teams’ Videos, etc. While professional videos on the Internet exist on these topics, my self-made videos would exhibit the unique ways our business unit and company use these tools.
Each unit could explain and illustrate a different application and offer popular how-to Q&A using dynamic media:
Screen demos (self-made videos)
Illustrated PowerPoint decks with voice-over
Links to external websites and additional videos
Textual instructions (self-made)
Links to LinkedIn Learning courses (our company offers a free subscription)
Links to suggested reading on Amazon
Links to existing OneNote how-to guides
Quizzes could be offered, but employees would use them for self-assessment and fun versus grading or certification. Canvas also has a survey tool feature that could be used to collect anonymous employee feedback.
Unlike our current corporate LMS, Canvas also offers a mobile app for convenient m-learning, and this feature could also be explored.
Another exciting area to consider is that because employees will be seeking out information in Canvas independently, they may want to collaborate in discussion board arenas to share helpful Q&A (like Redditt or Quora does). This would also create a historical archive for future participants who access the course(s). Collaboration would be extended even further by building an area where employees could share their resources, such as embedded videos and links to online articles.
Lastly, I like that Canvas user profiles allow for personal pronouns. This helps to normalize people sharing their pronouns and can make a huge difference in allowing people throughout the gender spectrum to feel even more welcomed and accepted at our company (John, 2021). My company is exceptional at recognizing and celebrating diversity and inclusion and has earned many awards in this area, so this will fall perfectly into place with our culture.
I think I would be excellent at the conception, design, development, and execution of a Canvas site for micro-learning courses for my corporate colleagues. The lessons would be easy and fun for employees to understand and use.
For portfolio reference and demonstration, the following are screenshots of my work in Canvas:
As this course progresses, the next blog in this series (3 of 3) will reflect on my experiences in this overall course, including the process of benchmarking and recommending an LMS.
References
Kokoulina, O. (2022, March 11). Microlearning 101: Using a Little Learning to Grow Big Skills. Retrieved from https://www.ispringsolutions.com/blog/what-is-microlearning
John, R. (2021). Canvas LMS Course Design: Create and deliver interactive online courses on the Canvas learning management system (2nd ed.). Packt Publishing.
Comments