Teaching and learning shouldn’t be complicated

My goal is to show you how to use Canvas to create meaningful and intrinsically motivating course content and assessments which promote mastery of classroom competencies and outcomes.

My first experience with Canvas was as a student at BYU-Hawaii [go Seasiders!!] in the spring of 2011, taking courses on instructional design (and incidentally, one of the very first students to ever see the Canvas interface). At the time, I felt like I was dismounting a bicycle and revving up a Ferrari as I began exploring the newest entrant to a fierce LMS market - overshadowed but not underpowered by other behemoths of education. I was employed at an education system as an elearning specialist, for the next two years I helped lead our own migration to the Canvas LMS. I continue to support faculty and admins in adopting and utilizing Canvas.

Today I am a Canvas Expert in the Canvas Community, a regular presenter at InstructureCon and CanvasCon, and a Canvas Advocate (formerly Canvassador). I want to provide faculty with the resources needed to become amazing facilitators of learning as we focus on education beyond knowledge, ensuring that our course content and instruction espouse contextual narratives.

Canvas is a platform like no other. I look to it to:

1. Enhance teaching and learning

2. Optimize student engagement

3. Build communities of learners

I work with brilliant online faculty, and I also recognize that even experienced teachers have opportunities to more fully develop their curriculum and explore the ever-expanding Canvas landscape. I am always trying to learn new techniques and features in Canvas. I try to always emphasize, to myself as much as to others, that:

teachers can continue to learn

Let’s work to transform our classrooms into networked learning experiences by creating learning environments that elevate student performance.