FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — When faculty and students return to Tarleton State University this fall, they will leverage a new learning management system, Canvas from Instructure. Canvas is replacing Blackboard Learn as the LMS for the university.
To support the growing and diverse campus community, a new 24/7/365 Canvas support team is now available within the Canvas help menu. This new round-the-clock help desk will complement the local support provided by Tarleton’s Online Instructional Support.
Center for Instructional Innovation staff have scheduled several Canvas training sessions for students beginning on Thursday, Aug. 22. Faculty training sessions have been on-going since February 2019 and will continue into the fall semester.
“Faculty have noted the intuitiveness of Canvas and how it allows them to spend more time on teaching and learning” said Dr. Kelley Shaffer, Tarleton State’s Director for the Center of Instructional Innovation. “With the addition of Canvas Studio, faculty and students will be able to easily record content for discussions, assignments, and grading.” This tool will also complement accessibility by automatically generating captions.
In addition to Canvas Studio, there are several other features offered from Canvas:
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- A robust notification system – Faculty and students control how, where, and when system notifications will be delivered. Options include email, text message, the Canvas mobile app, and Twitter.
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- Course analytics – Faculty will be able to measure student performance and determine if any students are at-risk.
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- Web Conferencing – Canvas offers a conferencing solution called BigBlueButton. This software allows faculty and students to meet virtually with video and whiteboard functionality. In addition, Zoom has also been integrated into Canvas.
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- Smart devices supported – Canvas offers a faculty and student app in the iOS and Android app stores.
Faculty received access to Fall courses in Canvas on Friday, July 26. Once faculty publish their Canvas courses, students will be able to access those published courses as early as Friday, Aug. 16.
Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven education marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today’s scholars into tomorrow’s leaders. It offers degree programs to more than 13,000 students at Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian, RELLIS Academic Alliance in Bryan, and online, emphasizing real-world learning experiences that address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, excellence, leadership and service.
Contact: Kelley Shaffer, Center for Instructional Innovation
254-968-9050
shaffer@tarleton.edu
