The Future Is Now:Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT)
Harvard IT Summit | June 5, 2104
Agenda
1. TLT Program Overview
2. Update on Canvas Migration
3. Case Study: Canvas Site
4. Open Source Developer Community
5. Case Study: LTI Tool
6. Questions and Conversation
TLT Program Overview
What’s In a Name?
Learning Management Ecosystem
Black Pearl
Teaching and Learning Technologies
Harvard IT “Big 5” Strategic Objective
hpH + sCIOC + B5 + UITP&P
Σ Hx, SIS, TLT, IAM, Sec
• Provide core teaching and learning technologies to all Schools
• Support pedagogical innovation and research on learning
• Establish strong Harvard community based on actual partnerships with faculty and with academic support professionals
• Cultivate open source community around component development that complements core technologies
• Deliver high-quality program on time, on budget, in scope
Strategic Objectives Guiding Principles Key Performance Indicators
• Communicate and socialize program across the University
• Balance need to move quickly with thoughtful planning
• Seek early and continuous faculty input from across the Schools
• Transition program to ongoing services with sustained community and sustained vision
• Embrace fluidity
• Full-time staff focus is the rule; divided time is the exception
• University migration from previous platform(s) to core technologies
• Usable data from teaching and learning activities available for research
• Meaningful engagement with faculty / teaching teams and with academic support professionals around needs
• Harvard-specific technology enhancements and applications generated by open source community
• Program delivered on time and on budget
Provide a continually evolving set of faculty-friendly, student-focused technologies that support teaching and learning across all Harvard schools, facilitate pedagogical innovation, and contribute to educational research.
The Vision
About the Program
Canvas
Canvas
Canvas and Integrations
Canvas
Course admin tools
Integrations
Extensibility
Canvas
University T&L tools
Course admin tools
Integrations
Extensibility
Canvas
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
Inter-Operability
Canvas
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
edX
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
Inter-Operability
Canvas
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
X
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
Extract Data for research
Course
Course
Course
Canvas
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
Unified User Experience
Canvas
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
Unified User Experience
SIS
IAM
Unified User Experience
Canvas
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
edX
University T&L tools
School T&L tools
Faculty T&L tools
Open source tools
3rd party tools
LTI wrapper on any
tool
Course admin tools
Integrations
Timeline
Canvas Migration
6 courses, 530 students
Initial implementation:• Integrated course data and enrollment from Harvard registrars• PIN authentication for students and teaching staff
Canvas Pilot: Fall 2013
Canvas Pilot: Spring 2014
48 courses, 3k students
Additional development:• Integrated reserve reading lists and lecture video display• Added course shopping capability• Upgraded web conferencing features
Canvas Pilot: Evaluation
Activities:
• Surveys
• UserVoice
• Support tickets
• User analytics
Available on http://tlt.harvard.edu:
• Fall report
• Spring mid-term progress report
• Coming soon: Spring final report
Spring Pilot: Early Evaluation Results
About half of the students and three-fourths of the faculty found the interface confusing at first.
A majority of both teaching staff and students agreed that with sufficient introduction the platform works well for students.
81% of students rated the functionality good, very good, or excellent.
Migration Progress
We are here!
Program / School Migration Partnership
Area Program School
License agreement • Negotiate terms of University-wide license agreement, including additional University-wide LTI tool license costs (e.g. Big Blue Button)
• Negotiate terms of School-level LTI tool license agreements
Investment • Shoulder cost of University-wide agreements • Shoulder cost of School-level agreements• Shoulder cost of potential additional resources (e.g. , teaching fellows)
Outreach • Partner with Schools on outreach and buy-in with faculty, school leadership, IT staff, and other key stakeholders
• Partner with Program on outreach and buy-in with faculty, school leadership, IT staff, and other key stakeholders
Migration • Consult with Schools on School-level migration timeline and plan• Provide tool for migrating files from course iSites to Canvas
• With consultation from Program, determine migration timeline and plan• Migrate content from course iSites to Canvas
Custom integration • Add PIN authentication and integration with Harvard systems• Coordinate with vendors for third-party University-wide LTI integration• Build LTI tools and integrations to support university-wide needs• Consult on development of LTI tools for School-specific needs
• With consultation from Program, develop LTI tools for School-specific needs
Training • Provide technical training for School instructional support staff• Provide resources and materials for use in School-level training
• Consult with faculty and support staff on best practices around Canvas use• Conduct School-level training• Share training materials with Program for University-wide use
Support • Provide tier 3 support and escalation of issues and feature requests to Instructure
• Provide high-caliber, responsive tier 1 and 2 support, including thorough investigation and troubleshooting of support requests, exploration of Canvas feature forums, and review of public Canvas status monitors
• Follow established procedures for escalating requests and for reporting critical bugs or downtimes
• Communicate to Program detailed information about end-user feedback with respect to Canvas features, functionality, and usability
Feature enhancements
• Partner with Instructure to cultivate open source community around platform code enhancements
• Participate in Canvas community forums to help set priority for feature requests
Program evaluation • Conduct ongoing program evaluation • Participate in ongoing program evaluation
Documentation and Training
Self-paced training courses in Canvas
Workshop materials to support local training sessions
Canvas office hours
School Support
• Academic technologists
• CIOs
• Faculty assistants
• Faculty champions
• Help desk staff
• IT staff
• Librarians
• Registrars
• Software developers
• Teaching staff
• Video producers
Case Study: Canvas Site
Case Study: Calculus Practitioner Series
Courses– Fall 2013, Math 1a– Spring 2014, Math Mb
Challenge
Finding the right platform to deliver learning multimedia modules developed as part of a HILT grant-funded course innovation
Solution
Canvas provided required features and seamless integration
Impact– Overall successful student learning (student-reported)– Overall positive student user experience (student-reported)– More multimedia modules being developed and delivered in upcoming semesters
Check it out
Developer Community
Join Us!
Who
• Developers within Harvard
• Developers beyond Harvard
What
• Contribute code back into Canvas
• Develop and share custom LTI components
Why
• Share code, environments, knowledge, ideas
• Build skills and community
How
• Reach out: http://tlt.harvard.edu/contact-us
• Join our LTI hackathon in July
Case Study: LTI Component
Case Study: Student Location Tool
Course
CSCI E-12: Fundamentals of Website Development
Challenge
Finding a way for students, especially students joining at a distance, to feel more connected with campus, classmates, and teaching team
Solution
Build an LTI component that displays on a map where classmates and teaching staff are located based on self-identified contact and location information
Impact
Students and teaching staff can learn more about classmates and create informal in-person meet-ups
Check it out
Map of student lcoations
Wrapping Up
So Far
Completed planning phase
Secured program funding
Signed license agreement with Instructure
Developing integrations and course administration tools with Canvas
Beginning to engage with teaching and learning community partners
What’s Next
Hire term positions: software engineer, devops, test engineer, PM, BA, UX
Lay the groundwork for open source developer community
Develop teaching and learning components
Develop capacity and guidelines to extract data for research
Roll out Canvas across the schools
Thank you!