Innovation Plan: Implementation of Canvas LMS All School Year

Harmony Wallace

Georgia Southern University

ITEC 8133
Describe the need (with data):

Last year, many schools had to completely change how their instruction looked in order

to accommodate virtual learning. We saw a dramatic increase in teachers using the school

district’s Learning Management System (LMS) Canvas in order to provide instruction to their

students. Many teachers were challenged to work outside of their comfort area, but they found a

way to make it work for the students. This school year, our school district decided to not allow a

virtual option for our students. All students Kindergarten through 12th grade, were required to

come back into the classroom regardless of the current statistics with the Coronavirus in the

community. If the students were in direct contact with someone who tested positive for

COVID-19, the student was expected to quarantine for 10 days at home. While they were home,

they were expected to complete work online. The work that was online was expected to be

different work than the work in the classroom, but still on the same topic.

With all the teachers being forced to use Canvas last year, there would be an expectation

that teachers will use Canvas more this school year. The following is a survey given to my school

after three months of teaching asking them how often they use Canvas in their classroom.

Figure 1: Teacher Survey on Canvas Implementation

 In order to collect adequate data, I only sent the survey to teachers who actually teach

instructional material. I sent the survey to all Kindergarten through Fifth grade teachers and to all

Specials teachers. I did not send the survey to support staff or other teachers who do not have a

homeroom. The survey was sent to 23 teachers at my school, and the completion rate was 100%.

With this data, we can see that a majority of the teachers at my school do not use Canvas at all. I

went and asked one of the teachers what she does when the students are quarantined, and she told

me that they would print out worksheets and have the guardian come pick them up or not give

them any work at all. From this, I decided to send a follow up survey to collect more information

about their Canvas implementation.

Figure 2: Canvas Implementation Follow-Up Survey

 From the data above, we can see that many of our teachers do not feel like they are

adequately trained with using Canvas LMS. When looking at our staff of 23 teachers, five

teachers are in their first year of teaching, which would make up a majority of the “one” section

on how confident they are with Canvas. The other three teachers probably came from

Kindergarten, because their instructional material is difficult to integrate with Canvas. Overall,

our problem at our school is that teachers are not using the Canvas LMS in their classrooms.

From additional data collected, it is clear that teachers either do not feel trained or do not have

enough time to get everything prepared on Canvas. The Canvas LMS is not a free program, so

Muscogee County School District is pushing for teachers to move towards using Canvas daily in

their classrooms. This initiative is easily achieved in Middle and High schools, but there is a

deficit of use in Elementary schools.

Muscogee County School District has sent out emails in regards to their Canvas

expectations for all grade levels Kindergarten through Twelfth grade. In the email, it breaks

down the requirements and expectations, however, there is no additional training on how to do

what they are asking.. There is one person within the district that they refer teachers to, but she is

very busy being the only person to answer Canvas related questions to every teacher in the

district. Seeing that the school district is making a big push for all grade levels to use Canvas on

a daily basis, my school needs to make a plan to ensure that our teachers feel comfortable with

implementing and using Canvas on a daily basis. Figure 3 has a list of some of the Canvas
expectations that teachers must adhere to. The biggest challenge we will probably face is having

all communication be conducted only through Canvas. Many teachers use ClassDojo to

communicate with parents because it is easy to set up and invite parents. There might be other

challenges along the way, but once teachers are proficient in Canvas, everything should come

together.

Figure 3: Muscogee County Canvas Expectations

At Dimon Magnet Academy, teachers are not fully trained and equipped to use Canvas on

a daily basis. With the data collected above, many teachers only use Canvas for the bare

minimum and will not use it other than for quarantine work. The data also shows that the

teachers only really know how to use the basis of Canvas like making an assignment,

announcement, or making a module. The teachers at this school do not see the full potential of

Canvas and all of its features. This problem affects many of the stakeholders, even if they do not
directly know it does. The students are expected to complete the work on Canvas if they are

quarantined. However, if they do not use Canvas on a daily basis, then they will not know what

to do when they are alone at home with no teacher assistance. District personnel notice that

teachers and students are not using Canvas daily, and they are starting to implement regulations

that force teachers to use Canvas. By having our teachers start now with support, we could help

the teachers feel more comfortable when the implementation comes. This problem affects

principals too because the district personnel will come down on the principals if they see that

their teachers are not using Canvas, then the principal will come down on the teachers. If we

address this problem now, we will be able to avoid most issues in the future because our teachers

will be ready. Lastly, this problem also affects the parents. Many parents want to know what their

students are working on in school and want to see their progress. If teachers use Canvas, parents

can see what the students are working on and be able to contact the teacher all in one spot.

Canvas is a useful tool that just requires a little bit of training. If everyone is trained properly and

given the needed support, then all stakeholders will no longer have a problem with Canvas.

Describe your proposed solution (with research evidence):

One of my proposed solutions would be to provide in depth training for all first year

teachers, or teachers new to the district. Many of our teachers have been thrown into the

classroom without any particular training on how to use any of the technological resources.

Many people are scared to use Canvas because they feel like it is very difficult to maneuver.

However, that is not the case. People just think that it is difficult because they are seeing all of

the features instead of just focusing on a specific feature they need at the moment. With this, all

first year teachers should be given a Canvas template for them to use until they are proficient

enough to be creative on their own. Then, these teachers will attend a hands- on training session
that explains common features and teaches the basics. Then, after the training session, the

teachers will then be enrolled in a Canvas Course where they will be required to make

adjustments to their Canvas template and will provide proof to be turned in. Then, an instructor

will provide adequate feedback on the skill they were tasked to do. By doing this, the teachers

will already have a template they can use while they are still learning how to use the LMS. This

is an excellent example of modeling. As teachers we are expected to work within the students’

Zone of Proximal Development, however, as we grow older this does not seem to apply

anymore. Vygotsky’s cognitive theory showed that children learn more when they are scaffolded

and given tools to help them be successful. This honestly still applies to adults as well. We need

modeling and assistance in order to be successful and that is why we should make a template and

help new teachers instead of expecting them to get it right away. We do what is best for our

students but forget about the teachers most of the time.

Another proposal would be that each school would hold a parent session which would

explain what Canvas looks like and how, as a parent, they could benefit from using Canvas.

Many reasons why teachers do not use Canvas, especially the parent communication component

of this LMS, is because many parents do not know how to use the LMS and are not willing to try

to learn on their own. In order to get parents involved, each school should host a Canvas parent

session. During this time, parents will be walked through finding the pairing code for their

student, creating their account, and then a formal walkthrough. By doing this, we are helping the

parents of our students become more involved in the classroom. Canvas allows the parents to

view their students' work, communicate with the teacher, and help keep up with missing work.

The one account the parent will make will be able to connect all their students, regardless if their

students got to different schools. Studies show that if parents are more involved in their child’s
learning, then the students will be more successful (Cahit & Metin, 2020, pg. 377). Many times

parents do not know how they can be involved with their students' learning, but try the best they

know how. By giving this training, we are helping parents be more involved. Many teachers want

parents to feel like they are part of a team with the school, and this would help the parent get

more involved in this team.

The final solution would be to hold registration earlier, and to put their students in the

system as soon as they register. In Muscogee County School District, each school is required to

hold a registration day during preplanning. My school normally waits until the last two days of

preplanning to host registration day. Then, they normally wait until the first day of school to put

students in our classes on Infinite Campus. The Canvas LMS is connected to Infinite Campus, so

once the roster is made on Infinite Campus, it will then send the roster to Canvas. Canvas will

automatically set up each course section based on the teachers’ rosters. Before this, teachers do

not have any classes on Canvas. Students have to be added to Canvas in order for the section to

be created. This is what causes issues with teachers because they could be using their

preplanning days to create their Canvas page. Teachers are directed to create their pages in a

sandbox course and then import the information from the sandbox course to the main course

once they are created. This creates extra work for the teachers and stops teachers from even

creating their own Canvas page. With the solution of holding registration early and placing the

students in Infinite Campus, teachers will be able to see their sections in Canvas, as soon as one

student is placed in Infinite Campus. When talking to the Clerk, I found that she waits until the

first day of school, maybe even later, because she doesn’t want to do extra work, if we did not

have numbers for certain grade levels. This is really affecting our teacher preparations. Meyen

and Greer (2009) conducted a study and found that teachers who had more time in preparing for
a specific subject saw an increase in student achievement (pg.2). This shows that if teachers are

given time to plan and prepare, there will be an increase in students' achievement. That is why

teachers need this extra time.

Rough plan of action/implementation:

Objectives - Provide professional training to both

teachers and parents on Canvas

- Support new teachers with a template in

Canvas while they learn the program

- Give teachers more time to develop their

Canvas page before school starts

Stakeholders Teachers- All teachers will be responsible for

moving all communication with parents onto
Canvas. Also, teachers will be asked to create,
or personalize their Canvas page once the
courses are created. If teachers do not feel
comfortable with Canvas, they will need to
attend the Canvas training put on by the
District. Then, the teachers are required to use
their Canvas page daily.

Academic Coach- She will be responsible for

talking to other professionals to make a
school wide Canvas template. She will be able
to reach out to technology support or create a
team from the teachers at the school. Then,
the template will have to be approved by the
administrators.

District Personal - These people are expected

to coordinate Canvas training for new
teachers. They will find a training instructor
and choose dates for the training. Then, they
will divide the schools into sections, and
assign a Canvas professional that the schools
could call for help.

Clerk - As registration is happening, she will

 be responsible for putting names immediately
in Infinite Campus during registration.

Parents - They will be asked to attend a

Canvas parent training. Each parent will be
asked to download the Canvas Parent App
and have their students’ GTID number and
password for the session.

Administration- The school administrators

will host registration earlier and help with the
dates for all the meetings. They will give
names for teachers who need training to the
district. They will pass on when the parent
training is to the district so that someone is
present, and they will approve the school
Canvas template.

Timeline 2022
January - Talk to the Academic Coach about
making a Canvas template. With this
conversation, we will determine how we will
create this template to ensure that teachers
will have some input on the design. We will
create a committee that will assist with
making the Canvas template.

February - Reach out to the District about

Canvas training for teachers. We will create a
formal presentation on why we would like a
Canvas training for our teachers. With this
presentation, the District will understand why
we need this support in order for there to be
achievement in the problem we have
identified as a school.

March through April - Work on Canvas

Template and follow-up with District people.
During this time, the Canvas Committee will
be working on the template. The goal is that
we will have a template made before the end
of April. The template needs to be made and
sent for approval across the administrator
team and the teachers. During this time, we
will also continue to communicate with the
District on our Canvas training plans. The
 hope is that the training is scheduled during
professional development and that the date is
finalized before the school year ends.

May - Confirm Parent Canvas Session for

August by having a presentation made. We
will share the presentation with the
administration to see if there is anything
missing. Then, we will talk with the Media
Specialist to ensure that we will have all the
technology needed for the event to be
successful.

July/ August - Hold registration earlier in the

week. Before registration, there will be a
conversation with the clerk on putting the
students in Infinite Campus as they register.
While this is going on, the teachers will be
having professional development. During one
of the professional development days, we will
be having a Canvas session for all teachers.
After the session, teachers will be allowed to
spend the rest of the day creating their Canvas
pages. After the school year starts, we will
finalize a Canvas Parent session. Parents will
be invited and we will walk them through the
Canvas Parent App and get them signed up.

Potential Risks One risk that might hinder my implementation

is that the school district would not allow us
to hold a Canvas training at our school. We
would then have to come up with another way
to train our teachers in order to get our
implementation year long up. Within our
district, we have only one person who comes
around and trains teachers on Canvas. If she is
busy or is not allowed to come, we might
need to reach out to Canvas themselves and
see if they can give us a representative to help
and then follow up with the district personnel.

Another risk that might hinder my

implementation is that teachers might still use
other means of communication instead of
using Canvas like we are trying to do. There
will be a moment when teachers will revolt
and we have to come up with ways to
encourage teachers that this is the best option.
Many teachers do not want to change
anything that is not broken, but we are trying
to help them slowly change with support
before it is required at a district level with no
support.
 References

Erdem, C., & Kaya, M. (2020). A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Parental Involvement on

Students’ Academic Achievement. Journal of Learning for Development, 7(3), 367–383.

Margolis, A. A. (2020). Zone of proximal development, scaffolding and teaching practice.

Cultural-Historical Psychology, 16(3), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2020160303

Meyen, E., & Greer, D. (2009). The Role of Instructional Planning in Math Instruction for

Students With Learning Disabilities. Focus on Exceptional Children, 41(5), 1–12.

https://doi.org/10.17161/foec.v41i5.6837