This slide deck provides a framework impacting the broad challenges facing higher education through the use of learning management system tools in the teaching and learning process.

1. The Higher Ed Canvas:
Connecting Challenges and Tools
Christina M. Sax
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Keynote Presentation, Canvas MAGIC Conference
Mid-Atlantic Group Instructing with Canvas
April 7, 2017
@CMSax
#CanvasMagic

2. Systems Perspective in Biology
Process
Flow
Connections
Balance

3. Systems Perspective in Higher Ed
Regularly interacting
or interdependent
group of items,
under the influence
of related forces,
forming a unified
wholeTeaching & learning
process often viewed
as disconnected from
the wider system of
external & institutional
pressures

4. Systems Perspective in Higher Ed
Regularly interacting
or interdependent
group of items,
under the influence
of related forces,
forming a unified
wholeBUT … teaching &
learning process ARE
connected to the wider
system of external &
institutional pressures

5. • Questions of value
– direct application, gainful employment,
career advancement
• Questions of integrity
– Online, competency based education (CBE)
– Fraud, closings
• Increasing scrutiny, accountability,
regulation
– Students, parents, general public,
employers, legislators, accreditors
External Pressures

6. • Decreasing state funding
• Discounting of tuition
• Changing financial aid rules
• Decreasing student pool
External Pressures
Knocking at
the College
Door,
WICHE
High School
Graduate
Trends
US Northeast

7. • Increasing provider options
• Unbundling & portability of higher ed
– Courses, credits, experiences, services,
support, technology, infrastructure
• Student as consumer
– Critical inquiry in decision making &
selection
External Pressures Online Report Card, 2015

8. • Increasing competition
– Students
– Faculty
– Staff & admin talent
• Unstable enrollments
• Unstable revenue & funding
• Increasing time, effort, costs
• Decreasing sustainability of traditional
higher ed structures and financial models
Resulting Internal Pressures

9. Increasing focus on …
• Retention
• Time to degree completion
• Learning outcomes
• Skills/competencies
• Assessment & accreditation
• Flexibility & personalization
• Competitive advantage
Resulting Internal Pressures

10. Other challenges
&
pressure points

11. Is this the culture at your
institution?
ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT
is everybody’s job.
RETENTION is everybody’s job.

12. Responding through Quality Teaching & Learning
American Council on Education, 2017

13. Use the Learning Management System
Toolbox to respond to broad external and
internal pressures, through …
1. Digital engagement
2. Student learning outcomes
3. Assessment, feedback, accreditation
4. Personalization
5. Student & faculty communities
Responding through the LMS Toolbox

14. • Digital tools to foster engaging &
interactive content
• Synchronous & asynchronous student-
faculty & student-student interactions
• Mobile design
• Media (not text) based content
1. Digital Engagement
Engagement
Learning
Success
Retention
By 2019, 80% of
the world’s internet
traffic will be video
(Cisco)

15. Students:
Technology, Engagement, Learning
17,641 undergraduate students at 183 institutions
EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research, 2016

16. • Ready made templates, scaffolding, integration
create cohesive learning experience:
– Syllabus
– Objectives
– Low stakes practice/self-check
– Assignments
– Assessments
• Authentic assessment of skills & competencies
• Collaborative learning
• Online & hybrid/blended learning
– Flexibility for different needs & learning styles
2. Enhancing Student Learning Outcomes
Students report higher levels
of engagement and learning
at institutions where faculty
members use active and
collaborative learning
techniques, interact with
students, and emphasize
higher-order cognitive
activities. (American Council
on Education, 2017)

17. Blended Learning
Studies of blended
learning (1996-2006):
students in blended
learning classes
outperformed those in
fully online or fully in-
person classes
Online Report Card, 2015
Evaluation of Evidence-
Based Practices in Online
Learning: A Meta-Analysis
and Review of Online
Learning Studies, US Dept
Education, 2010
EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research, 2016

18. • Embedded & aligned rubric tools
• Consistent & cohesive assessment across
sections & program
• Learning analytics to target teaching &
learning
• Administrative analytics
– Usage rates, trends, patterns
– Functions & tools
– Student & faculty
• Use analytics for accreditation
3. Assessment, Feedback, Accreditation

19. Individualized learning pathways
• Different pathways to same learning
outcomes
• Potentially different starting points
Strategies
• Adaptive learning tools
• Multiple assignment/assessment options
• Integrated advising & early alert apps
• Mobile learning
• Internet of Things (IoT)
4. Personalization (within scaling)

20. • Students
– Learning communities that transcend courses
– Content reinforcement & professional prep
– Enhance engagement & connection to
institution and fellow students
• Faculty
– Pedagogy & assessment development
– Diverse peer learning communities
– Engagement, satisfaction, retention
5. Online Communities

21. Tools
• Digital engagement
• Student learning
outcomes
• Assessment, feedback,
accreditation
• Personalization
• Student & faculty
communities
Responding through the LMS Toolbox
Impacts
• Questions of value
• Questions of integrity
• Increasing scrutiny,
accountability, regulation
• Retention and degree
completion
• Financial constraints
• Competitive advantage

22. Other teaching &
learning strategies
that can address overarching
higher ed challenges

23. Rising to the Challenge
The world is but a canvas
to the imagination.
- Henry David Thoreau
Challenges

24. • WICHE, Knocking at the Door: Projections of High School Graduates
Through 2032, Dec 2016, http://knocking.wiche.edu
• 2015 Online Report Card: Tracking Online Education in the United
States, Babson Survey Research Group,
https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/online-report-card-
tracking-online-education-united-states-2015
• Instructional Quality, Student Outcomes, and Institutional Finances,
American Council on Education, 2017,
http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Instructional-Quality-
Student-Outcomes-and-Institutional-Finances.aspx
References – 1

25. • Cisco Visual Networking Index, 2015,
https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-
content?articleId=1644203
• Technology Research in the Academic Community, EDUCAUSE
Center for Analysis and Research, 2016,
https://www.educause.edu/ecar/technology-research-academic-
community-legacy
• Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-
Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, US Department of
Education, 2010, www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-
practices/finalreport.pdf
References – 2

26. Chris Sax
Provost & VP Academic Affairs
Maryland University of Integrative Health
CSAX@MUIH.EDU
Questions & Contact Info