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The
Instructure team. (L-R) Troy Martin, Colt Kwong, Debbie Thompson, Barrett
Doran, Julian Yballe, Faith Chaza
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Representatives from
De La Salle Lipa at the conference
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Regional
Director Julian L. Yballe talks about the open nature of Canvas
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Technology has allowed other industries to compete globally
and education is no different, with each institution sharing their strategic
visions of how they can and will use education technology to enhance teaching
and learning as well as compete for students in the region. Through their use of the Learning Management
System Canvas, each of these Philippine institutions are deepening their
adoption of the latest innovations in teaching and learning, such as blended
and flipped classrooms, which allows for greater focus on student engagement
and personalized learning.
Roselle Basa, Program Coordinator for ICT at UE, was among
the attendees who were new to Canvas. UE faculty have been training with the
LMS since March, and the system will be deployed in full this year. “Canvas
allows us to develop courses that are geared to student-centered strategies. It
pushes the envelope of teaching strategies development and helps us avoid being
confined to the classroom in a very enjoyable and engaging manner,” Basa said.
Canvas from Instructure was created in response to poor user
experience of legacy LMS software by its founders as graduate students. They
wanted a more flexible and personalized learning experience, one that was
mobile and easy to use and extend with a wide variety of learning resources.
As an open, mobile and native cloud-based platform, Canvas
allows students to easily access learning materials, take online tests,
collaborate on the move, and drive their own learning journey. Teachers are
able to deliver more personalized learning, choose from a wealth of learning
resources to deliver a richer learning experience, grade tests more quickly, as
well as use data in real time to give feedback on student progress. This approach puts teachers and students at
the center of the learning environment rather than the technology.
Regional Director Julian Yballe also took to the podium to
explain Canvas’ view on openness and equity of experience. Instructure
envisioned Canvas as endlessly extendable open APIs and the ability to add apps
via the LTI standard. This allows teachers
to use the vast global resources that exist, exposing students to a huge
variety of learning materials in a simple and easy way.
Along with this growing partner ecosystem, the Canvas
community of global institutions, helps educators from around the world share
ideas and experiences both online and at community events such as this user
group session. These leading
institutions in the Philippines are now contributing to the community with
their founding of the first user group in South East Asia.
Yballe underlined this specific focus on
student-centeredness. “The feedback for Canvas from every stakeholder in this
teacher and learning environment has been positive. And a lot of it is a
combination of timing and how student-centered learning is becoming more of a
focus due to two reasons, workforce preparedness, so graduates can contribute
immediately, and a more competitive environment for a limited number of
students, both locally and globally,” Yballe said.
What’s next on the roadmap for Canvas? APAC VP Troy Martin
spoke of the company’s expansion plans in a post-conference interview. “We’re
excited with the customers that have emerged over the last two years in the
Philippines, particularly here in Manila, but we are excited to welcome some
new institutions from Cebu City and we look forward to hearing from new
institutions contacting Instructure about working with Canvas.”
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