Across three Digital Learning Days (DLD) offerings in June and July, 74 faculty members from disciplines across Elon worked in their migrated courses, explored the university’s new learning management system and began adapting their content and course design for the academic year ahead.

“Our goal for Digital Learning Days was to empower faculty with guidance and space to work through this transition with confidence,” said Dhvani Toprani, assistant director of Learning Design and Support within Teaching and Learning Technologies. “We wanted them to leave with a deeper understanding of Canvas and ideas for using it to create meaningful, student-centered learning experiences.”

Throughout the day, faculty applied what they were learning directly to their own courses, making progress on the work they could continue building on after the session and becoming more familiar with the platform along the way.

In anonymous feedback collected after DLD, one participant described that shift:
“I walked in feeling only marginally familiar with Canvas and definitely unprepared to build my courses. I am leaving today feeling much more comfortable, confident, and (dare I say) even excited to finish building and customizing my courses.”

Designing with students in mind

Throughout DLD, faculty considered how course organization, visual design, assessment and instructional choices shape the student experience.
Instructional Technologists Becky Kloepfer, Kendra Nanton and Tristan Daniels guided faculty through strategies for creating consistent, accessible and approachable courses. Sessions gave participants opportunities to apply those ideas in different ways, from using Adobe Express to develop course visuals to exploring Canvas Course Analytics to better understand student activity and engagement.

Faculty also spent time working through assessment in the new learning management system, including Canvas Quizzes, migrating question banks from Moodle and addressing common migration challenges.

Student perspectives were part of that work as well. TLT student employees Alana Driver and Jose Besednjak Izquierdo supported DLD, contributing their perspectives as faculty considered how students will navigate and experience their courses in Canvas.

By the end of the sessions, faculty had made progress on the courses they will teach this fall while developing greater familiarity with the new learning management system. That work will continue as faculty gain experience with Canvas and further develop their courses throughout the semester. Overall, feedback from participants appreciated the blended focus on structured instruction, work time, and having the space to ask individual questions.

As Elon begins its first semester in Canvas, DLD reflects TLT’s broader approach to the transition: creating opportunities for faculty to learn, experiment and seek support while keeping teaching and the student experience at the center.

The poster presentation focused on bringing together three unique case studies from design, nursing and education to discuss the importance of continuing hybrid forms of teaching and learning experiences for learners.

With the help of Director of Design Thinking Danielle Lake and Director of Clinical Education Jeanmarie Koonts from 51±¬ÁĎÍř, along with Marcela Borge from Pennsylvania State University, Toprani and Moss analyzed technology-supported authentic learning experiences that included classrooms and conferences. The overarching theme that emerged from their case studies was technology’s ability to bring diversity to the learning environment. Using simple tools like Zoom and learning management systems, along with thoughtful course designing, facilitators could accomplish complex learning goals with in-person and remote learners giving themselves and their learners the flexibility to manage uncertainties of life.

Toprani and Moss emphasized that Educause gave them the opportunity to build community and hear perspectives from other educators about fostering hybrid learning spaces using technology.

“When we were at Educause we were surrounded with products designed to support hybrid teaching and learning, making the process easier for learners and facilitators,” Toprani said. “This experience makes me feel that our work is very timely.”

“Our presentation sparked lots of conversation amongst our colleagues as we continued to examine the future of learning with intention and purposeful design. With the help of our faculty participants, we were able to show fellow technologists what technology-infused learning could look like post-pandemic,” Moss said.

In future, Toprani and Moss hope to continue documenting the learner and facilitator need in this rapidly changing teaching and learning environment and design technological solutions to best support their needs.