I am part an amazing team of system administrators, programmers, and academic consultants that support and manage the various academic systems on campus!  Naturally, the largest and most involved system that we manage and support is our Canvas LMS.  Every semester, one of my colleagues spends a good bit of his time conducting online and face-to-face training sessions on how faculty can use Canvas.  The “online” sessions are live Zoom or Webex sessions rather than an actual online course.  These sessions are predominately technical and how-to in nature.  Most of these faculty-focused sessions are essentially Canvas 101 sessions that show new faculty the absolute basics of using Canvas – how to add content to modules, how to communicate with students using announcements, and how to do even really basic tasks like publishing your course. Although the task itself my seem fairly basic for a one-hour training seminar, I think this Canvas 101 for Faculty course would make a perfect transition into an asynchronous online format.

A redesigned version of this course as a truly online course could consist of very basic modules divided up by functional topic.  Module 1 would start off with basic course navigation, how students get loaded, and the basics of publishing your course.  Module 2 could discuss adding and arranging content in modules for organization.  Module 3 could provide information and helpful videos about Grading and Assessments which would teach an instructor how to navigate the gradebook, create basic assignments, and design online quizzes.  Module 4 could be all about the communication and collaboration tools within our Canvas environment.  Finally, Module 5 could finish things up with a description of all the External Tools that are installed within our LMS such as Turnitin, Zoom, Webex, Office365, and others.

Another excellent candidate for the conversion from a traditional seminar course to an online course would be our Makerspace training. A different team in our department provides a slew of trainings and workshops for faculty on the use of the media center and makerspace.  Previously, much of the makerspace tool training was handled through a partnership with a private makerspace company in town which recently closed down likely due to financial issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, with that organization no longer able to provide the tools specific training for our users, we are left without adequate training and tool certification which is typically required before people are able to use the various tools in the Baylor makerspace.

Potentially, a Makerspace Training course could be developed in our Canvas LMS to provide this type of training.  In this case, each module could consist of information about a specific tool or type of tool much like the various training courses previously provided by the vendor.  For each tool, an instructional video could be developed to accompany the tool safety sheets and other written materials.  Finally, since this would involve certifying the completion of the training, each module could also contain a basic quiz over the use, operation, and safety features of each tool.  Upon successful completion of the quiz, the course would be able to award a digital badge or printable PDF certificate that certifies the bearer has successfully completed the online training required for that particular tool.