5 Business Schools Adopt New LMS
Five business schools have recently gone public with their decision to implement the same new learning management system (LMS) because it complements the schools' emphasis on educational innovation.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School both began using Canvas by Instructure last year, and now Columbia Business School, the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and the Wisconsin School of Business have also adopted the LMS.
The schools are exploring new ways of using technology to enhance the educational experience for their students and foster interaction between students and educators.
Bruce Maas, vice provost for IT and chief information officer at the University of Wisconsin said his school selected Canvas to explore new ways of delivering courses that "share information, promote interaction, and create a sense of community." The school is also "carefully assessing how Canvas enables instructors and students to interact with the course content and with each other," he added.
The UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School is using Canvas to foster an environment that encourages faculty to try out new teaching methods, according to Susan Kellogg, associate dean of information and technology at the school. She said that Canvas makes it easy for faculty to add audio, video, and other rich media to their courses and that the dynamic discussion boards "facilitate online conversations in ways we have not experienced before."
"Canvas makes communication between faculty and students more individualized and thus more meaningful," said Kellogg, in a prepared statement. "This has the real potential for a richer online relationship between faculty and students. I think many believe an LMS actually puts distance between the professor and the student--not so with Canvas."
Columbia Business School has found that Canvas saves time and accommodates different teaching and learning styles. For students who commute on trains and study in places without Internet access, Canvas enables them to download the content they need so they can access it offline, according to Ray Morales, executive director of technology services at the school. "Canvas also pushes timely notifications to our students about deadlines in order to keep them up to date on course information," he added.
Further information about Canvas is available at instructure.com.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].