Posted
28 days
ago
The ostrich algorithm is ignoring a problem in the
hopes that it will go away.
So, 90 days ago we issued a challenge to John Baker, CEO of Desire2Learn; Michael Chasen, CEO of Blackboard; and Ray Henderson, President of
... [More]
Blackboard Learn, to participate in an annual open security audit. Why? Because we believe that hiding security vulnerabilities in the LMS decreases the likelihood they will be repaired and increases the likelihood they will be exploited.
Unfortunately, none of them responded.
They are keeping their security practices closed and secret. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not. This is how legacy enterprise software companies usually behave, to the detriment of their customers.
We think they may have picked 'D'.
We will kick off our second annual open security audit in Q4. We invite any and all education companies to participate. We think education should be open, safe, and secure -- and that corporations should be held accountable for their claims.
Keep learning,
-josh [Less]
Posted
about 1 month
ago
These make me happy inside.
You've all heard the quote, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life.' You've also heard, 'It takes a village to raise a child.' Well, here at
... [More]
Instructure we're not interested in raising a village of fishermen. However, we are working hard to provide the very best community resources to help our users get the most out of their Canvas experience.
Let's talk about a few of the community resources that may be useful to you:
Ask a Question forum
This is an open forum where Canvas users can ask questions of each other and share ideas. The forum is moderated by a group of Canvas power users who are called Canvas Coaches. If you have a question, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can ask a Canvas Coach.
Community Created Resources
Have you made something awesome for your faculty or students? This forum allows you to share it for the good of all mankind. Our users have shared everything from implementation stories to tips and tricks to help you squeeze every last drop of goodness out of Canvas.
Best Practice Webinar Archive
This is easily one of the best resources for in-depth Canvas learning. Canvas Coaches and Instructure staff teach one hour specialized sessions on Canvas. Topics range from 'Tips for Smart Online Course Design' to 'Integrating Third Party Tools into Canvas.' You should definitely take some time to check these out.
Product Release Notes
A few weeks ago we wrote a post about the screencasts that come out before each Canvas product update. It explains how the release schedule works, where to find descriptions of releases, and how to access the beta environment to test features before they're released. Subscribe to this forum and you'll never miss a beat with the comings and goings of Canvas updates.
Feature Request Forum
Early in Instructure history, our co-founders Devlin and Brian, went on a product validation tour where they talked with a number of educators about their needs. This same practice is still used today right here in this forum. If you're interested in shaping the way things work in Canvas, join the discussion where your opinion matters. Tell our product team what you'd like to get out of Canvas.
Extension Gallery
Interested in integrating Khan Academy content into your course? How about lecture capture from Panopto or Tegrity? This is the place where we talk about all things integration. Learn how to bring powerful third party resources to bear in your courses.
Hey, I'm on a boat.
There are many other great resources in the Canvas Community, so come join us. Feel free to start slow. Subscribe to a forums. Make a few comments. Share a tip or two. After all, we're all fishing in the same village. Let's help each other out.
If nothing else, at least swing by and tell us what kind of candy you like.
Keep learning,
Matt
The Canvas Community Guy [Less]
Posted
about 1 month
ago
These make me happy inside.
You've all heard the quote, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life.' You've also heard, 'It takes a village to raise a child.' Well, here at
... [More]
Instructure we're not interested in raising a village of fishermen. However, we are working hard to provide the very best community resources to help our users get the most out of their Canvas experience.
Let's talk about a few of the community resources that may be useful to you:
Ask a Question forum
This is an open forum where Canvas users can ask questions of each other and share ideas. The forum is moderated by a group of Canvas power users who are called Canvas Coaches. If you have a question, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can ask a Canvas Coach.
Community Created Resources
Have you made something awesome for your faculty or students? This forum allows you to share it for the good of all mankind. Our users have shared everything from implementation stories to tips and tricks to help you squeeze every last drop of goodness out of Canvas.
Best Practice Webinar Archive
This is easily one of the best resources for in-depth Canvas learning. Canvas Coaches and Instructure staff teach one hour specialized sessions on Canvas. Topics range from 'Tips for Smart Online Course Design' to 'Integrating Third Party Tools into Canvas.' You should definitely take some time to check these out.
Product Release Notes
A few weeks ago we wrote a post about the screencasts that come out before each Canvas product update. It explains how the release schedule works, where to find descriptions of releases, and how to access the beta environment to test features before they're released. Subscribe to this forum and you'll never miss a beat with the comings and goings of Canvas updates.
Feature Request Forum
Early in Instructure history, our co-founders Devlin and Brian, went on a product validation tour where they talked with a number of educators about their needs. This same practice is still used today right here in this forum. If you're interested in shaping the way things work in Canvas, join the discussion where your opinion matters. Tell our product team what you'd like to get out of Canvas.
Extension Gallery
Interested in integrating Khan Academy content into your course? How about lecture capture from Panopto or Tegrity? This is the place where we talk about all things integration. Learn how to bring powerful third party resources to bear in your courses.
Hey, I'm on a boat.
There are many other great resources in the Canvas Community, so come join us. Feel free to start slow. Subscribe to a forums. Make a few comments. Share a tip or two. After all, we're all fishing in the same village. Let's help each other out.
If nothing else, at least swing by and tell us what kind of candy you like.
Keep learning,
Matt
The Canvas Community Guy [Less]
Posted
about 1 month
ago
The Helix Nebula. Dead stars are pretty.
When I look up at the stars, I only recognize Orion’s belt and possibly a dipper or two. Even though I find the night sky breathtaking, I also find it overwhelming. I’m just not familiar
... [More]
enough with the patterns of constellations to draw much meaning from the jumbled mess of twinkling lights above my noggin.
Like myself looking up into the vast abyss of the Milky Way, parents of K-12 students are faced with an array of courses, dates, homework, assessments, and grades to keep track of. This is normally no easy task, and can often be a feat of epic proportion to drag such information out of your 8th grader.
Canvas K-12 is a lot like a star-chart for parents. Actually, Canvas K-12 is more like that really cool star-chart app that your brother-in-law has on his iPhone. When parents are co-enrolled into the same Canvas courses as their offspring, beautiful things happen. Things like being able to surprise Johnny with your awareness of an impending history exam and then planning some time to study together.
Susie Derkins: honor student, nemesis.
Parent co-enrollment provides access to grading information, submission status, due dates, calendar events, and best of all, notifications. With customizable parental notifications in Canvas, it’s easy for a parent to be notified via email, text message, or social media. Effortlessly, Susie’s mom is informed that her report on frogs was just graded and that Susie’s group is scheduled to present in class on Tuesday.
Canvas K-12 courses provide a framework for the educational careers of our students. Now, parents can share in the context that Canvas provides by viewing courses as an observer.
Student learning is a moving target that is often hard to perceive by rummaging through your kid’s backpack. Canvas K-12 provides parents just the right perspective to distinguish a shooting star from another airplane in the night sky.
Keep learning,
Mike Kisow
Park City School District [Less]
Posted
about 1 month
ago
The fence line just shifted again.
We've received a lot of calls and emails about Blackboard's announcement, so I figure it's easiest to just make a post about it. Here you go:
Yesterday Blackboard announced that it has
... [More]
officially gotten out of the LMS business. They are now an education software and service conglomerate. They now "own" the legacy LMS market by supporting 5 different LMS products (6 if you include the D2L cross-licensing agreement.)
In other words, they don't care what LMS you pick. They will gladly take your money for whatever flavor of LMS you choose, as long as they can bill you for generic IT software and services. In a lot of ways, they are becoming IBM (minus the research labs) which is known as the IT support provider of last resort - the shop to go to when your institution relies on outdated technology (yes, they still happily support COBOL and mainframes). Blackboard is now a full service company supporting the "late majority" and the "laggards".
But what about open source? Yes Ray Henderson talks a lot about open source, but clearly it's eyewash. Blackboard hasn't changed, but hope springs eternal.
And what about ANGEL? Yes, they gave ANGEL a temporary reprieve from life support. Give it a year or two, and it will be back on the chopping block. In the meantime, I'm sure they will do the absolute minimum required to keep ANGEL alive until they feel they can afford to cut it loose. They have 5 different systems they need to support and develop - when resources get tight, which LMS do you think will get the short end of the stick?
So, what's going to happen now? Expect more confusion. I don't think it requires much imagination to suppose that the Moodle and Sakai community will become even more jumbled and Blackboard will shove innovation even further back on the burner.
And what about Instructure? Most of our customers are former Blackboard schools. We rarely see Moodle or Sakai make it to the short list of any education institution. We launched only 13 months ago and have just closed our 128th school. Why did Alamo Colleges, Auburn University, Brown University, Maricopa Community Colleges and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania pick us? Because Canvas is the open, full featured LMS platform, built on modern technology, native to the cloud. Instructure is about innovation.
And no, Blackboard can't buy us - it's not all about the money. (Yes, that's my 2011 W-2.)
Keep learning,
-josh [Less]
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