Following an interview with Professer Shannan Adler of Emerson College, Staff Writer Eli Kell-Abrams explores a piece of technology that can benefit higher education and K-12 environments alike. It's called .... well, read and find out!
Emerson College, a small, yet prestigious, group of 3,400 undergrads, has found an incredible new piece of technology that has renovated their collegiate database. Its name is Canvas. After trial introductions during the 2013 spring semester, Emerson College tech executives went with the official call to dump the once prominent WEBCT system for the new and improved Canvas.
This 2013-2014 academic year, the entire student body has embraced this new organizational tool. Its purpose serves to have every piece of information about a class in one always-accessible location. I’m talking syllabuses, assignments, study guides, handouts, PowerPoints, test reviews and schedules all linked with your grades to each and every course. It’s like a universal remote, everything is right there in front of you.
This new piece of technology has caught the attention of many around the Emerson stomping grounds. One in particular is first year Journalism professor, Shannan Adler. As a James Madison University graduate, and a Georgetown University grad student, Professor Adler has had to use many different pieces of technology for her days as a student and as a teacher. “Technology absolutely plays a role in my courses,” says Adler, who is currently teaching Beat Reporting, Interactive News, Ethics of Journalism, and TV News Producing for Grad Students at Emerson. “Almost all of my students have their own blogs with accompanying Twitter handles. These blogs allow them to create a current portfolio of their work that not only fulfills class requirements, but just as importantly, can help them secure internships and get them hired once they graduate.” Professor Adler found her way up to Boston after leaving the producing offices of her hometown (Washington, DC) branch of CNN. Once in Boston, Adler caught word of Emerson having openings in their Journalism teaching department. “They’ve got some of the best in the business teaching there (at Emerson) so it was a great feeling knowing I was going to be a part of that.” Due to adjusting to her new position at Emerson, Adler was unable to take full advantage of this new Canvas system, but vowed to fuel its return to her courses in the 2014 spring semester. “My students seem to love Canvas. So many of my students want to be able to access assignments at the time and place of their choosing—rather than having to write it down in class or search their inbox for my weekly assignment emails. I totally get that and frankly it forces me to be better organized, which is a win-win for all of us.” Canvas is an open-source learning management system by Instructure that can be used by teachers, parents and students in both higher education and K-12 environments. The Canvas Cloud is free for teachers.