Okay, true confession here: when I learned that a
decision had been made and we were “officially” making the Big Switch… away from
the only LMS I’d ever really known (cue heavenly music here), Blackboard
(“ahhh!” in angelic harmony)…Well,
let’s just say I went through my own “five stages of grief”…
First, of course, was:
- Denial – as in, “this CAN’T be happening.” Someone somewhere will realize this is a BIG MISTAKE!! (Yeahhhh…not happenin’ bro…) So next we moved on to:
- Anger – YES!!! Like a tiny little child, who’d had her favorite picture/activity book taken away (the one with the dog-eared pages and crazy Wacky Pack stickers and orange Kool-Aid stains throughout) and was handed one instead that looked like a plain ol’, boring ol’, notebook with blank pages… So then it was, “Please, pleassse…can I have my old one back?” Along with some creative…
- Bargaining – As in, “How about…if we keep BOTH!! And just ease into this whole “blank Canvas” thing, let everyone migrate over in their own time (or not…)?!” Yeah, “Blackboard on the down low” lasted only for a semester… and then it was all over, gone, poof! Which prompted a wee bit of despondency, even:
- Depression – As in, “Well… I guess I’ll just never teach online again…” (Um, Earth to Karly: you have an online class scheduled next semester? Der?!) Which finally yielded to…
- Acceptance <sigh> -- Reality set in…
Canvas wasn’t going anywhere, so…I decided I may as well dip my toe in the pool.
And well, by clicking around in my random way of doing
things, I discovered that there are some pretty cool features on Canvas. File
uploads and video uploads are way
easier than on Blackboard… and (so far) it seems there is no limit to how much
I can tchotch up a page with videos and ongoing content, whatever my heart
desires. I can record videos right on the site, give audio feedback to students
(which I will do one day), and click one button to publish content (or
un-publish, when my students are asking too many questions about it ;-)
Granted, I still find Canvas aesthetically “un-pleasing.” And
I still don’t know what to do about a “landing page” or the best set-up for easy
navigation…
But…apparently, there is some sort of Secret Handshake Club at Yavapai, consisting
of everyone who has gone through what insiders call, “Quality Matters Training.”
With a wink and a nod, they know things, like the “standard
practice” of creating a Start
button so students will know how to navigate our online courses. I’ve been told
there are all sorts of other hidden mysteries that will reveal themselves,
if only I sign on for the training…
So yes, I’m there, beam me up!!
I now see that while I seemed perfectly happy before with my
little glass of orange Kool-Aid, it was all I’d ever known. With no sort of reference or
comparison, of course I would think it was “awesome” and “beyond compare.”
But there is a new Kool-Aid
in town now... Insiders know it by the acronym, “QM” (and...I hear it even glows in the dark…!)
