Professional Development Opportunities for Canvas and Online Teaching

As the busy new academic year commences, we want to make you aware of some valuable professional development events to consider.

This year’s Canvas conference will be offered in a free online format called CanvasCon. Scheduled for Thursday October 15, this live world-wide conference provides an excellent opportunity to learn more about using Canvas, as well as current educational developments and challenges. The keynote speakers will be LeVar Burton a leader in children’s literacy, and Sal Kahn founder of the Khan Academy. In addition, there will be over 55 presentations offering information about best practices for online teaching and learning plus other topics. Scheduled sessions include: 10 Ways to Make Online Learning More Engaging, Designing for Kindness, and Learning at a Distance. Even if you are unable to attend, enroll in this conference to receive recorded sessions. Registration is open until October 9.

Another constructive development opportunity is being provided through NISOD which has collaborated with other higher education institutions to create a small course Best Practices in Online Teaching (BPTO). This free course offers a clear and concise summary of good practices for online teaching. It provides a valuable collection of links to additional resources, including helpful information about making online materials accessible. The dynamic discussion forums within each module promote sharing strategies and productive interactions with other faculty participants from around the country. The course is self-paced and estimated to take 4-6 hours to complete. Follow this link to enroll in BPTO. Note that although we use Canvas at LCCC, you will still need to follow the built-in steps to set up a new Free-for-Teacher Canvas account for accessing this course. BPTO contains many useful considerations and applications for any online instructor. 

Finally, though we are working primarily virtually this Fall, all members of the CET are available to assist. Contact us at cet@lccc.wy.edu--we'd love to learn beside you!