Salford City College hosts first Canvas Further Education Event

Salford City College played host to the first Canvas Further Education event this May and received an impressive turnout for the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) provider, with over 80 delegates in attendance.

It was a full house at Salford City College’s Glass House Restaurant as over 80 colleges, partners and employees came together to discuss how the use of technology can improve teaching and learning in the Further Education (FE) sector. Those in attendance were able to meet with members of the Canvas FE Community, who were there to showcase Canvas and its benefits, as well discuss how it can be integrated into the various institutions. 

Canvas is a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) designed to make teaching and learning easy. The cloud native and open system includes assessment and student tracking as well as collaboration and communication tools. Just some of its impressive features include: integrated media which makes adding audio or video comments to work possible, and the speedy marking feature which allows teachers to view, score and provide feedback on student submissions without time consuming downloads. These tools, like many of the others, have been designed to inspire better performance from students.

The UK based company held two events to showcase the software, one at their London headquarters and one at Salford City College, who were chosen to host the event in the North of England for the first time.

Martin Lewarne, Canvas Regional Director said, “When Canvas and Salford City College began working together in 2016 it was clear from the outset that we both believe a great teaching and learning experience should be available for all.

“In the spirit of ‘open,’ this event was organised to share ideas and knowledge with the wider education community regarding how exactly technology can help enable this great teaching and learning experience we believe in.

“Feedback from participants at the Northern Event only confirmed our approach and coming together to share experiences, ideas, content, tools and best practice has only served to build a stronger open community. We will continue to partner with Salford City College, amongst others, to enhance education in the UK.”

Deborah Millar, Director for Digital Learning and IT Services at the College added, “The event was a huge success. It was mutually beneficial not only for ourselves and Canvas, but also for the 40 plus colleges in attendance. Delegates were also given the opportunity to network with like-minded people and participate in a number of more focused sessions in the afternoon including: Nearpod, Planet eStream, TurnItIn, Amazon Web Services, T&L with Canvas and Digital Dashboard.”

Feedback from the event was extremely positive:

“Great event. Well organised and really interesting. Talk about transforming organisational culture!” – Dave Glenton – Learning Technology Adviser, the Cheadle and Marple College Network.

“Thanks for a great day, we found it really beneficial and have come away buzzing with ideas!” – Amy Hollier – Director of Teaching and Learning Enhancement, University of Birmingham.