Connection between students and teachers through communication 9 increasing the effectiveness of teamwork with collaboration tools

BUSINESS RESEARCH REPORT Course code ISYS2109 Lecturer Michael Cheng Name Le Ngoc Linh Student number S3804772 Word count 1932 Due date 23/08/2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION: .2 II ANALYSIS: .3 Key features and functions of Canvas  Communication Tools  Content Tools  Assessment Tools  Interactive Tools Benefits of Canvas .6  Curate learning pathways .7  Easy to use  Stay notified Drawbacks of Canvas  Not mobile-friendly .8  Unnecessary features III REFLECTION:  Connection between students and teachers through communication  Increasing the effectiveness of teamwork with collaboration tools 10  Public comments and marks for students 10 IV CONCLUSION: 10 V REFERENCES: 11 VI APPENDICES: .13 I INTRODUCTION: ECS stands for Enterprise Collaboration Systems, which is one information system to collect, process, is used to facilitate efficient sharing documents and knowledge between individuals and groups in business (Kissflow 2019) When technology is becoming increasingly more accessible, enterprises can combine with the software tools to increase the efficiency of work in the future Some typical examples of ECS are Microsoft 365, Google G suite, Slack or Canvas This contributes to increased productivity for businesses, improved communication between employees in different departments and fosters collaboration between businesses when easily accessible 24/7 and updated in real time The growth from enterprise collaboration software has increased in recent years as shown by worldwide market revenue, rising from about billion US dollars in 2015 to nearly 12 billion by 2020 They are also forecast to continue to rise, possibly reaching about 13.58 billion US dollars in 2023 (image 1) Popular enterprise collaboration software examples include Microsoft and Slack (Liu 2020) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Image According to image 1, this platform has been trusted and used by small to large enterprises worldwide and is applied in many fields such as education, manufacturing and trading In addition, ECS is also gradually becoming popular in Vietnam, namely Canvas in the education sector, especially when the world is in a tense epidemic of Covid-19, Canvas has become a tool that the perfect connection between teachers and students in the school The main purpose of this report is to provide an overview of Canvas, analyzing its characteristics, functionality as well as its pros and cons for businesses, which in this case - RMIT Furthermore, the report will also discuss how to use Canvas effectively to improve the learning process of RMIT students II ANALYSIS: Canvas is a learning management system (LMS) to facilitate teaching and learning online (Rio Hondo College nd) It is being used by universities and colleges in Vietnam and around the world It allows teachers to post online information, grades, courses and assignments to replace some of the usual time spent in face-to-face classrooms Canvas provides live discussion forums and chat rooms so students can keep in direct contact with teachers and interact with other students, or to upload assignments and tests Futhermore, the students’ courses are protected with a private password 1 Key features and functions of Canvas Canvas is a tool to help people to use easily, which includes a range of interactive course building and management tools that can be customized to create a variety of unique and accessible teaching and learning experiences, here are the key features and functions Image • Communication Tools Canvas has lots of options available to communicate such as Inbox, Announcements, Discussions Users can personalize their message through audio messages in conversations, discussions Inbox is a messaging tool that is used for real-time communication between courses and students (Canvas 2020) Anyone in the course will be able to view the history of each chat and respond to messages for each course Announcements help instructors share the course activities and post interesting topics related to the course, allowing the professor to pass on additional knowledge to students Students may answer the message, but the responses are not considered a conversation, and not appear in the Inbox Canvas offers a build-in system for class discussions, allowing both teachers and students to share, contribute, exchange and discuss themes of the lessons A discussion allows interaction with or more people in the same course Moreover, most discussions are created by teachers as an assignment for grading • Content Tools The most important component in any online class is its content Many people believe that the interaction between users in a course is more important but just remember the content provides stimulation for those interactions This tool includes Modules and Syllabus Fisrtlty, Modules allow teachers to organize content to help control classes by week or by unit Each module can contain files, discussions, assignments, and learning materials related to each topic Professors can easily rearrange and reorganize the content in modules by dragging to the desired position and dropping Even while students are in course, lecturers can still add necessary course materials in modules Finally, Syllabus in Canvas helps teachers communicate to students exactly what they want to require for during the course, chronologically Lecturers can customize their courses to public or private mode Description of the syllabus is where they describe the course, brief introduction, classroom instructions, weekly reminders and other relevant details • Assessment Tools Canvas provides a number of assessment tools so that students can track and improve their learning in the course through assignments The results of these tests are expressed in term of the student grades Assignment is the part that students have to complete in each subject in semester, it can take place every week or 2-3 weeks/1 time In the assignment section, professors will give enough information about the assignment, the content, the limits, instruction and rubric Depending on the subject or course, students will work individually or in group or present about the assignment they have submitted Afterward, the Grades page will show the current grades for all assignment in the course Students can view the details of the teacher’s grades, comments and ratings as well as the percentage of points earned on the total at each end of the semester • Interactive Tools Interactive Tools that enable users to connect with each other through People and Collaboration People shows all the users registered in each class added by the teacher or the school In addition, students can view the current number of users in the same class or create groups and join groups when they receive a request from the teacher Canvas impulses collaborative technology to allow multiple users to work simultaneously on the same document Collaborative documents are stored in real time, ensuring a modification made by all of its users would be noticeable to others immediately Benefits of Canvas RMIT University is one of the schools that used Canvas effectively in operating system Canvas provides an interactive network to help link students and teachers and these are essential factors that contribute to this university’s success Hereafter, this section will focus in main effects of this suite: curate learning pathways, stay notified and use easily • Curate learning pathways Canvas has provided students with an effective online learning pathway and learning is done in many ways, at many different times, environments and devices That is the main advantage of Canvas Student learning processes can be mapped out and organized by teacher curriculum who will provide a framework for leading and assessing the progress of each pupil’s development Students can also learn through project or internships with Canvas learning (Finances 2020) At the end of a course, milestones would be aggregated and can be shared with colleges or even potential employers Furthermore, once students gain success from effective pathway management, students will have more opportunities to advance in the future than they get • Easy to use It is simple for the user to use the key features in Canvas, including the lowtech people Because everything is clearly stated and easy to understand Under the guidance of the teacher, students can easily follow the steps Therefore, Canvas is a fairly popular application for instructors, professors and students in schools, especially international schools such as RMIT Nevertheless, to ensure privacy during use, each individual is protected by a separate password • Stay notified When there are upcoming projects, Canvas is always notified on both Announcement and Outlook for students In addition, changes in assignments, comments or feedback from teachers are updated and communicated to students Fast alerts from Canvas help students stay informed and accurate in time At RMIT, for example, the BIS lecturer quickly reported after having the second task of the subject, they reminded and explained more about what to and what is to be avoided in the report that gives students a more detailed and general view of what they need to Drawbacks of Canvas In addition to the above benefits, Canvas will also have some shortcomings on the mobile devices or features in Canvas today • Not mobile-friendly Canvas is best used on computers with large screens For smartphones with small screens, it will have limited functionality that can only be viewed on a computer For instance, after receiving the result of an essay, in normal circumstances, in addition to the general external comments, RMIT’s lecturer will comment in detail on the positions that need to be edited or need to be added directly to the assignment of the student However, if a student uses a smartphone to check the result, detailed comments cannot be seen • Unnecessary features It must be recognized that Canvas has a lot of useful and commonly used features Besides, it has many useless, confusing features and add to the clunkiness This can create confusion for teachers and students As shown in image 2, the tabs like Outcomes, Attendance, Chat, … are actually not necessary So many tabs seem daunting to new users or maybe scared of not understanding how to use them up III REFLECTION: Today, most education institutions use technology for syllabus to enhance the teaching and learning experience of teachers and students, especially RMIT University Therefore, students in the 4.0 technology industry must be required to adapt to a high-tech environment Remarkably, Canvas is capable of providing RMITers and other students with intelligent and dynamic benefits to improve their learning such as communication, team collaboration and public score • Connection between students and teachers through communication Canvas helps them connect more with teachers and students in the same course Students can easily connect this software in any case from any devices that only requires internet Particularly, every time students have any questions or concerns, they can ask and communicate with the lecturer to solve their problems Sometimes students can update and share documents with classmate in the class or at home in any devices they have, like computers, cellphones • Increasing the effectiveness of teamwork with collaboration tools With the high-tech solution, each student in the same course can find members and invite them to join the group to complete an assignment assigned by the teacher They can comment on each member's answer, which helps to add knowledge and help each other improve to create effective teamwork, can get desired results In some cases, pupils cannot have a face-toface team meeting, they can discuss and share ideas together on Canvas to finish the task • Public comments and marks for students Most comments and scores are written down in great detail by Rmit's teachers Each exercise is evaluated based on the essay of each individual or group with fairness and high accuracy During the assignment, each pupil will show understanding and listening through each topic that has been learned in class Therefore, professors always leave a publicity to comments and scores for each student on Canvas From there, students will read, understand and learn from lessons for the next time in order to achieve higher scores IV CONCLUSION: To conclude, Canvas has brought many benefits to the enterprise and education industry thanks to its application and flexibility Now, it has become a popular and useful educational application for schools, teachers and students, it helps a lot for the student learning process, the teacher's teaching process and the management of the school In the future, with the strong development of technology, Canvas will become one of the favorite platform choices especially in the education industry V REFERENCES: Canvas Community 2020, ‘How I use the Syllabus as an instructor?’, Canvas Community, viewed 20 August 2020, Canvas Community Community, 2020, viewed ‘What are 20 Collaborations?’, August Canvas 2020, Canvas Community 2020, ‘What are Discussions?’, Canvas Community, viewed 20 August 2020, < https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-BasicsGuide/What-are-Discussions/ta-p/3> Canvas Community 2020, ‘What are Modules?’, Canvas Community, viewed 20 August 2020, < https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-BasicsGuide/What-are-Modules/ta-p/6> Canvas Community 2020, ‘What is Canvas?’, Canvas, viewed 19 August 2020, Canvas 2020, ‘What is the Inbox?’, Canvas Community, viewed 20 August 2020, Kissflow 2019, ‘Why your company should adopt an enterprise collaboration system’, blog post, 26 September, viewed 17 August 2020, Liu, S 2020, ‘Collaboration software market size worldwide 2015-2023’, Journal of Technology & Telecommunications, viewed 18 August 2020, Rio Hondo College nd, ‘What is Canvas?’, Rio Hondo College, viewed 19 August 2020, < https://www.riohondo.edu/canvas-orientation/what-is-canvas/> 10 Salt Lake Community College nd, ‘Features and Benefits of Canvas’, Salt Lake Community College, viewed 20 August 2020, 11 Work & Learning, R 2020, ‘Canvas for schools-Rating, pros and cons’, blog post, Jun, viewed 21 August 2020, 12 ‘Canvas LMS FinancesOnline, Review: Pricing viewed and 20 https://reviews.financesonline.com/p/canvas-lms/> VI APPENDICES: Software features 2020’, August 2020, < ...  Connection between students and teachers through communication  Increasing the effectiveness of teamwork with collaboration tools 10  Public comments and marks for students ... cellphones • Increasing the effectiveness of teamwork with collaboration tools With the high-tech solution, each student in the same course can find members and invite them to join the group to... intelligent and dynamic benefits to improve their learning such as communication, team collaboration and public score • Connection between students 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