Helping Mobile "Catch On"

kmonroe · ‎05-31-2017

It seems hard to think of for those of us that take our cell phones and tablets for granted - but for many students - and for that case - faculty, mobile is not something on their mind.

We're a new Canvas institution. As we did our LMS needs analysis process we weren't shocked to find that faculty said that by and large students come to class with a mobile device in hand. However, being at a large, statewide institution there are broad disparities in the capabilities of those devices and the access students have to high speed Internet when they are not on campus.

Looking at possible solutions to this fuzzy situation has brought about a lot of creative thinking but I'm wondering if other higher ed institutions of a broad scale have tackled the device and Internet question with tablets - and if so - how have you gone about it?

stephensda · ‎06-01-2017

Hi Kara,

The BYOD issue! We're all in the thick of it, methinks. Have your faculty leaders issued an opinion on the acceptance of mobile devices (phones, tablet, laptops) in the classroom at your institution?

The Canvas apps are pretty lightweight in terms of data/page loads, even in the mobile web browser. Does your institution's service area not have sparse LTE/4G connectivity coverage?

kmonroe · ‎06-01-2017

Dave,

Faculty are generally supportive, but many lack devices as well so we're looking at how to enable them also.

Coming from our previous LMS where mobile loads weren't light we'll likely need to reevaluate whether the needs could be meet with only cellular. Good thought though.

Are you all doing BYOD or are you providing a device to all. We're leaning towards the latter. Interested in how others are approaching.

Kara

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rseilham · ‎06-04-2017

Kara Monroe‌,

This is the million dollar question. You are right that this isn't a one size fits all solution. There are wealthy private schools that have 1:1 programs and in your case (like ours at UCF) large state institution with no BYOD standard. We tried to tackle this for years at UCF but ultimately didn't make much progress. Without a similar standard for mobile devices, and financial support for those who can't afford it, it's hard to create a curriculum that is truly mobile first. Even if everyone were on an even playing field, then you would need to create PD and best practices for how to use the technology.

Our solution at UCF was to figure out what students do most on mobile devices and support this. We found that students used their mobile devices the most for three things: accessing our portal (myUCF), University email, and Canvas. For the first two, we have put a lot of resources behind our campus app called UCF Mobile. As for Canvas, we have worked to educate our faculty on building courses that are mobile-friendly and provide universal access. This is highlighted in my recent Canvas blog post.

I love this conversation, and I hope others contribute because it's important to continually evaluate our mobile strategy and be mindful of the student and faculty.

scottdennis · ‎06-05-2017

Great discussion here. If this is interesting to you, you might also like https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/cmug/blog/2017/05/24/resisting-the-mobile-mindset

kmonroe · ‎06-06-2017

@rseilham ‌,

Thanks so much for linking to your blog post. What a great resource - have you shared your survey previously? We'd love to do something similar at Ivy Tech and would love to share benchmarking results if you're interested in sharing.

Kara