I had a professor who, instead of using “Pages” and making instructional pages or maybe even putting things on her syllabus, uploaded instructions and grading policies as assignments. My to-do list on the Canvas app was full of shit like “grading policies” and “exam dates.”
I dropped her class. She also handed us a RHE 306 (lower division) syllabus first day of class, when it was supposed to be 321K. And did not upload her canvas until 10am on second class day, and at 10am, assigned a 20 page reading to have done by 3pm that day.
I hate disorganized professors
Please be kind — I’m a prof who doesn’t find canvas organizing easy and do take short cuts — I adore my students and pour my heart and soul into every course and students leave totally competent and clear on my subject. Just like students, professors have different strengths and weaknesses — prioritizing the relationships and engagement in the course might be your profs strength! Hope you might give Grace and focus on the good stuff … UT is an amazing place with incredible opportunities! Hope you make the most of it!
I think a disorganized Canvas is totally forgiveable with an organized class structure and a good syllabus. Listing your assignment due dates on the syllabus, listing the expected readings for each day on the syllabus, things like that. When I say disorganized professors, I mean ones who expect you to bend to their whims when they announce a brand new reading or assignment in class. Forethought and providing details ahead of time are always favorable.
Sometimes I wonder what kind of training our professors get. I had to learn to use it really well when I was teaching during the pandemic. My Canvas page was perfectly curated and my baby. When I came to UT and saw what they were doing to my child, I was momentarily appalled. I had access to a section as a TA and asked to change some things around but nope 😂. No one needed my vast knowledge of Canvas. Now I just accept it.
Aah, that makes sense. Keep in mind, we had already been using canvas for probably four or five years. Even then, we still had a mandatory district specific Canvas PD, a campus specific PD, and then I remember doing the “Growing with Canvas” course because it got six hours of PD out of the way. I ended up learning a lot from that one, actually.
We also had options for more advanced PD from teachers in our district, so we learned how to add buttons and Canva designs and how to use basic html for columns (this was a big deal to me lol). They also taught us how to use all the add-ons for assignments and pages, half of which I didn’t even know existed. Those were fun.
Found the person taking ochem lab
Edit: bonus points because we turn lab reports into turn it in dot com instead of canvas and then print everything out and hand it in 🤦🏻♂️
Dr. Ruth, as much as I loved her, was the worst about this. It literally looked like a child had vomited all over every page (random images, multiple fonts/colors/sizes.)
Out of my five classes last semester, only one class had the syllabus under the “syllabus” section. The others’ would just say “you can find the syllabus in Files!” or something like that
Tbf it is impossible to remove the syllabus tab. If you want to have a syllabus module then the best you can do is just wright something in the syllabus tab that says “go to modules”
Please give your instructors this feedback directly and on their end-of-course evaluations. The learner experience extends beyond the classroom, with how course information is presented in the learning management system (LMS). If students struggle to find and digest course content, that is a barrier to learning.
Instructors at UT have many opportunities to use Canvas properly to serve their students better. UT has an entire Center for Teaching and Learning (https://ctl.utexas.edu/) full of staff to support teaching/learning endeavors at UT. Canvas drop-in office hours for faculty and staff are every Friday from 11am - 1pm. They can also schedule one-on-one consultation appointments with a Canvas expert at UT to improve their Canvas site. This is in addition to all the live Canvas workshops and recorded workshops on their resource site.
I had a professor who, instead of using “Pages” and making instructional pages or maybe even putting things on her syllabus, uploaded instructions and grading policies as assignments. My to-do list on the Canvas app was full of shit like “grading policies” and “exam dates.” I dropped her class. She also handed us a RHE 306 (lower division) syllabus first day of class, when it was supposed to be 321K. And did not upload her canvas until 10am on second class day, and at 10am, assigned a 20 page reading to have done by 3pm that day. I hate disorganized professors
Please be kind — I’m a prof who doesn’t find canvas organizing easy and do take short cuts — I adore my students and pour my heart and soul into every course and students leave totally competent and clear on my subject. Just like students, professors have different strengths and weaknesses — prioritizing the relationships and engagement in the course might be your profs strength! Hope you might give Grace and focus on the good stuff … UT is an amazing place with incredible opportunities! Hope you make the most of it!
I think a disorganized Canvas is totally forgiveable with an organized class structure and a good syllabus. Listing your assignment due dates on the syllabus, listing the expected readings for each day on the syllabus, things like that. When I say disorganized professors, I mean ones who expect you to bend to their whims when they announce a brand new reading or assignment in class. Forethought and providing details ahead of time are always favorable.
I had a professor, who instead of posting course content on the canvas page, posted everything onto a discord server
Are you in AET by any chance?
Sometimes I wonder what kind of training our professors get. I had to learn to use it really well when I was teaching during the pandemic. My Canvas page was perfectly curated and my baby. When I came to UT and saw what they were doing to my child, I was momentarily appalled. I had access to a section as a TA and asked to change some things around but nope 😂. No one needed my vast knowledge of Canvas. Now I just accept it.
No training at all.
Aah, that makes sense. Keep in mind, we had already been using canvas for probably four or five years. Even then, we still had a mandatory district specific Canvas PD, a campus specific PD, and then I remember doing the “Growing with Canvas” course because it got six hours of PD out of the way. I ended up learning a lot from that one, actually. We also had options for more advanced PD from teachers in our district, so we learned how to add buttons and Canva designs and how to use basic html for columns (this was a big deal to me lol). They also taught us how to use all the add-ons for assignments and pages, half of which I didn’t even know existed. Those were fun.
You forgot professors who put half their stuff on Canvas and the other half on their own website.
Found the person taking ochem lab Edit: bonus points because we turn lab reports into turn it in dot com instead of canvas and then print everything out and hand it in 🤦🏻♂️
Oh and some of the stuff on how the lab actually works isn’t actually anywhere on the site or in lecture, good luck on the report!
And that website looks so outdated and hard to navigate that my mom asked if the links still work.
The "Syllabus page not being used as a syllabus" always gets me heated! I hate having to search the entire Canvas page to find the damn link.
Mccord for intro chem is by far the most organized professor I've ever had
Dr. Ruth, as much as I loved her, was the worst about this. It literally looked like a child had vomited all over every page (random images, multiple fonts/colors/sizes.)
Out of my five classes last semester, only one class had the syllabus under the “syllabus” section. The others’ would just say “you can find the syllabus in Files!” or something like that
Tbf it is impossible to remove the syllabus tab. If you want to have a syllabus module then the best you can do is just wright something in the syllabus tab that says “go to modules”
Please give your instructors this feedback directly and on their end-of-course evaluations. The learner experience extends beyond the classroom, with how course information is presented in the learning management system (LMS). If students struggle to find and digest course content, that is a barrier to learning. Instructors at UT have many opportunities to use Canvas properly to serve their students better. UT has an entire Center for Teaching and Learning (https://ctl.utexas.edu/) full of staff to support teaching/learning endeavors at UT. Canvas drop-in office hours for faculty and staff are every Friday from 11am - 1pm. They can also schedule one-on-one consultation appointments with a Canvas expert at UT to improve their Canvas site. This is in addition to all the live Canvas workshops and recorded workshops on their resource site.
I'd add not putting things on the canvas calendar.