Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers Hill Elementary

School
Anitra Palmer
Loyola University

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

Analysis of Your Current Situation

The world is always changing due in large part to technology.
Technology innovations have changed the way the world communicates,
have improved how tasks are completed, and have even changed how
people enjoy their personal time such as watching television and how they
experience movies in movie theaters. The classroom is another area where
technology innovations are changing. Instructional strategies that teachers
use and the efficiency in which educators complete their required
responsibilities can be attributed to evolving technology innovations. The
focus of the innovation that I would like to see a change in is the efficiency in
which educators complete their required responsibilities and enhance
student learning. The change I am implementing in my school is using the
CANVAS learning management system as a collaboration tool among
teachers in my school.
Next school year in all Howard County Schools, the Canvas learning
management system will be implemented. With Canvas, all curriculum
websites and communities will be joined together. This will become the
central place that all teachers go to get anything and everything they need
for instruction. Through Canvas, teachers need to set up home pages and
class communities. Through their homepage, teachers can communicate
with students and parents about different happenings within the classroom
and updates on instruction. Teachers can also use this as an easy way to
start implementing flipped classroom models for students. With more flipped

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

classroom access, students can learn more at their own pace and the
classroom can be dedicated to apply the concepts that they learned instead
of mostly consisting of direct instruction. Learning in this way puts students
more in the driver's seat of their learning and can keep them more engaged.
Teachers will need to use Canvas because this will be the sole place where all
their standards and instructional strategies will be housed. Canvas also has
several communities where teachers from all over the county can collaborate
with each other and share instructional strategies and ideas. Instead of
struggling with how to teach decomposing of numbers to one group of first
graders, the struggling teacher could simply search the discussion board and
see how another first grade teacher at another school taught her class the
same concept. They could also post their teacher problem and receive
answers from teachers on that specific problem. Canvas is also a way to
communicate with parents. A teacher can email all the parents in a class and
tell them an important message or share a video of an important strategy
that could direct parents how to help their child with homework. Students
can also send messages to their teachers. Teachers can receive the message
instantly and respond to it quickly. It could be something the students are
struggling with or questions about a project that is due the next week.
Canvas will be very useful for students, parents, and teachers next year.
The implementation of my change is two fold. Since the CANVAS
learning management system is new to educators all over Howard County, I
need the teachers in my school to be able to be comfortable using CANVAS.

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

The second part of innovational change is to breed of community of

collaborators within my school building. Prior to implementing this
innovation, I measured it according to Surrys Diffusion Theory. In Surrys
theory, he describes how effectively technology innovations are accepted
and used by a certain group (Surry 1997). There are five attributes that Surry
encourages innovations to be assessed on. The five attributes are Trialability,
Observability, Relative Advantage, Complexity, and Compatibility (Surry
1997).

Trialability is the ability to try an innovation for a specific amount of

time prior to fully adopting the innovation (Surry 1997). CANVAS has already
started the trialability stage in my school. On May 1st, I led the primary
teachers in an introduction to CANVAS and using most of the features that
will be offered in the Fall when the new school year begins. During the
introduction, the teachers had the opportunity to learn and use the different
tools and features CANVAS offers. These tools and features will be the same
ones that the teachers will be expected to use next school year. Teachers
enjoy collaborating with each other to get new strategies to use in their
classrooms whether it be instructional or classroom management. Our
administration has expressed that they want the grade level teams to be
more aligned in our strategies and policies as well. Time is always the
problem in this situation. However, I believe that CANVAS can save time and
make collaboration amongst the grade levels easier. Using CANVAS fluidly is

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

the expectation. That being said, using the different collaboration tools such
as chat, messaging, and blogging through discussions, will be an expectation
of all teachers.
Observability means that the innovation can give showable results
(Surry 1997). Based on the introduction session in May, many teachers were
overwhelmed but happy with the change to CANVAS. The teachers were
overwhelmed with the change to a different system after only two years in
our current system. Once the initial shock wore off, many teachers
commented that they liked CANVAS and that it was easier to use than our
previous system. During the pre-service week, I will be holding another
introduction session for the entire staff to review features and tools that
everyone will be expected to use at the start of school. After this session, I
plan to survey the staff on the positive and negative aspects of CANVAS and
what areas they need further instruction on. These results will show me how
easy other teachers find the learning management system. As far as
collaboration, I plan to create another survey to assess the easiness of using
CANVAS to collaborate. I will gather the positive and negative aspects to
judge the observability of collaboration through CANVAS.
Another perceived attribute is Relative Advantage. Relative Advantage
refers to the superiority of the new innovation compared to innovations that
are already in place (Surry 1997). Currently, we have three specific
management systems that we use to access instructional standards and

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

strategies. The three websites are Alfresco, Wikispaces, and GAfE. Alfresco is
the system teachers use to access English Language Arts, Writing, and Social
Studies curriculum. Best practice instructional strategies and activities can
be found on Alfresco. The math curriculum is housed on Wikispaces pages.
Each grade level has a page specifically dedicated to their math curriculum.
On the Wikispaces, instructional strategies, exemplary lessons, and student
activities can be found and used. Google Apps for Education, also known as
GAfE, is another management system teachers use in the county. The
piloted new science curriculum can be found on GAfE. All lesson plans and
student activities are shared with participating science teachers through
GAfE. CANVAS is better than these three systems because it connects all the
curriculum and strategies into one place. Everything can be found within
CANVAS. There will be no need to access three different websites any longer.
This will improve teacher efficiency in planning and finding exemplary
lessons to improve student learning. Using CANVAS is a better innovation
than Google Docs because it is easier to navigate. Teachers will join
communities that are meaningful to them and within those communities will
have the opportunity to collaborate with teachers in the same content area
they are involved in. CANVAS will also be the main website used for
instructional content. In order to get to Google Docs, a teacher would have to
go through the staff hub website, sign in, find a specific document, write
their ideas or questions on it, then share it with other teachers meaning they
would need to know all the email addresses to the teachers they want to

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

include in their collaboration. Through CANVAS, the teacher will simply have
to go to the correct community already on their dashboard, go to the
discussion or messaging link, and post their question or idea. Using CANVAS
eliminates several steps in the collaboration process.
Complexity refers to the ease to use the innovation (Surry 1997).
CANVAS is fairly easy for teachers to use. It is much easier to use than other
programs that Howard County has adopted. The trouble here is that CANVAS
is different from other programs and teachers need time to learn the
different system before fully using it. Time needs to be dedicated to get
teachers more comfortable with the system as a whole. After teachers have
had time to play with the system, they will be more comfortable with it. Once
the teachers have become comfortable, they will find that collaboration will
come much easier than previous programs.
Compatibility is the final attribute that Surry uses to assess
innovations. Compatibility means how well does the innovation match the
current expectations of the community. The CANVAS learning management
system adheres to current expectations in Howard County. All teachers have
been using online resources to access standards and curriculum whether it
be through Alfresco, Wikispaces, or GAfE. CANVAS will have the same
curriculum as those systems, except it will all be in one central location.
Collaborating through CANVAS is compatible to what teachers will know once
they learn the CANVAS system. They will easily be able to post a question

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

and view answers to their questions. They will also be able to reply to a
question or idea that was posted to collaborate easily with another teacher.
Posting and replying is similar to posting a reply on a Google Site or a Wiki
page so people who are familiar with those websites will find it easy to do
the same with CANVAS.
After assessing CANVAS with Surrys Diffusion Theory, the next
step is to evaluate the school on its readiness to accept the change. Ely
developed eight conditions in order to successfully implement a technology
innovation. The first condition is dissatisfaction with the status quo (Ely
1990). In this condition, the people that are going to be experiencing the new
innovation need to be unhappy with the current situation related to the
innovation. Many teachers are unhappy with the current situation of
accessing curriculum and instructional strategies. They feel it is very difficult
to navigate three different systems to find the various strategies and
standards that they are trying to teach to students. The time wasted going
between the different systems could be better used to prepare engaging and
rigorous lessons. As far as collaboration, there are several teachers that
would like to collaborate more, but they do not have the time to hunt for
someone to collaborate with in another grade level. Also, many of the
teachers have recently gotten married or are pregnant so staying after
school is not a option for them. They want to go home after the school day is
over to spend time with their new families. These disappointments could
easily be solved with the use of CANVAS.

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

Knowledge and skills existing with participants is the next condition Ely
proposed. This condition calls for the individuals involved to have enough
knowledge and skill to use the innovation effectively. Jeffers Hill Elementary
School has not fully obtained this yet. The staff has only been given a halfday training on CANVAS in May. Some teachers have asked for a review
session when the teachers return from summer vacation. I have already
anticipated this need and have agreed with my principal to have a review
session during that week. I also suggested having mini sessions throughout
the year so that the staff can become more comfortable with CANVAS as a
learning management system. Many of the teachers look forward to this
refresher session and the mini sessions afterward. Because the teachers do
not fully understand the use of CANVAS, they do not know how to collaborate
using that system as well. This condition is still in the works at this school.
The next condition Ely suggests is that resources need to be available
in order to apply the innovation. Fortunately, Howard County gives all
teachers laptop computers that they can take home to use. Also, the CANVAS
learning management system can be accessed through these computers and
from any other computer that has an Internet connection. Not only does
CANVAS work on computers, but also on tablets and smartphones. CANVAS
has a free application that can be downloaded and used on these devices.
CANVAS is also an Internet based learning management system. Therefore,

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Hill Elementary School

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any device that has an Internet connection will allow the user to access
CANVAS anywhere and at any time.
Availability of time is another condition of Elys. Ely explains that time
needs to be given for the participants to learn the innovation in order for the
change to be successful (Ely 1997). This has already been started at the
school. Half of a professional day was devoted to introducing CANVAS and
learning how to navigate the learning management system. During this day,
various CANVAS tools and features were explained and demonstrated for the
participants to see. The participants were also given time to use the tools
and features that were taught. They built a homepage and responded to
discussions posed by the leader through the CANVAS system. A refresher
session will occur during the pre-service teacher week prior to when the
students return. This will be another half of a day. In addition to this refresher
session, small group and individual sessions will be offered monthly
throughout the school year to teach specific areas of CANVAS that teachers
are struggling with. These monthly meetings will occur before or after school
depending on the convenience of the participants.
The next condition is rewards and incentives for the participants exist
(Ely 1990). There is no reward or incentive for using the CANVAS system
externally. However, many teachers will feel a sense of accomplishment once
they have mastered it. There are many teachers who want to learn more
about the system in the school building. They take pride in learning new
things and mastering them. For teachers who are struggling in a certain

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Hill Elementary School

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area, individual meetings will be set up for them where they can sit down
with another person who is an expert or shows strength where they are weak
in order to help the struggling teacher become more comfortable with
CANVAS and the collaboration process. This will serve as an incentive to get
the participant to persevere through their struggle and not abandon the new
innovation.
Expecting and encouraging participation is the next condition. In this
condition, all members are expected to participate in the innovation (Ely
1999). This is evident throughout the county. Next year, all external
instructional websites will be taken away so CANVAS will be the only option.
The county has also announced that teachers are no longer allowed to have
external classroom websites. The county has set its expectation that all
instructional and classroom related websites will be used through the
CANVAS learning management system. All teachers are expected to set up
and maintain their home page which includes all information about what is
happening within their classroom. In addition to the county, the
administration holds the same expectations of using CANVAS. The
administration will be sending out surveys to the staff through CANVAS as
well as posting weekly updates about important dates and events. These
updates will be posted on the school homepage created in CANVAS.
Participants will have to use the innovation in order to see what is going on
within the school and to plan their schedules around the events listed.

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Hill Elementary School

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The next condition is commitment by all of the people who are

involved in the innovation. This condition means that all members involved
are supportive of the innovational change. This starts with Howard County.
The county is very supportive of this change. They have shown that by
dedicating half of a professional day to learning CANVAS. Also, the county
enlisted the help of technology teachers and other interested teachers in
educating their staff on CANVAS by making these teachers points of contact
in their building. This title builds a sense of commitment within each school
building starting with the points of contacts. Each staff within all school
buildings needs to be committed to CANVAS because there is no alternative
being offered. At my school, the feelings are mixed. Some teachers are
committed to CANVAS, while others are not simply because they do not know
enough about the system. I plan to improve this with the professional
developments and small meetings I plan to hold throughout next school year.
As far as collaboration, the school administration definitely supports this
innovation. For the last few years, the administration has been attempting to
streamline all the grades in several different areas. Using CANVAS to
collaborate between the grade levels would continue to support these
efforts.
Evident leadership is the last of Elys condition for technology change.
This condition calls for the participants to be aware of the leaders in charge
of the innovation. It also requires those leaders to be available for
participants to go to for guidance and encouragement (Ely 1990). This

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

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condition is where the points of contact for CANVAS and administration need
to be present and aware of the needs of their staff. The staff at my school is
aware that the technology teacher and myself are the points of contacts for
CANVAS. I have already had a few teachers coming to me for extra help with
their homepages or finding their curriculum pages. This lets me know that
the staff is aware of who is in charge of the innovation. Meeting with the
individuals that needed help shows that I, as a leader of CANVAS, am
supporting teachers need for assistance. In the new school year, I plan to
continue to offer individual and small group sessions based on the staffs
needs to guide them in the right way so that they will be successful in
learning and using CANVAS.
Evaluating the school by using Elys Conditions of Implementation of
Educational Technology innovation is not the only way to assess how ready
the school is for the innovation. Researchers at the Apple technology
company developed a study of teachers and students as they relate to new
technology innovations. This study developed into the Apple Classrooms of
Tomorrow program, also known as ACOT. The ACOT model proposes that
teachers and students go through five different stages as they become
comfortable with the innovation. The five stages are Entry, Adoption,
Adaptation, Appropriation, and Invention. I will now evaluate the school using
these stages.
The first level of the ACOT model is the entry level. The entry level is
the beginning of the innovation. At this point, teachers are more concerned

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Hill Elementary School

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with the logistics of the innovation. Many teachers feel frustration and face
similar problems as they did when they were novice teachers (Dwyer,
Ringstaff, and Sandholtz 1985). My school is currently at this stage with the
innovation of CANVAS. During the introduction session to CANVAS, I often
heard teachers complain about the new learning management system. They
did not understand why there needed to be a change from what we had to
CANVAS. There is still some frustration over CANVAS from the staff because
they have not obtained all of the knowledge and skills needed to easily
navigate the CANVAS learning management system. The staff will continue
to be in this stage when they return to school in the fall because this is the
first year that they will be using CANVAS. At this point, several of the staff in
my school is at this point in the model. They feel constant frustration with
the county always changing learning management systems and not sticking
with one for a longer period of time. I expect that several members of the
staff will feel this way into next year before they are using CANVAS everyday.
Following the entry level is the adoption level according to the ACOT
model. In the adoption level, teachers are replacing small parts of their
normal routine and instructional strategies with the innovation. The teachers
have worked out some of the kinks to the innovation, but it as not started to
improve student learning outcomes as of yet (Dwyer, Ringstaff, and
Sandholtz 1985). I expect the staff to reach this stage towards the middle of
the school year with CANVAS. After a few guidance sessions, the staff will
become more comfortable with CANVAS. They will be getting their

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Hill Elementary School

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instructional standards and strategies from their grade level communities

instead of using the other management systems and become efficient with
that skill. At this stage, I see the staff as a whole reaching towards the
middle of the year. Both the accepting and unaccepting groups of staff will
be able to retrieve what they need from CANVAS at this time.
The adaptation stage is the next level of the ACOT model. At this
stage, teachers will be more productive using the innovation (Dwyer,
Ringstaff, and Sandholtz 1985). They will see how quickly they can acquire
instructional materials and how easily they will be able to collaborate
through the use of discussion boards and grade level community share blogs.
This will make their planning of lessons easier and faster as well all through
the use of CANVAS. Because finding more engaging lessons will be easy, this
will improve and change the teachers instructional strategies when they
teach students which will improve student learning opportunities. Currently,
there is no one in my school at this stage of the ACOT model. CANVAS is still
too new of an innovation for any of the staff to reach this level.
After the adaptation stage is the appropriation stage. In the
appropriation stage, the teachers are now experts in the technology. They
use the technology easily and are able to troubleshoot their own problems
(Dwyer, Ringstaff, and Sandholtz 1985). I expect for this to happen in my
school towards the end of next year and into the beginning of the following
year. By the beginning of the following year, teachers will have had a lot of
time and experience with the CANVAS learning management system. They

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Hill Elementary School

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will be able to find content materials and lessons quickly and will be adding
those lessons and materials to their teaching strategies flawlessly. They will
also be able to help other colleagues trouble shoot their problems in the
CANVAS system. I also hope to see collaboration between the grades to be
flowing easily. The share blogs and discussion boards will be filled with ideas
helping other teachers out with ideas from their colleagues. In the current
situation, there is no one at my school in this stage as of yet because we
have not had CANVAS for an extended amount of time.
The final stage of the ACOT model is the invention phase. In this stage,
teachers are taking charge of the innovation and are creating their own
lessons and activities using the innovation to improve and engage their
students (Dwyer, Ringstaff, and Sandholtz 1985). In my school, I see this as
teachers using CANVAS to connect to parents and their students. With
parents, the teachers will be consistently updating their homepages and
sending out reminders to keep their parents in the loop about what is
happening in the classroom. In regards to the students, I could see more
teachers implementing the flipped classroom model to deliver instruction to
their students through their CANVAS homepages. Students can access their
teachers page and view videos, articles, or website based on a unit of study.
Implementing the flipped classroom will propel students into the twenty first
century model of learning where students pace their own learning and
become the teachers and the teachers release their roles of delivering all of
the information. As of now, there are no teachers in my school that have

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Hill Elementary School

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reached this level in the ACOT model; however, I do hope that there will be a
small group of staff that will be confident to develop their own teaching
strategies with the help of CANVAS during the following school year.

Stakeholders
Stakeholders are the groups of people that will be impacted by the
innovational change that a person is leading. Stakeholders are very
important people to involve in the technological change because they can
lead others to believe in the change that a person is trying to create. When
thinking of stakeholders, there must be consideration for the groups that will
be involved, the individuals who the leader considers stakeholders, how the
leader will involve the stakeholders, and how the leader will maintain the
stakeholders interests.
There are five stakeholder groups that are necessary to promote my
vision and innovational change. The first group is the administration of my
school. Administration governs and manages the staff as a whole. They are
also the link between the staff and the directors of curriculum and
instructional strategies. This link is vital in the implementation of CANVAS
and good instructional strategies and materials through peer collaboration.
The next group of stakeholders is technology leaders within the school
building. The technology leaders are those that are excited about new ideas
using technology. They are interested in learning and using technology in
their teaching and planning. These leaders could serve as soundboards for

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Hill Elementary School

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plans for the professional developments that are being presented to the
entire staff based on CANVAS. They could also serve as tutors for the
participants that are struggling with different aspects of CANVAS during small
group or individual meetings. The technology leaders could help my
innovational change move much more quickly and successfully among the
participants.
Grade level teachers are the next group of stakeholders. The grade
level teachers embody the people who will be using CANVAS on a daily basis.
They need to be invested in CANVAS and able to navigate it in order to move
to the next step of collaborating with peers. This group will be the ones to
experience the change first hand. They will go through all of the steps and
stages I have previously listed. I will need their feedback in order to make
sure the change is happening in the most positive and efficient way.

The next group is parents. Parents always need to be considered when

a school wide change is happening. Through CANVAS, teachers will be able
to easily and quickly connect and respond to parents. By visiting teachers
homepages, parents can be aware of what their child is learning and what
learning will be happening next. As teachers become increasingly
comfortable with CANVAS, I would like to see teachers fluidly communicating
and collaborating with parents so that parents feel as if they are part of the
learning and not just sitting on the sidelines. In order to be more involved in

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Hill Elementary School

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their childs education, parents need to be recognized as stakeholders as

well.
The final stakeholder group and the most important is the students of
Jeffers Hill. The reason for this innovational change is to better their school
experiences and improve their learning. If it were not for them, this change
would not be happening. In the future, I would like to see teachers
communicating with their students using CANVAS as the system that makes
that communication possible. CANVAS can also help with creating students
that are in charge of their own learning, which is where education is headed.
By using CANVAS, teachers can implement the flipped classroom model with
ease and better prepare their students for the future.
Within each group of stakeholders, there are specific people within the
Jeffers Hill community that I would like to believe in the change I am
implementing. These specific people and smaller groups will instrumental in
making my innovational change successful. From the administrative
stakeholder group, I would love to have my principal, Patricia Shifflett, as a
key person involved in my innovational change. She is a very motivating and
understanding leader that always thinks outside of the box to accomplish
goals. She feels very strongly about incorporating more technology into the
classroom and is constantly in the process of trying to get more technology
into our school.
Our technology teacher, Vernecia Griffin would be another good key
person to have from the technology leaders group of stakeholders. She is our

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Hill Elementary School

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technology teacher and STEM leader. She is very passionate about

technology and STEM learning in all classrooms not just hers. Vernecia
always keeps the importance of student learning in the front of her mind and
considers it a priority and expectation. She is also the one I go to when I
have a technology question or problem so I would say she is an expert on
finding good technologies to use at various grade levels.
A representative from each grade level would symbolize the grade
level teachers stakeholder group. I would like to have a grade level
representative from each level to be able to share their concerns and
experiences with technology, CANVAS, and collaboration in our school as a
whole. I would like to have committed people on the team. In order to have
this, I will put out an interest survey to determine who would be interested in
being part of this kind of team. These people will constantly be giving me
feedback on how well the innovation is working within the teams of the
school and reporting what needs each team has within the school so that the
innovational implementation can be as successful as possible.
Eric Soskil is our Parent Teacher Association president. I think that he
would make a great representative for the parent stakeholder group. Not
only is he the president, but he is also a teacher at another Howard County
school. It would be interesting to gain ideas from him about how CANVAS is
being implemented at another Howard County school as well as how teams
collaborate successfully.

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Hill Elementary School

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The last group of stakeholders is the students of Jeffers Hill. As I stated

before, the students and their learning is the primary reason for this change
to even be thought of. I know that I cannot have all the students from every
grade attend meetings and make suggestions or improvements; however, I
can have them respond to a survey. I was thinking perhaps at the beginning
of the year and at the end of the year sending out a survey to students to
complete to talk about technologies they want to see more in their
classrooms and then how technology was used over the year. Once teachers
successfully use the CANVAS management system, they can expose the
different tools and features of CANVAS to their students. From there, students
can offer feedback and suggestions on the implementation of the learning
management system and offer their insight from a students perspective.
Now that the stakeholders are identified, there needs to be a specific
plan on how to get them involved in the innovational change I am proposing.
To involve the stakeholders, I plan to

hear all of the stakeholders

concerns in regards to technology. Next, I will hear their concerns in regards

to CANVAS implementation and collaboration in our school. I find that most
educators, really people in general, love to have a venting session first
before hearing new ideas or thoughts. It clears their minds of negativity and
helps them focus on the task that is being proposed before starting to
complain about it. In the interest survey I will send out to the staff and
families, I plan to ask those individuals who are interested in joining this

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committee what their three biggest concerns about technology, CANVAS, and
collaboration are for our school.
Involving stakeholders is one piece of the puzzle. The other piece is
keeping them involved and interested in the innovational change I am
making. I plan on keeping my stakeholders involved and interested by using
the concerns that were voiced on the survey I sent out. From the concerns
collected, I would like to narrow them down to the biggest or most
reoccurring two concerns and set those as goals for the team for the year.
Throughout the year, we will take progress on these goals. I think that as the
members see that we are making progress on the goals they will continue to
stay involved in the committee. People stay with committees that show a
difference and make improvements to what is already there. By monitoring
progress, I think this would help all members stay involved.
In an ideal situation, the stakeholder groups I have included would not
be the only groups involved in the change I am proposing. However, since
my change is more teacher-based, I do not think it would appropriate to
involve librarians, technology professionals, or business people as this time.
CANVAS is a Howard County centered learning management system. It is
being provided on computers that are given to Howard County teachers to
use. Within CANVAS there is a help section that includes tutorials and picture
directions to help participants solve their own problem that arises. These
reasons rule out business people and technology professionals. In the

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Hill Elementary School

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curriculum, Howard County curriculum writers suggest books that can be

easily found in every schools media center. Videos are easily accessible
through the use of YouTube that has recently been allowed in the county.
These reasons eliminate librarians from being considered a stakeholder in
this plan. While the eliminated stakeholders do not hold a place in this
specific innovation, they can add to the innovation to enhance it.
With the appropriate stakeholders listed and their roles explained, the
next part of the plan is to recognize which stakeholders can assist in some of
the Ely conditions I addressed earlier. My principal, Patricia Shifflett, can
assist with the available time condition, the leadership condition, and the
rewards and incentives condition. She can help with the available time
condition by providing time for the stakeholders and participants to meet so
that the participants can seek guidance from the stakeholders and CANVAS
leaders to increase their skill and knowledge with CANVAS. She can provide
time by providing CANVAS training time during the school day, before the
school day, and after the school day. Mrs. Shifflett can also help with the
leadership condition. Encouraging others to think outside of the box when it
comes to CANVAS and being available for participants to consult with her
about the ideas they come up with as they are related to CANVAS and
collaboration. Regarding the rewards and incentives condition, Mrs. Shifflett
could provide workshop wages for the teachers that attend CANVAS training
sessions on their own time or provide coverage for teachers who may want

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

24

to collaborate face to face to discuss a collaboration that occurred through

the CANVAS learning management system.
The next key person is my technology teacher, Vernecia Griffin. She
can address the knowledge and skill condition, the commitment condition,
and the leadership condition. As the best technology leader at my school,
Vernecia can help with the knowledge and skill condition by teaching the
stakeholders about CANVAS. She can deepen their knowledge and refine
their skills so that they will be experts with the learning management
system. She can help with the commitment condition by always showing her
enthusiasm to learn and work with CANVAS to the staff as a whole. As the
related arts representative in the building, she can also support those
teachers in adapting to the new system and fostering more collaboration
through the related arts staff and grade level staff. This would fulfill the
leadership condition.
Grade level representatives can address the conditions of
dissatisfaction with the current management system, expecting and
encouraging participation, and commitment of participants. The
representatives can report back the dissatisfaction that their grade level
teams are experiencing with the current system through discussions and
meetings that the stakeholders and myself conduct. They can encourage
participation by supporting their teammates in implementing CANVAS and
encouraging them to collaborate through the CANVAS learning management

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

25

system. The representatives can help show their commitment to the

innovation by encouraging their team members to build a community of
collaborators throughout the grade levels through CANVAS.
Once the parents are involved in the collaboration process, Eric Soskil,
our Parent Teacher Association president, can assist in the conditions of
available resources, knowledge and skills, and available time for parents. He
can work with the parent community to ensure that all parents and students
can access the CANVAS learning management system at home so that it can
be used to collaborate outside the school building. This would help address
the available resources condition. Mr. Soskil can help with the knowledge and
skills condition by advertising a parent night that will allow parents to learn
about CANVAS and how it can be used to enhance instruction at home.
Finally, Mr. Soskil can assist with the available time by setting up a parent
night where parents can practice using the tools and features that they will
need to use on the CANVAS learning management system.
Finally, the students of Jeffers Hill can assist the participation
expectation condition by requiring their teachers to use more technology
inside and outside the classroom. They can also assist with the
dissatisfaction condition by expressing how they feel about how much
technology is being used in the classroom and what they would like to see
change in the future in regards to that.
Plan of Action

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

26

As with any change, an innovational change must have a vision and a

mission. The vision and mission drives the change and keeps the
stakeholders and participants focused on a central goal that can be
accomplished when all involved work together. The vision I have for
technology within my school and my innovational change is that in the
future, I would like to see a technologically fluid community of teachers and
students. I would like to see technology available and being used regularly
across the grade levels. With the use of real world problems and studentcentered learning, I would like to see students learning at their own pace and
working on the types of problems they will have to solve in their future
career fields. This could happen through flipped classroom models and the
use of more video lessons for students to view both at school and at home. I
would also like to see more teacher collaboration across the grade levels.
There is not enough time in the day to get everything done, but if teachers
are sharing lessons, ideas, and strategies, it could save us all time and prove
to make even better lessons.
In regards to my innovational change, the vision I see for my school is
that in the future, I would like for all staff and students at my school to be
able to use CANVAS with ease and confidence. I would like for teachers to
use CANVAS regularly for instructional purposes. They should be able to find
standards, exemplary documents, and gain and share ideas with teachers in
the same school and with teachers in different schools. For students, I would
like them to be able to control their learning through CANVAS. They can refer

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

27

to video lessons to help with homework or find resources their teachers have
uploaded to their personal teacher home pages to help them with subject
concepts at any time. I would like for all students to experience the flipped
classroom model at least once during their time at Jeffers Hill and provide
feedback on how well or not well it worked for them. I would like for students
to be able to communicate with their teachers using CANVAS to share
concerns and triumphs in their learning. Finally, I would like to see parents
involved with using CANVAS as well. Through CANVAS, teachers can send
announcements regularly to the parents in the classroom. They can alert
parents to what is being taught in different subject areas through
announcements, emails, and videos. I would also like to see parents being
able to communicate with the teacher about the different lessons and
themes that are being taught throughout the year. Having the teachers,
students, and parents involved and using CANVAS regularly will help move
Jeffers Hill into the ever-changing technological future.
A mission for a vision is a very important part of a technology plan. The
mission consists of the steps that will turn a vision into a reality. The mission
I have for my school in regards to technology and my innovation has many
parts. To begin with all stakeholders and participants in the school must work
together in order for the vision to come to fruition. Everyone involved must
keep the vision as their goal and work towards accomplishing it. Learning will
look drastically different from what it does now. Students will communicate
and collaborate with each other not only with small groups within the

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

28

classroom, but in online communities. In these communities, they will

research, complete, and design projects that hold interest to them and will
challenge their critical thinking skills. Technology will be used throughout
lessons seamlessly and regularly. Students will be able to work on a variety
of devices with ease and will be able to trouble shoot their own problems. In
order to have this happen, the staff must be educated and enthusiastic about
the technology given to us by the county. They must be ready to learn about
technologies that will enhance their students learning experiences. Doing all
these things will produce independent and forward thinking learners who will
be prepared for the careers of the future.
With a vision set and steps described in order for the vision to take
place, there must be a plan of action that moves the school towards the
vision. The plan should have all the necessary actions that need to take
places along with specific dates and benchmarks to ensure that the actions
will be followed through. Below, I have include a chart that outlines the
actions I plan to take to implement my innovation and bring my school closer
to my vision and mission.
Action
Meet with
principal to share
vision and goals
of technology
plan and
expectations of
CANVAS
At full staff
meeting, review

Person/Group
Responsible
Anitra Palmer

Date to Be
Completed
Prior to August
2015

Anitra
Palmer/Vernecia

One day during

pre-service week

Assessment
Letter of Intent to
Principal and sign
off for approval

Give needs
assessment

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School
CANVAS tools and
processes such
as creating and
maintaining
homepages,
accessing
curriculum,
maintaining a
grade book,
starting and
responding to
discussions, and
maintaining
electronic
attendance.
Review needs
assessment with
newly formed
CANVAS
committee.
-Determine what
needs the staff
still have for
CANVAS
Plan CANVAS
Camp topics and
dates
Alert staff to
CANVAS Camp
and what it
entails. Inform of
topics that will be
addressed along
with dates each
topic is
addressed
First CANVAS
Camp held after
school. The focus
is the neediest
topic

Griffin
(Technology
teacher and
CANVAS POC)

in August 2015

(Google Form) for

teachers still
having questions
about CANVAS
-Interest survey
(Google Form) for
teachers who
would like to be
on a CANVAS
committee

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
committee

End of September
2015

Meeting minutes
and planning
sheet completed

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
committee
Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
committee

2nd week of
October 2015

CANVAS Camp
dates and plans
completed
Email to staff
with dates and
topics of CANVAS
Camp included

End of 2nd week

of October 2015

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

End of October
2015

Meet with
individual staff
about concerns

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
committee

First and second

week of
November

Second CANVAS
Camp after
school. The focus

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
committee

End of November
2015

Survey within
CANVAS asking
whether camp
was helpful and
any further
concerns staff
still have
Feedback survey
assessing
individual
meeting
Survey within
CANVAS asking
whether camp

29

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School
is second
neediest topic
Meet with
individual staff
about concerns

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

First and second

week of
December

Third CANVAS
Camp after
school. The focus
is the least
neediest topic

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
committee

End of 2nd week

of January 2016

Meet with
individual staff
about concerns

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

End of January
2016

Staff Assessment
of CANVAS
Camps

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

End of January
2016

CANVAS
Committee
Meeting: Review
results of CANVAS
Camp
-Introduction of
Collaboration
amongst teachers
through CANVAS
Brainstorm
CANVAS
collaboration
ideas

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee/Verne
cia Griffin
(Technology
teacher and
CANVAS POC)

First week of
February 2015

was helpful and

any further
concerns staff
still have
Feedback survey
assessing
individual
meeting
Survey within
CANVAS asking
whether camp
was helpful and
any further
concerns staff
still have
Feedback survey
assessing
individual
meeting
Google Form to
all staff assessing
effectiveness and
impact of
CANVAS Camp
-Meeting minutes
completed

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

End of first week

of February 2015

Google Doc
joining all ideas

-Determine top
ways to
collaborate
between grades
within Jeffers Hill
-Plan CANVAS
Collaboration
Meeting
March Staff
Meeting: Alert
Staff to
Collaboration

Anitra Palmer/
CANVAS
Committee

Third week of
February 2015

Google Doc with

action plan
completed

Anitra Palmer

2nd Tuesday of
March 2015

Google Doc of
teachers
interested in
attending

30

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School
Meetings. Include
topics and dates
First CANVAS
Collaboration
Meeting: Show
how to
collaborate
through CANVAS.
Discuss top two
ways to
collaborate
amongst the
grades
Second CANVAS
Collaboration
Meeting: Discuss
collaboration
efforts within
grades. What
were the
successes? What
were the
problems?
Discuss last two
ways to
collaborate
amongst grades
Measure
effectiveness of
CANVAS
Collaboration
Meetings
Review results of
survey
-Assess
effectiveness of
CANVAS
Committee
-Discuss future
plans for
collaboration and
use of CANVAS
for next year
Review results of
Effectiveness
survey
-Discuss changes
in committee for
next year

meetings
Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

End of March
2015

Staff must reply

to CANVAS
Discussion on 1
way they
collaborated with
staff or grade
level team
through CANVAS

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

2nd week of April

2016

Staff must reply

to CANVAS
Discussion on 1
way they
collaborated with
a different staff
member or grade
level team
through CANVAS

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

End of April 2016

Anitra
Palmer/CANVAS
Committee

2nd week of May

2016

Survey through
CANVAS about
effectiveness of
CANVAS
Collaboration
Meetings
-Completed
Meeting minutes

Anitra
Palmer/Vernecia
Griffin
(Technology
teacher and
CANVAS

End of May 2016

-List of positives
and negatives
-Completion of
future plans
organizer

31

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

32

POC)/Principal

In the future, I would like my completed plan to look similar to the

Maryland Plan for Technology in Education and the Daniel Elementary School
Technology plan. With both plans, I find them easy to read and understand. I
have no questions about any parts of the plans. All the objectives and targets
are outlined and explained. In the Maryland Plan for Technology in Education,
each objective lists a group that will move students towards the target, how
students are currently doing on the objective, data points on the objective,
and future recommendations that will continue to enhance all Maryland
students learning through technology. While the Daniel Elementary School
Technology Plan is not as detailed as the Maryland Plan, I do like that the
plan lists specific topics for staff development. I also like that the roles for
the technology support are clearly defined so that the community knows
what it is responsible for supporting. Both plans have characteristics that I
hope to use in my own technology plan in the near future.

Running Head: Technology Plan for CANVAS and Collaboration in Jeffers

Hill Elementary School

33

References
Dwyer, D.C, Ringstaff, C., Sandholtz, J. (1990).Teacher Beliefs and Practices
Part 1: Patterns
of Change The
Evolution of Teachers Instructional Beliefs and Practices in High- Access-toTechnology Classrooms First-Fourth Year Findings (Report #8). Retrieved
from Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow
http://www.borderlink.org/BLresources/content/acot/rpt08.pdf.

Ely, D. P. (1990). Conditions that facilitate the implementation of educational

technology innovations. Journal of Research On Computing In Education,
23(2), 298.

Surry, Daniel W. Diffusion Theory and Instructional Technology. [Online]

Available http://intro.base.org/docs/diffusion/, February 20, 1997.