Running Head: ESU COMPOSITION PROGRAM PROPOSAL 1

ESU Composition Program: Restructuring Canvas for GTAs Proposal

Theresa Hier

Emporia State University

IT899XA: Masters Project In IDT

Ms. A’Kena Long

Running Head: ESU COMPOSITION PROGRAM PROPOSAL 2

ESU Composition Program: Restructuring Canvas for GTAs

Proposal

The Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism Composition Program at

Emporia is wanting to update their Canvas hub, which displays outdated and unorganized

information for new GTAs in the department, hoping to develop an organizational method to

help set-up modules in a clear manner, a fresh and consistent formatting, and updated material.

This new hub will help new GTAs by answering basic Canvas formatting questions, offering

lesson plans and curriculum guides to direct their instructions, and providing instructional links

and resources.

Problem To Be Addressed

The Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism Composition Program at

Emporia has an outdated Canvas shell hub that has been offering new GTAs who will be

teaching Composition 1 and 2 resources, lesson plans, etc. to help answer questions they might

have about teaching, Canvas, curriculum, etc. However, the current Canvas hub is currently

organized by semesters (Fall 2012 for example) rather than topic or class (Composition 1 or 2).

The department would like a new Canvas hub to be developed and organized into a more

efficient fashion and by topic rather than semester. The current plan is to organize the hub into 4

categories: Getting Started (How to maneuver through Canvas, syllabus templates, etc.),

Composition 1, Composition 2, and Teaching Resources. Each module will then have items to

help within that topic areas. For examples, each class will have links to the major writing

assignments and their rubrics, minor examples of writing assignments that could be utilized or

used as examples, and other suggestions on how to operate within the specific classes. The goal
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is to organize everything in such a fashion and style that the material is uniform and easy to find

and use.

Audience Description

The audience for this project will be new GTAs in the Department of English, Modern

Languages, and Journalism Composition Program at Emporia who will be teaching Composition

1 and 2 online. These students would have a bachelors and be within one of the departments’

masters’ programs. These students most likely will have limited teaching experience, so the

department’s goal is to offer them an online repository of information that will prepare them for

the classes they will be teaching through Canvas.

Training Strategy

The instructional strategy that will be implemented for this project is the ADDIE process:

Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. I believe ADDIE is the best

choice for this project as it will allow me to analyze the needs of my client, design an

organizational Canvas hub plan and format to fit my client’s preferences, and implement the new

design and update the modules to fit today’s audience. According to Reiser and Dempsey (2012),

“Creating products using an ADDIE process remains one of today’s most effective tool” (p.9).

Through the analyze stage, I will be able to develop a needs assessment to help identify

the issues and the outdated material in the Department of English, Modern Languages, and

Journalism Composition Program’s Canvas hub that they use for the new GTAs. I will then

design a new organizational plan for the new Canvas class with specific modules, organized by

sections as opposed to semesters. I will evaluate the current sections and collaborate with the

provided instructor from the department to develop each modules’ contents. During

development, I (in collaboration with the instructor) will develop the Canvas hub’s modules and
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the educational materials for each section, and during implantation, we will present the Canvas

hub to the Interim Composition Director for evaluation; I will use her feedback to revise the

project.

Another reason why the ADDIE model fits this project is flexibility of the mode: “It’s

important to note that the ADDIE activities typically are not completed in a linear step-by-step

manner, even though for convenience they may be presented that way by various authors (Reiser

& Dempsey 2012, p. 10-11). The department is pretty flexible as to how the project progresses.

While the designer has weekly meetings set up with the department, the instructor has indicated

that evaluation and revisions can be made during the development of the project, not just at the

end of the project timeline. The ADDIE method permits for revision within each of its stages,

allowing changes to take place throughout the process (Reiser & Dempsey, 2012).

Instructional Technology

The technology that will be used to complete the suggested project for the Department of

English, Modern Languages, and Journalism Composition Program at Emporia will be Canvas,

Microsoft Word/ Google Docs, and OneDrive through Emporia. The main technology that will

be used is Canvas, where the new modules will be developed, organized, and displayed in a

uniform manner, making it easy for GTAs to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

Google Doc and OneDrive will be utilized to share, receive, and organize information from the

instructors donating assignment examples, resources, and advice in a controlled manner. This

material will then be reworked and reformatted in Microsoft Word to fit certain locations within

our organization scheme in the Canvas hub.

Project Timeline
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This project will have clear benchmarks and goals that will need to be met. Below you

will find the timeline and project completion benchmarks that have been shared with the client.

Benchmark Description
Dates

September 28, Client meeting to discuss basic needs and requirements of project
2021

October 15, Analysis - Meet with clients and complete Needs Analysis
2021

October 21, Design - Meet with clients and discuss organizational design
2021

October 28, Meet with clients to discuss the Design. Make changes as needed.
2021

November 4, Development - Develop module content and submit to clients

2021

November 11, Meet with clients to discuss the developed materials. Make changes as
2021 needed.

November 18, Meet with clients to discuss the developed materials. Make changes as
2021 needed.

November 29, Implementation – Meet with clients to discuss any concerns before the
2021 Interim Composition take her final look through the work

December 2, Meet with clients and publish final Canvas hub

2021

Evaluation Plan

The designer will collaboratively work and meet with the instructor for the department

weekly, discussing what needs to be done, what looks good, and if anything needs to be

reevaluated. The Interim Composition Director for the department has access to the class, where

she will review and evaluate the work that is completed, giving suggestions to the team weekly.

In summary, the project work will be evaluated weekly by the designer, the instructor helping,

and by the director.

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Funding and Staff Requirements

This project does not require funding for completion. The only staffing requirement at

this time for this project is a Composition instructor from the Department of English, Modern

Languages, and Journalism Composition Program at Emporia, who will represent the needs and

wants of the department for this project. The designer will meet weekly and work collaboratively

with the instructor to complete the project.

Conclusion

This project proposal will use the ADDIE model that will allow the designer to develop

an organized an easy to use Canvas hub for new GTAs who will be teaching Composition 1 and

2 for the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism Composition Program at

Emporia. This hub will offer a repository of lesson plans, curriculum guides, Canvas lessons, and

teaching resources to help these new GTAs to become effective Composition teachers.
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References

Reiser, R.A. & Dempsey, J.V. (2012). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology.
(third ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.