It’s been a busy summer in Kaneland in the world of instructional technology! We have a few different things going on with the aim of providing you with some options for the year, gathering some feedback about certain products, and making sure we have some good information before we think about what the future could look like.
Tyler
First and foremost, it must be said that Tyler is still our primary tool for attendance, grading, state reporting, etc. At the end of the day, this is the system that we need to ensure is always accurate. Nothing has changed within the Tyler interface that you are all used to using.
For those of you feeling a bit adventurous and looking to try out one of our other options, please do so with the knowledge that at the end of the day we MUST make sure that all information in Tyler is correct. That means that even though we will do everything in our power to avoid it, if there is a catastrophic error in any other program other than Tyler, you will need to ensure that the information in Tyler is correct. While we would do our best to assist you in any way possible should this happen, it may mean that you would need to recreate some of your work in Tyler. If you are solely using Tyler throughout the year, you would not be at risk for this (barring any unforeseen issues that would arise within Tyler itself).
So, that leaves us with Tyler 360 and Canvas.
Tyler 360
Tyler 360 is, more or less, a facelift to Tyler. We are told it is the result of teacher feedback and an attempt to be more in line with a current web 2.0 experience. As you are familiar with Tyler, you will likely find Tyler 360 a relatively easy transition, and I am told the help videos are more comprehensive and easier to find than what exists within Tyler. Tyler plans to eventually migrate all users to this interface over the course of the next few years.
To be fair, I have not spent much time within Tyler 360 and cannot speak to its capabilities. It is an option that you can select at the Tyler login screen, and various staff have already begun using it. Hilary Swett and Laura McPhee have also spent time learning the platform and would be great resources if you have questions.
Canvas
Canvas is an LMS--a learning management system. It is not a SIS--a student information system--like Tyler. It does not have the same level of capabilities for state reporting, scheduling, data warehousing, etc. Therefore, it is easiest to think of it as a “front end” for Tyler. Tyler is still doing a lot of the work, but the user is interfacing with the Canvas program (which then relays information to Tyler). Even if we decided to fully adopt Canvas, Tyler would remain as our SIS and those that need its functionality would retain access.
An LMS has an entirely different purpose than a SIS. A SIS is primarily meant to gather, store, and organize student information. An LMS is primarily intended to be an online learning environment. As such, while there is overlap in what the two do, they are designed with an entirely different philosophy. For a teacher, paraprofessional, or student the LMS is likely more suited to what you would want to be able to do in an online environment. For other roles, it would not be as useful. As we look at Canvas to determine whether or not it is useful, these are the primary roles we will be considering.
Canvas will allow you to set up a gradebook much like you would in Tyler. It will then pass that information back to Tyler with minimal work from you. This is one of the primary features we are testing this year, for if it does not work as intended a tool like this would not be as useful to us.
At this time, attendance within Canvas is possible, but the relay of that information to Tyler is not yet supported. Therefore, attendance must be taken in Tyler. This is a priority issue that we are working with both Canvas and Tyler to address. Like the grading relay, if Canvas could not relay attendance info to Tyler and one had to use two programs for daily tasks, the usefulness of Canvas is greatly diminished.
Where Canvas shines is the ability to create content, grade (and even auto-grade) assignments, communicate with students, and house other content. The capabilities are similar to Google Classroom, however from the albeit small sample size of Kaneland teachers already using Canvas they are far easier to use, more streamlined, and give both students and teachers a greater level of control. These capabilities are the primary reason we are investigating Canvas, though if it can at the same time streamline and make easier daily tasks like grading and attendance that is even better.
Administration, technology, staff, and students are all learning Canvas together at this point. If we decide we want to move in this direction (after getting as much feedback as possible from staff, students, and community), there will be a comprehensive training plan with specific goals and expectations. At this time, however, if you choose to pilot Canvas, please do so knowing that there may be questions that can’t be answered yet. We may run into some hiccups, but we will work as quickly as possible to solve them.
There is no expectation that you use Tyler 360 or Canvas at this point, with the caveat that Canvas has become the portal to sign into many of our online resources. Once getting to the resource through Canvas, you can forget that Canvas even exists.
If you are at all on the fence about trying either Tyler 360 or Canvas as your primary tool, I would suggest you stay with Tyler for now. If you change your mind later, we can always help you work in any system.
Our goal is not to create confusion, but gather feedback so we can ultimately make your day-to-day tasks not only easier but also more rich. We appreciate your understanding as we have a few things going on at once, and we look forward to your feedback throughout this process.
