Client Case Study
BYU-Hawaii Online
Education Department
“We find that if
the technology isn’t
right, the barriers
become more powerful
than the benefits.
For the educational
model to work right, the
technology has to work
almost perfectly.”
Michael Griffiths,
Director, BYU-Hawaii Online
Can the right technology help to increase retention
Building Social Presence, Community,
rates and improve the quality of distance education?
and Retention with Asynchronous Video
BYU-Hawaii’s online education director, Michael Griffiths, firmly
BYU-Hawaii boasts an online program that seemingly touches
believes technology can increase retention with new innovations
nearly every continent of the world with students from 27 different
that can help to enhance social presence, communication, and
countries. But program enrollment is only half of the equation.
community. He also thinks educational quality will be enhanced
Anyone familiar with distance education knows that retention can
when instructors have flexible tools adaptable to their teaching
be a challenge, especially when students feel disconnected from
style and method. Now Griffiths has the right tool to help him
peers and instructors.
prove it—Canvas by Instructure.
“It seems that there is something missing from the educational
When Griffiths was given the mandate to deliver distance courses
experience when you don’t see people and interact with them,”
to international students preparing to attend BYU-Hawaii, he
Griffiths said.
began to implement a new model of online education that he had
been developing since 2007. This model is a pedagogical system
that employs asynchronous video (“video mail”) for student
presentations, teacher feedback, and student discussions.
He discovered an answer to the distance dilemma through
personal experience. A native of the United Kingdom, Griffiths
found it difficult to stay connected with his family across the
Atlantic. Rather than schedule live video calls, he began taking
“It’s pretty cutting edge to be doing video mail in education,”
video of his children in short snippets and posting the clips to
Griffiths said. “We find that if the technology isn’t right,
YouTube where grandparents in England could watch and respond
the barriers become more powerful than the benefits. For the
at their leisure, sometimes with their own videos.
educational model to work right, the technology has to work
almost perfectly.”
“We are excited about the
teaching and learning
possibilities that are now
available to us through
the Instructure LMS.
We have greater latitude
in making pedagogical
choices and more tools
in the system to
effectively adapt content
for online delivery.”
Gael Weberg,
Instructional Course Designer,
BYU-Hawaii Online
Recording and submitting video where another could later watch
“Everywhere in the LMS—wherever there is the ability to submit
and respond asynchronously seemed to meet flexibility
something—it can be done in traditional ways but also in video,”
requirements for an online course. So Griffiths tried it. After
Griffiths said. “It’s fully integrated into the course management
sending students a video introduction, Griffiths instructed
system, which means I can do whatever I want with it.”
students to reply with their own video introduction. He held video
discussion forums where students watched and responded—
via video—to the ideas of other students. Students also presented
answers to essay question in video clips rather than in writing.
Griffiths responded to each student video with an individualized
feedback video. Though the technology didn’t always work
and was often challenging for some to grasp, student feedback
for the course was enthusiastic.
Finding the Right Tool: Canvas by Instructure
Although he had learned to compensate for technological glitches
and workflow issues, Griffiths still yearned for a fully integrated
system that was easy to use. He found it with Canvas, the LMS
by Instructure, whose open architecture and simple user interface
seamlessly employ the video tools Griffiths sought.
Griffiths said one of his favorite Canvas features, Speed Grader,
simplifies the way instructors can respond to and grade
assignments. Within one screen, an instructor can review a
student’s video submission, add a grade and provide text
comments or even send video response to the student who also
can see the grade and video feedback on a single screen. The
integrated solution brought a new level of simplicity to using
video mail the other systems didn’t have.
“Whatever learning management system we were using had no
knowledge that we responded to the students,” he said. “There
was a disconnect between the two. Now, in one page, I can see the
student submission, the grade and the feedback from the tutor.
It’s all integrated.”
Uniting the Globe
Instructor David Bybee, says he’s been able to enjoy the benefits
Canvas unites BYU-Hawaii
Online students from
around the world:
of using asynchronous video without the hassle of jumping
USA
Mongolia
Hong Kong
Korea
Samoa
Tonga
Japan
Thailand
China
Canada
Singapore
New Zealand
Philippines
Micronesia
Indonesia
they want to say and even practice before hand. In the end, I think
Taiwan
South Korea
Pakistan
Fiji
Ghana
Australia
Equador
Saipan
Solomon Islands
Cambodia
Chile
France
between browsers. “[The video component] allows students who
wouldn’t participate in the class discussion to express themselves
in a less intimidating environment. They can think about what
they learn and retain more of the material and concepts by actually
talking about them on video.”
3051 West Maple Loop Drive, Suite 300
Lehi, Utah 84043
Office: 800 203 6755
info@instructure.com
The flexible and open learning environment Canvas provides
allows instructors to relate to students in unique ways.
Communication with the instructor is essentially one-on-one
instead of the more traditional lecture hall environment. Both
instructor-to-student and peer-to-peer relationships are created
and strengthened using video and voice. Every student speaks
up and responds in this learning environment—even students
Other faculty and staff at BYU-Hawaii are busy developing English
who normally would not participate in a traditional classroom
as a Second Language (ESL) courses using Canvas. Course
setting. According to Griffiths, this individualized learning
designer Gael Weberg said she loves Canvas’ ease of use—from
experience is key to enhancing the quality of online education.
a preview function that allows you to view presentation slides or
spreadsheets within the system—to a drag-and-drop feature to
easily upload or move content. “We are excited about the teaching
and learning possibilities that are now available to us through
the Instructure LMS,” she said. “We have greater latitude in making
pedagogical choices and more tools in the system to effectively
instructure
Enhancing the Quality of Distance Education
adapt content for online delivery.”
Instructure, Inc. is an educational software company based in
Utah. Their primary product is Canvas, an on-demand Software
as a Service (SaaS) Learning Management System created for
post-secondary, and secondary learning institutions. Instructure
believes that education extends beyond the classroom,
communication is essential, and that ease of use is paramount.
For more information visit www.instructure.com.