FIT for Canvas

Flexible and Inclusive Teaching using Canvas

The Canvas team is working with the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to support the collegiate University with the design and preparation of Flexible and Inclusive Teaching for the 20/21 academic year.  

Flexible and Inclusive Teaching

Flexible and Inclusive Teaching, or FIT, describes the approach through which teaching will take place for the 20/21 academic year. It is characterised by the need to recognise and minimise the barriers that hinder students’ learning and participation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There will be a strong focus on tutorials and other small-group teaching, complemented by online alternatives for larger group teaching, lectures and some exams, at least for the first term, with the flexibility to move quickly to more remote or more face-to-face teaching depending on circumstances.

The guidance, resources and materials on the Teaching Remotely webpage have recently been updated to take account of the FIT approach. The Flexible and Inclusive Teaching resource in Canvas has also been recently updated by our educational developers to reflect the requirements for FIT. Finally, webinars are also available explaining the principles behind FIT and providing initial guidance to the resources on offer.  

Getting your department FIT for Canvas 

The Canvas team is offering a dedicated service to support departments, faculties and colleges during the 20/21 academic year to ensure that courses meet the requirements for FIT. 

The service will offer structured engagement to check that the appropriate tools and content are in place to give students a seamless learning experience, whatever the teaching scenario adopted. It will also help to ensure that departments etc are prepared, should it be necessary to change the mode of teaching as a result of a need to revert to local/wider lockdown, as has been the case with some overseas universities. 

This engagement is taking place as part of rolling out Canvas to departments and faculties and the available options will be discussed at these meetings. We are also assisting teams who are rolling over Canvas courses to the new academic year to update any templates or to consider new learning pathways to support students as appropriate. 

If you have any questions about the FIT for Canvas Service, please contact us by email on canvasoxford@it.ox.ac.uk 

 

FIT for Canvas Frequently Asked Questions

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Inclusive teaching involves recognising and minimising the barriers that hinder students’ learning and participation. Flexible learning is about accommodating students’ needs for when, where and how they study. We will need to adapt our processes and practices so that all students feel they belong and can achieve, wherever and whenever they are able to study. This is particularly the case should a lockdown/local lockdowns be considered necessary by the University or Government. 

Engagement will take place primarily through departments and faculties, rather than on an individual basis. Some meetings have already taken place with the relevant local teams. We will be working with your local team of academics and administrators to ensure that all staff are equally supported with the relevant tools and templates needed to deliver FIT. 

See above. If required during engagement activity we will direct you to a learning technologist or educational development expert as appropriate.  

The templates and learning pathways on offer as part of the service help you set up Canvas or other tools to ensure that your courses are flexible enough so that if any changes need to be made from in-person to remote teaching, you can respond immediately to those changes with little to no disruption to the student experience. 

A new set of resources detailing the different learning pathways available, depending on your chosen teaching scenario, have been added to the Teaching Remotely website. The Canvas resource has also been updated with new scenarios, including examples from Oxford academics. If you have any questions about the resources, please contact remote@ctl.ox.ac.uk. 

 
New webinars are also available, running from now until the start of term and covering topics including an introduction to Flexible and Inclusive Teaching, Designing Online Seminars, engaging audiences with polling tools and much more. 

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