Canvas Adds Learning Mastery Gradebook
Instructure's Canvas learning management system has added a new gradebook designed to help teachers keep track of students' concept mastery.
The Learning Mastery Gradebook is "embedded alongside the traditional grade book in Canvas" and provides a "real-time dashboard to monitor students' progress in a prescriptive way and to make real-time interventions as needed," according to Instructure.
"While the traditional summative approach to education still prevails, there is growing interest in instituting mastery-based assessment practices in classrooms around the country," said Jared Stein, vice president of research and education at Instructure, in a prepared statement. "This new view into student learning will give millions of educators who use Canvas the ability to more seamlessly incorporate reporting on formative, authentic assessments using either model."
"I've been teaching for 26 years, and until now I've never had a way to visually inspect my students' progress in real-time and give them highly individualized feedback based on that information," said Dave Anderson, a teacher-trainer in Utah's Logan City School District. Logan City SD was a pilot site for the gradebook. "The Learning Mastery Gradebook in Canvas is the kind of dashboard a teacher needs to truly personalize the learning experience for a classroom of dozens of students and help each one make meaningful academic progress toward mastery of concepts."
The new Learning Mastery Gradebook is available now as a standard component of Canvas, including the free version. Canvas is in use in more than 150 school districts in the United States. Additional details and a free tryout are available on Instructure's site.