K-12 Canvas Grants Aim To End 'Lossless Learning' -- THE Journal

Policy & Funding

K-12 Canvas Grants Aim To End 'Lossless Learning'

By Michael Hart
04/06/15

Instructure has given its 2015 Canvas Grants to 10 K-12 educators who demonstrated in their submitted proposals the best ways to develop innovative programs and improve education. The winners, who were announced during the recent SXSWEdu conference March 9-12 in Austin, TX, will each receive $5,000 grants to accomplish the tasks they have set out to achieve.

Stein said the theme reflects one of his company's goals, which is to eliminate the loss of information in the learning process — lost instruction, participation, engagement or assessment.

"Canvas Grants is aimed at helping anyone turn a great idea into reality," he said, "whether that's by designing new technology or testing instructional strategies that move us one step closer toward lossless learning. This year's theme encouraged educators to find new ways to connect technology to the face-to-face classroom and enhance the critical feedback loop."

This year’s K-12 Canvas Grant winners are:

"First Flight Alaska" by Mark Woodward, teacher at Alaska Digital Academy;
"Bike Your Way to Safety" by Kasey Cope, second grade teacher at Pleasant View Elementary, Zionsville Community Schools;
"Smartphone Photography: Leveraging the power of social media and smartphone technology to create and collaborate" by Sterling Worrell, visual arts teacher at Hopkinton Public Schools;
"Is There Life on Mars?" by Brian McDowell, STEM teacher at Mason County Middle School, Mason County Schools:
"Steamboat Makerspace" by Nicole DeCrette, library media specialist at Steamboat Springs High School, Steamboat Springs School District;
"Virtual Student Collaboration Zone" by Ashley Turrell, technology director at Indianapolis Academy of Excellence CFA;
"Ridley C-A-N-V-A-S" by Jim McCusker, biology teacher at Ridley School District;
"Students Learn STEM Through Game Design" by Vanessa Smith, technology teacher at Bret Harte Middle School, Hayward Unified School District;
"Digital Citizenship/Literacy Through the Science Classroom" by Tim Smay, science teacher at University High School, Irvine Unified School District; and
"Losing Less Learning by Making Knowledge Matter in a Maker Lab" by Douglas Ferguson, elementary specialist at Martin Sortun Elementary, Kent School District.

Another component of the Canvas Grants program awarded similar grants to five institutions of higher education as well.

Instructure is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that created the Canvas learning management system.

About the Author

Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.

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