Spring 2015 Student Focus Groups

The notes below summarize the three student focus groups held during Spring Quarter 2015. 7 students participated during this week of focus groups.

Agenda

  • ~5 minutes: Moderator introductions
  • ~5 minutes: UCI Canvas Pilot Overview & Focus Group Presentation
  • ~2 minutes: Group introductions (name, major, year)
  • ~50 minutes: Questions/discussion

Notes

What are 1 or 2 things you like about Canvas?

  • Likes that it comes as an app as well as a website
  • Likes the Calendar feature. Can use the app to import it into your regular calendar (like Google calendar)
  • Likes the different tabs on the side and top: “More traditional and organized”
  • Likes the other assignments on the side, in addition to the calendar. Provides another reminder
  • Likes presentation of the grade page – as a table
  • Also likes the grade experimentation feature in grades
  • Likes the files tab, finds it helpful
  • Very clear what’s due (vs. EEE, where you have to go dig through the emails)
  • Things are right on the side, you have a little checkmark, it tells you what’s completed and what’s  due
  • Likes that you can turn in assignments right there and see what’s done (but not all classes are using it)
  • Depends on professor utilization
  • Likes the look
  • Discussion format is more friendly than those on EEE
  • Humanities instructor has a good handle on it, she’s used it in previous years
  • Liked the PDF preview function for files; didn’t have to download files in order to get access to files and information. Doesn’t have to download a file just go get access to a single due date
  • Instructor, grades quizzes, score is the best out of 3 attempts. Canvas does a really good job about that; previously, professor tried to do it on EEE, but it didn’t work out well (hard to find feature)
  • Likes that when a grade is posted, it shows you that its there — she gets an alert in the sidebar. Little circle appears in the sidebar.
  • Likes the peer editing interface, ability to comment on paper/pages/documents, and not have to download/print and comment on paper and scan/email/etc.
  • Love  that you can estimate your grade – as a student, want to see how to get an A in the class (she did it this past weekend, “it was so useful”)
  • Likes the consistency of how everything is organized – its really nice, doesn’t have to relearn how to navigate the page every time. Easy to organize
  • Likes that you can get notified when you have a new grade (shows the little 1 in the circle). Can get emails too, unless you opt out.
  • Common thread: they like the Grades feature
  • Likes that the Syllabus is laid out and easy to find
  • Likes that you don’t have to download anything, you can just open it up

What are 1 or 2 things you dislike about Canvas?

  • Hasn’t used the Turnitin functionality this quarter, but has in the past. Usually stuff that happens on Canvas for her are Quizzes; sometimes images don’t show up in the quiz tool. Nothing she can control, but could be training issue for instructors
  • Images don’t appear, certain things take a really long time to load. Has tried from different computers (computer lab, her personal one). Long load times. Usually if there are images on it or lots of graphics.
  • Most issues she’s seen are based on the instructor usage of the system.
  • Hard to find access to her groups — didn’t know that she had to go to the pull-down, so has to figure out how to do it every time
  • Would like it if instructor used Turnitin; doesn’t like having to remember an additional password and navigate over to the system
  • Most important thing is for the instructors to know how to use it, as well as all the different functions. Gets messy when both instructors and students are using it for the first time.
  • Jumps back and forth between pages — have to log in between things. Can’t just log in on Canvas. Has to log in on Canvas, then gets directed to EEE. then has to go back
  • Breadcrumbs aren’t clickable to get back to where she came from; has to go back to the left hand menu (such as when browsing files)
  • Modules: has experiments with lots of lists. The Page is really long, especially if you just need the last week. Would like a better way of navigating through the modules (such as a pull-down menu)

Do you think Canvas is easy to use? Why or why not?

  • Yes — everything is right there, don’t have to click around to find everything, its just right there
  • Yes, but has already used it last quarter, so is familiar with the system
  • Straight-forward, easy to find stuff, layout is a lot more “open”
  • Layout has been pretty intuitive, hasn’t felt frustrated (but maybe she has! Usually accesses things from homepage, focused on completing assignments or chiming in on a discussion).
  • Canvas hasn’t obstructed anything that she really needs to get done
  • Really likes the homepage, user-friendly, tabs on the side with assignments on the right. Easy to navigate. Only got stuck with the discussion/group features.
  • Yes, a lot easier to use than EEE. If you didn’t know what you were doing, it’d be easy to get through.

How would you compare EEE to Canvas? If you had to choose, which would you choose? Why?

  • EEE DropBox was inconvenient to get to, along with MessageBoards, and so on
  • Seems like EEE does so much more. Calendar, all your classes, all your notifications/tasks
  • MyEEE has all your classes and websites on the same page; Canvas has just one class displayed at a time
  • Prefers the Canvas model, where you can focus on one class at a time and use the pull-down to switch between classes
  • Really likes that all classes are on EEE, but could be due to the fact that Canvas Pilot is new
  • Instructor is using EEE DropBox to return exams (RapidReturn), so has to switch back and forth between Canvas to retrieve exams
  • Likes Canvas a lot more then EEE. EEE has a lot on it, not always easy to figure out where to go and what to do
  • EEE is not as organized. Gets really confused – things are scattered (like grades, dropbox, assignment issues)
  • Easier to find submitted assignments on Canvas than on EEE. On EEE, you have to start over from scratch a lot more
  • EEE: can see all of their classes all on one page. Wouldn’t have to toggle between the classes.
  • Canvas: layout is easier, simpler to navigate

Have you used the mobile apps?

  • If yes, what do you like/dislike about them?
    • Has your list of classes
    • Loves the to do list
    • Loves that you can import the calendar into your own calendar
    • Likes the notifications
    • Found out that they had the app because Canvas on Safari notified her that the app existed
  • If no, why not?
    • Didn’t know it existed

Do you feel that communication with you about the UCI Canvas Pilot has been clear?

  • Felt that they had a clear understanding about the pilot and why it’s exists/is important
  • Heard about it from the pilot site, got the link from MyEEE
  • Instructors also told her about it and how to find more information (both instructors told her about it)
  • They just said where to find resources, they didn’t walk her through the Pilot
  • Learned about Canvas Pilot from the spotlight on the EEE homepage
  • Professor went over it (“This is something new we’re trying”), and went over it a bit. Last quarter she had an instructor who was trying to do a flipped/hybrid class
  • Is there information you wished you had had before starting your Pilot class this quarter?
    • That there was a mobile app (had to just stumble upon it)
    • Would like to have known more that it was a Pilot and what that means/meant

How can/should we communicate with students like you?

  1. Instructor emails
  2. Not announcements on MyEEE
  3. Emails to class mail lists
  4. Advertise the mobile app on the regular website somewhere, not just the mobile website
  5. Video overviews of Canvas features
  6. Encourage professors to go over the basics at the beginning of the course, especially if the professor is using third-party tools]

(As time allows) Additional discussion topics: communications, calendar

Communication outside of class

  • More emails because it’s a Canvas Pilot, including instructional emails about how to use Canvas
  • Classes use email, rather than the Canvas Inbox feature
  • Professor is using Canvas messages/inbox, but the student didn’t even realize it; saw everything in Gmail

Calendar

  • Can easily toggle the views
  • Would like to see more calendar integration/schedule/finals/etc.
  • Events cross out once they’re in the past or completed: “I think that’s cool.”
  • Finals: Some instructors are nice and put it on their syllabus or direct you to the “other site” (ZotPortal, in this case)
  • Doesn’t use it for anything else, other than maybe to get access to the book listings for courses)
  • Has used it before, but only with her professor who had already been using Canvas
  • More useful if you have more than one class
  • Optional things are also displayed on the Calendar, so it makes it look like you have a lot to do. Professor posts everything, including readings, but not everything gets crossed out because it isn’t an assignment