Project: Canvas VLE Rollout Programme (Nursing and Midwifery)

Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course

Description

This activity represents the overarching Canvas VLE rollout programme delivered within the School of Nursing and Midwifery between 2018 and 2019, during Queen’s University Belfast’s transition to Instructure Canvas as its institutional virtual learning environment. Dr Matt Birch was responsible for leading and coordinating change-focused digital education activity across the School, while also contributing expertise to wider university-level discussions and governance structures relating to Canvas implementation.

The programme comprised a comprehensive suite of engagement and support activities, including staff talks and briefings, structured and drop-in workshops, extensive one-to-one consultancy, live demonstrations of effective Canvas use, the development of worked exemplars, and the creation of practical guidance to support consistent and pedagogically sound adoption. In parallel, Dr Birch collaborated with and advised institutional working groups and committees, helping to inform shared understanding of effective practice, staff support needs, and expectations around Canvas use.

Rather than focusing solely on technical training, the programme emphasised learning design, assessment practice, accessibility, and student experience, encouraging staff to integrate Canvas meaningfully into their teaching. This developmental approach supported staff with differing levels of confidence and experience, enabling incremental engagement and sustained professional development over time.

The activity resulted in high levels of staff participation, with over 95% of eligible staff engaging in Canvas training, and a significant proportion attending multiple sessions. This level of uptake reflected the effectiveness of the programme’s relational and pedagogically focused approach and contributed to successful adoption of Canvas within the School.

This programme directly aligned with SDG 4 (Quality Education) through enhancement of teaching quality and student experience, SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) through more effective and scalable use of digital learning systems, and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) through the inclusion of accessible and inclusive design principles within training and guidance.

This activity represented a substantial programme of professional practice in digital education leadership, change management, and curriculum enhancement, laying foundations for later school-level digital education initiatives. For his efforts, Dr Birch received recognition for the project's success through the Outstanding Leadership Award within the University for 2019/2020.
Period01 Jan 2018 → 31 Dec 2019
Event typeOther
LocationBelfast, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of RecognitionLocal

Keywords

  • Change Leadership
  • Instructure Canvas
  • LXD
  • Learning Experience Design
  • Learning Design
  • TEL
  • Instructional Design
  • Digital Education
  • Staff Development
  • Professional Development
  • Blended Learning
  • Online Teaching
  • Learning Technology
  • Inclusive Teaching
  • Accessibility in Education
  • Educational Innovation
  • Digital Pedagogy
  • Higher Education Teaching

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