With the closure of My Big Campus, Lake Central has adopted a new Learning Management System (LMS) for students to utilize: Canvas.

“My Big Campus will no longer exist [by] summer 2016, and we wanted to use this school year to transition to Canvas,” Ms. Myra Lolkema, English, said.

Canvas offers various opportunities, some of which were not offered by My Big Campus.

“Canvas actually has a lot more features [than My Big Campus], including being able to directly import Google Docs, as well as linking with many textbook publishers and online resources,” Mrs. Sarah Castaneda, Director of Secondary Education, said.

With Canvas also being used by certain state universities, students who choose to move on to these universities will have a background in using the program.

“Canvas has been adopted by Indiana University and is being piloted by Purdue [University], so knowing how to use the LMS will help prepare our LC graduates going on to those two state universities,” Mrs. Castaneda said.

Throughout the next few months, staff members will attend training sessions in order to broaden their knowledge on Canvas.

“Teachers are attending Canvas training to set up their courses. Teachers will make their calendars and syllabus available to students during this school year and can implement a variety of Canvas features into their curriculum,” Ms. Lolkema said.

If students would like to access Canvas before they are told do so in school, they may access their account themselves.

“Students currently have access to their Canvas account by going to http://lakecentral.instructure.com and logging in with their full student email and password, [which is their] uppercase initials and ID Number,” Ms. Lolkema said.