InstructureCon 2016 Post-Conference Feedback

[jordan]

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tl;dr: This is an open discussion where you all can publicly share your qualitative thoughts and feedback about InstructureCon 2016! Please post before reading the comments from others. Then feel free to reply to others!

Once again we were stunned by another kumbayawesome InstructureCon! Fortunately the great sessions, ideas, and connections we made, can live on within our Canvas Community and in the InstructureCon 2016 community space! Remember that you can keep the conversation alive, around each breakout session, by adding comments! This is a great way to connect with the presenters and share thoughts/ideas with other participants.

Please be sure to take that survey that our marketing team sends out, so we can make instcon even better next year. That quantitative feedback is invaluable.

In addition we wanted to have an open discussion where you all can publicly share your qualitative thoughts and feedback about InstructureCon 2016!

Here's some things you might want to talk about: the sessions, the keynotes, the activities, the online schedule, the app, the booths, the venue, opportunities to connect, ideas for the Community Team to improve community interaction and engagement.

Thanks for your help Canvas Community...  We ❤️ you!

Onward and upward!

PS... Don't forget to add all those kumbayawesome photos you took, to the Camp Canvas Photo Gallery...

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In your responses please @mention other community friends or use the "Share" tool to encourage others to offer their feedback as well!

Let's kick off this discussion with some @mentions:

 @KristinL ​,  @jward ​,  @tom_gibson ​,  @kub26 ​, kdfrench​,  @rseilham ​,  @ckofeldt ​,  @ktesterman1 ,  @roush_94 ​, amber_morse​,  @dlyons ​,  @mjevins ​,  @hyrum ​, lalevesque​,  @mfgu ​, kbeimfohr​,  @jasond ​,  @britain_woodman ​, regina_mccurdy​,  @hsiao_62 ​, shortridge​,  @stuart_ryan ​, lambj​ @lindalee ​, awilliams​,  @thatcher_bohrma ​,  @crystal_trotter ​, Deactivated user​, 985706039​, bsargent​,  @bwalters ​,  @travis_cox ​,  @beth_ritter-gut ​,  @tmercer ​, mouldera​, Deactivated user​, sblyth​,  @tawnya_means ​,  @michellemeazell ​,  @mlattke ​, jray11​, Deactivated user​, mlove​,  @colleen_ortega ​, whitney.kilgore​,  @victoria-maloy ​,  @arovner ​,  @kevin1 ​,  @lstark ​, dtheriault​, kmiller​,  @BethCrook ​,  @grahamb ​,  @Chris_Hofer ​, floria​, sphoward​, Deactivated user​, dhawley​, jwhite​, mmorvant​, goodrum​,  @kristie_johnson ​, Deactivated user​, hooker.24​, lydia​, yotebrarian​, A00015317​, catherine_gregory​,  @kyle_johnson ​,  @timothy_mckean ​,  @murphy_1527 ​,  @sbeck1 ​,  @ewilson ​,  @lclontz ​,  @straussi ​, chriscas​,  @candace_girard ​,  @p_bier ​,  @kdscholl ​, bigenhoc​ aharris​,  @dave-long ​,  @kschneider25 ​, 16247​,  @skowlaski ​, msl_adm​, evans.1517​, eanderson3​,  @jbrady2 ​,  @Adrienne_J_Gaut ​,  @np ​,  @ebaker ​, timf​,  @travis_thurston ​, Deactivated user​, jap98y​, seneman​,  @SchaeferG ​, stefaniesanders​,  @Renee_Carney ​,  @scottdennis ​,  @biray ​

[kmeeusen]

Susan:

Your idea is very similar to the structure of the CampEd - Unconference held through the pre-conference day the last two years. Only your idea is more distributed. Again a somewhat formalized form of networking. Hey, we could even call them networking sessions, with as you said with a list of potential topics or a similar theme to each one such as grading, UI, LTIs, quizzes, etc., etc.

Love the idea!

KLM

[cms_hickss]

 @kmeeusen ​, I've been to a few other conferences that had "breakout session" rooms. It can be a little like EdCamp/BarCamp. At the last one we used stick signs on the tables to mark the discussions (and so that people could easily find the table from the door) for accessibility or data while others had "open" written on them.

[jordan]

Brilliant idea, Susan!

[Chris_Hofer]

I really enjoyed my time at instcon 2016​ this year.  This was my second time attending the conference (I attended two years ago in Utah).   @DeletedUser ​ and  @grommelfanger ​ were with me, too.  Our flights had delays (both flying to and from Denver), but the conference was good (even with the daily rain).  Here are some of my highlights:

• Getting to hear and see more about the Canvas Studio: Modern Quizzing Engine that is being developed.
• Learning more about the new Canvas mobile apps that are specific to one's role in Canvas.
• Learning more about Live APIs for Admins.
• Hearing about the Canvas Roadmap.
• Learning more about Nebula for discussion topics.
• Getting to meet, in person, fellow Canvas Coaches and Instructure staff: awilliams​,  @kmeeusen ​,  @Robbie_Grant ​, stefaniesanders​ (who I'd met once before),  @travis_thurston ​,  @scottdennis ​,  @Renee_Carney ​, and erinhallmark​.
• Seeing both They Might Be Giants and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for the first time in concert.
• Attending Game Night on Tuesday evening and learning a new game, King of Tokyo.
• Getting to see my sister and niece for a brief time (they live in Breckenridge...not too far from Keystone).

One thing that was frustrating was connecting to wi-fi around the Conference Center.  With so many people there, it was easy to see why you could experience connection issues to the wi-fi.

Regarding the app...I thought it was good, but I really didn't like the fact that I needed to create a login ID and password to use it...because I'll likely not ever need to use that login ID/password again.  I know that there are apps that you can save a personal schedule without the need for a login ID and password, so I'm not sure what the value was in having this a part of the conference app.  😞

All in all, I felt it was worth my time to attend the conference.  I learned some new things, and I am now eager to share what I've learned with our faculty!  Thanks for a great conference, Instructure!

[Chris_Hofer]

Regarding the air conditioning comments I've been seeing (so far, only through page 3 of comments)...  I asked my sister about this (she lives in Breckridge...not far from Keystone), and this is her response, "Hardly any people have air conditioning.  It cools off in the night so most places don't have it.  Mostly business (do)."

[Chris_Munzo]

I thought of one other suggestion for our hosts.  If we go with the same booklet / name tags next year, can we print the attendee's name on both sides?  There was always a 50% chance it would be flipped around.  I would also like to see the name of the school printed in bigger font.  I had to get so close to people to read the school name that I got slapped a couple of times!  :smileylaugh:

[hansardc]

Where can I find the recordings??

[scottdennis]

Hi Carey,

It usually takes a month to six weeks before the recordings have all been processed and uploaded to YouTube and to the Community.  We will post a global announcement and likely a mast image on the home page when they have been uploaded.

Thanks,

SD

[jbrady2]

Kumbayawesome! The Highlight Reel is up InstructureCon 2016 Highlight Reel - YouTube

[admin]

TL;DR:

Beautiful Venue, good food,  good presentations by customers, vendor led presentations felt a bit sales pitchy. Wi-Fi was the worst of conferences I've attended, Orange Route was never on time, and reservations seemed over booked.

I'm hoping next year has some Banner schools doing presentations, and maybe a "town meeting" style session where we can ask Instructure experts about issues, concerns, accolades, and suggestions.

One other hope is for a technical "track" for sessions with some more techy "meat" -- showing off code, hacks, integrations, etc.

The Wi-Fi ... oh the Wi-Fi -

Other than in my room, it was basically unusable.  Even with AT&T, the density of users on their data plans b/c the Wi-Fi was so bad made even using my data plan almost useless.

[admin]

Although the location was absolutely beautiful, the distance from the airport was a bit challenging. Plus, not being able to easily walk between the housing locations and the conference center meant attendees were dependent on shuttles, and couldn't easily drop things off/pick things up from their rooms. I eventually adjusted to the elevation, although it was a bit headache-inducing on the first couple of days.

The sessions I attended were mostly good, but sometimes there was too much "why this is important" to set up the session, meaning that the practical solutions the presenters wanted to talk about were short-changed at the end. Finally, I realized that there are some institutions that have been using Canvas for quite a few years, and they need different types of sessions than those institutions who have just recently implemented, or are going to implement soon. So although it's helpful to have tracks focused around admin needs, K-12, etc., I think it might also be useful to have some kind of designation in the schedule for sessions that are focused toward new Canvasers and experienced Canvasers.

I'm glad there was some focus on open access and other issues like that, but I think more could be done in the future to talk about the issues that complement the technical aspects of using Canvas, meaning the instructional design issues. Canvas can help instructors deliver open educational resources. It can help them be more culturally responsive to their students. It can help them implement universal design. It can help them build assignments that aren't meant to be thrown away (essays) but instead ask students to create real-world projects such as building an art history timeline that each subsequent class builds on, adds to, and learns from.

[jbrady2]

Instructurecon 2016 videos are slowly beginning to appear on the Canvas LMS YouTube channel.

[travis_cox]

Link for the lazy: CanvasLMS - YouTube

[DrNufer]

I think this was mentioned already, but I'm on mobile and can't scroll through the comments easily. In fact I probably mentioned it in my first comment. Even so, I want to reiterate that instructurecon should really add on one more day - especially if it is at the same venue. Flying and shuttling to that venue is quite onerous, and it would really make it worth our effort to add on that one extra day.

[Chris_Munzo]

Or make the venue easier to get to...

[travis_cox]

+1 for  @Chris_Munzo ‌'s comment.

I can't emphasise enough how frustrating it is for the venue to be located in the middle of nowhere. Sorry to anyone at Instructure who thinks it's a great location, but it's really not ideal. My commute involves 23 hrs of travel from Australia, only to arrive .... then rent a car and drive another 2 hours into mountainous terrain on the wrong side of the road. The feeling of arriving in Denver and still being a long way from the actual event is "grr". At the other end of the conference, the unconference being moved to Friday means rushing off early just to get on the first of my three flights home, or else I need to wait another day before departing the USA. If the conference was in a major city, rather than the back of beyond, it would not have the same impact.

[scottdennis]

Hey Travis,

Way back when I was lucky enough to go to the first Instructurecon which was held in a mountain resort that was mostly abandoned for the summer.  I think this venue was mainly chosen because it was local for the majority of customers (there were just a handful and all in Utah) and probably inexpensive.  From the start people have reported liking the isolated feeling without all the distractions of the big city where conference goers can just fade into the the general scene of the city.  Not to bludgeon the camp analogy to death but that is where it started.  That all being said, as the event continues to get bigger and as you rightfully point out, we need to consider the needs of people traveling from far corners we may get to the point where we need to move the venue closer to an international hub.  I will make sure the event planners are aware of your observation and that people are still posting here in the 2016 discussion thread.

[BethCrook]

The unconference day on Tuesday was so great and informative!!  

[cms_hickss]

I saw on the schedule (Schedule - Instructurecon 2017 | Keyston, CO | July 25-27, 2017 ) that the unconference day had been moved to the Friday ( July 28th) after the regular conference from 8am to 1:30pm.

[kona]

Well that's sure unfortunate. We were planning on heading out on Friday morning and not sure if we can stick around. 😞

[kona]

Also sad that this was a great springboard to the full conference and a great chance to meet people and start conversations (with both attendees and Instructure employees) that could continue during the conference.

[BethCrook]

Definitely unfortunate!  I have to leave early Friday morning for the trek back to the East Coast before kids bedtime.  And agree with Kona about it being a great start for conversations to continue through the week!   Please reconsider!!

[Stef_retired]

I've put together a collection of preparation tips for people who come from low elevations and/or humid climates (e.g. Florida): https://community.canvaslms.com/message/60788-instcon2017-prep-calling-all-flatlanders