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Northwestern IT Inducts Instructors to Inaugural Canvas Hall of Fame

Northwestern IT Inducts Instructors to Inaugural Canvas Hall of Fame

June 1, 2022
Daniel Hoefler
Categories: community, pedagogy, events

At TEACHx 2022, three Northwestern instructors were inducted into the inaugural class of Northwestern’s Canvas Hall of Fame. A new award, the Canvas Hall of Fame was created to honor instructors who went above and beyond to create engaging learning experiences for their students using the Canvas Learning Management System during the 2021-2022 academic year. Nominations for the Canvas Hall of Fame came entirely from students in one of three categories:

  • Most Innovative Course Site: This award is given to the instructor who best exhibited an innovative approach to the delivery of their course in Canvas. This open category allows students to identify what they find as innovative in Canvas.
  • Best Use of Lecture Videos/Recordings: This award recognizes faculty who use Zoom or Panopto to deliver or supplement lecture content in an engaging and, where possible, interactive way.
  • Excellence in DEI/Accessibility: This award honors faculty who have successfully integrated the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility into their Canvas site.

An incredible 660 individual nominations were received for 360 instructors from all 12 Northwestern schools — a true testament to the level of excellence in course delivery from all branches of the University.

Inaugural Year Winners

Most Innovative Course Site

Katie Gesmundo

Assistant Professor of Instruction, Co-Director of General Chemistry Laboratory

Winning Course: Fall 2021 Chemistry 161

In choosing this course for the award, the selection committee noted:

“From the colorful front page to the use of Padlet for student questions during lectures, the creativity of Chem 161 instructor Katie Gesmundo is abundantly evident. The site is very well organized, puts student concerns front and center, and uses multiple ways to be welcoming and inclusive. In addition, the instructor shares slides, video recordings, and even an anonymous drop box where students can share concerns and problems. There are lots of science writing resources, an Excel tutorial, and an opening survey to determine names and pronouns. There’s also an unusual and entertaining use of comics to get difficult chemistry concepts across. The course site is very well thought through and makes good use of the technologies available.”

Best Use of Lecture Videos/Recordings

Ilya Mikhelson

Associate Professor of Instruction, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Winning Course: Fall 2021 Engineering Analysis 1

In choosing this course for the award, the selection committee noted:

“Professor Mikhelson has capitalized on the use of video in multiple ways in this course. Not only has he recorded every lecture for both his classes, but he has also provided recordings of his review sessions, helpful hints, and virtually everything a student might need in this course. Many of the videos are also hosted on YouTube, making the material available to others. In many cases, Mikhelson has pre-recorded information using Panopto, employing screen-writing techniques for annotation. In all cases, the audio is clear and well recorded. This is only a guess, but our estimate is that this course represents more than 500 hours of recording work – truly a monumental effort. For the students in Engineering Analysis I, this assiduous attention to detail and ability to re-use is a gift.”

Excellence in DEI/Accessibility

Ray Noll

Affiliated Faculty, SPAN Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-22), Gender & Sexuality Studies
 Winning Course: Winter 2022 Queer Criminality and Political Transgression

In choosing this course for the award, the selection committee noted:

“The course design of Gender Studies 353 is clear and well organized, with modules progressing week by week and including links to the course readings. The syllabus is very clear and includes an accessibility statement. All readings are linked in the course Modules area; most are PDFs. As such, they are readable by a screen reader. The Canvas syllabus page is also set up well to be read by a screen reader.

This course really stands out in terms of equity and inclusion. The readings cover a wide range of topics and have a wide range of authors in terms of gender identity, nationality, and race. The course seems to rely entirely on readings available on Canvas, making it a $0 cost course for materials. The first survey in the course is also inclusive, asking students to specify their names and pronouns, the pronunciation of their names, their year, and major. It also encourages the usage of Namecoach, another tool that can promote inclusion.”

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees and winners! Nominations for the second class of the Northwestern Canvas Hall of Fame are already being received and we look forward to honoring another set of winners at TEACHx 2023.