Beyond the Canvas: Glory Puljak
What does it take to bring lasting innovation to a diverse group of schools? In this episode of Beyond the Canvas, Gemma sits down with Glory Puljak, Manager of Innovation Education at Anglican Schools Corporation, to explore how she helped establish a shared learning platform across 19 schools, balancing consistency with local flexibility.
They dive into the practical realities of leading change: building trust, creating space for experimentation, and designing professional learning that truly sticks. Whether you're rolling out an LMS, rethinking teaching practices, or just looking for a fresh approach to digital transformation, Glory’s considered, grounded perspective will resonate.
Hi, everyone. I'm Gems. I'm the regional director here for K-12 across APAC for Instructure, and welcome to Beyond the Canvas, where we talk about the people and the stories shaping education. Today, I am super duper excited to have Glory Puljak on the show with me today. Glory, if you could introduce yourself and thanks for being here. Hi everyone.
My name's Glory. I work for the Anglican Schools Corporation, predominantly around Sydney and, regional New South Wales. And my role is the manager of innovation education. Awesome. I love that title, manager of innovation and education, because I think there's so many opportunities to sort of innovate within education.
But back in the day, that wouldn't have been a thing. Right? And innovation is so exciting for me, and that's part of the reason why I wanted you on today. Right? So you were one of the first customers that I spoke to when I came back to Instructure and learning the k twelve landscape and, you know, each sort of school is different, each organization is different. And what stood out to me was actually just your drive and how you sort of run it, right, and run the schools and how you're leveraging Canvas. But first of all, I wanna know a little bit about you, as in what drives you and how you got into education.
Yeah. Well, it's a bit of a long story, so I'll cut a bit short. So I have always been a teacher. So I've been teaching, I had been teaching for about fourteen years, and I was at that point where I was an assistant principal thinking, do I get to a principal level, or what do I do with my career? And at that time, I was the, computer sorry, the ICT manager at the same time Mhmm. And really looking at I was in a cluster of Catholic schools, really looking at their head office and thinking, how can I be part of what they're doing? It was really exciting.
They were doing Google rollouts and the whole range of things. And then the Anglican Schools Corporation, it just like it just appeared in in, like, an ad. And I'm like, oh, wow. This is exactly the role that I'm after. And so I got that role, and it was really exciting because at that time, we had just had, an internal mix up of where where our schools were at in ICT.
And so my role was to integrate ICT into the classrooms with some of these schools. And all of a sudden come a couple of years later, all twenty schools were involved in our ICT, management. So we manage all twenty schools. And so part of my role was to go and visit these schools and see what they were doing in the teaching and learning space. And that was really exciting for me.
And then Canvas came along. We had just signed up for Canvas, and it was a board requirement that every school use Canvas. And I was like, oh my gosh. This is such a big job. How am I going to do this? And we started off with a conference.
That's how we started off. And we invited all the schools to come to a conference, which is at the Pullman, and they all wanted to learn about Canvas. And it was fantastic because I had all these managers from Canvas, customer success managers, and we did three days of intense Canvas training with these champions at every school. And so I led that. I organized that.
And then, it was up to me to make sure they were really integrating Canvas, how they were going on their journey, and then using data to inform where they needed to go next. So That is quite a story. That is and so how long have you sort of had Canvas for? Nine years. Nine years? Nine years a lot. Yes.
So you were one of our first. Yes. Yes. So I've seen it come a long way. Yes.
Absolutely. I think also you and you've sort of said to me in one of our first conversations, you've been working with Paul and had that relationship with Paul. For a long time. Yes. Definitely.
Yeah. I think the the adoption and how you brought everyone together even, like, just as that started is just mind blowing to me. Right? Like, it it just makes so much sense that you invested in all of those schools to get them all together to do that intense training altogether. So something that I always say about sort of change management that people approach it differently when things are happening with them, not to them. Even though it was sort of, like, mandated and all of the things and it was the board decision.
Right? The fact that everyone was sort of a part of that right from the get go rather than all of and it built a community, I'm assuming. Absolutely. Absolutely. They were all so excited because at that time we didn't have any learning management system and every school was doing different things. Some were doing some things in, you know, docs and some things in Google.
At that time, Google classrooms wasn't really hitting the mark. And so it was brand new, shiny, and really exciting, and they really wanted the kids to really get involved. So that was that was the driving force, making a difference to the kids. And Mhmm. Also being Anglican schools and independent schools, they wanted a point of difference from other schools around the area.
So they wanted to say, well, this is what we do and look how amazing we are. So Well and and I think that's the thing. Right? You know, like, the way that you just adopted it and brought it on is already just amazing. Right? But then what is that differentiator? Right? So now Canvas has been around for a while. And when I walk into my demos with new schools considering it, I always ask whoever is in that room, hands up, who's had exposure to Canvas.
Yeah. And it is very rare that I will have anyone go, we've never seen it before. Right? And that is fantastic. But something that I've identified coming back is that Canvas has changed a lot. And I'm starting to see that, you know, schools like you, you've had it for, you know, nine years now, that it's kind of like a marriage.
People forget why you fell in love with Canvas in the first place, and you have to continually work at that. Yes. How do you sort of manage that? You know, when you've got sort of schools that are going, yeah, we've got Canvas and how do you keep that, you know, excitement alive, I guess like that? Well, I sort of look at it from, I choose a school that's really utilizing it well, and I showcase that school. But not only that, in that sense, I tell them what the what the kids say. So I give feedback from the kids.
And so I say, listen to the and I've actually got a couple of recordings of a couple of kids that allow me to video them. So look what the kids are saying at this school, what they love about canvas and what they hate about canvas. And the biggest thing they hate is the inconsistency between between, courses. So I thought, well, that you don't want to make that mistake. Let's have a look at why they love it.
Let's adopt the reasons behind that because so often schools think, oh, this is going to be too hard for teachers and it's in the too hard basket. They can't do it. They don't have IT skills. Well, I'm sorry, it's 2025 and we need to get with the program now. And if you are having problems, then you need to seek help.
And then because we need to remember that kids know more than us when it comes to IT. So how are we going to make their lives easier by making sure Canvas works for them? At the moment, I'm really pushing towards making sure that they're using all spectrums for children for, handing in work. So we're looking at the SAMR model and making sure that they're doing all things when it comes to okay. If you've got an assignment, how am I going to present this? Well, I'm really good at video videos, and I'm gonna make a video. I'm gonna hand that in.
I'm actually really good at, you know, making collages, so I'm gonna hand that in as a collage. So really looking at kids as a whole and what is it that they can do to make them to make their education a bit more exciting. There's so many elements of what you just said that I wanna draw down on. So one is obviously the different styles that you look at for the student. Right? You just talked about, I'm really great at making videos, so I wanna be able to do that.
Yeah. Right? For me, that is absolute game changer because, you know, meeting the kid at where they're at and sort of enhancing on what they're good at, not what they're bad at. Do you know what I mean? Like, yes. Exactly. There's certain elements that we have to test and make sure that they meet the requirements and the competencies and all of those things.
But, you know, I think giving the kids the choice, where possible, to actually submit based on what their strengths are because it's also that engagement piece as well. Right? It's it's human nature that you're not gonna do something that you don't really love. But if you're giving the child and the student and that learner license to submit based on what their strengths are, then, I mean, that's excitement. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Also, I think something that I wanna talk about is you talked about the teachers, you know, yes, and and how you support them. And, yes, it is 2025. We know that things have come quite a long way and to the point Canvas isn't new. Right? How do you support the teachers that have been maybe a little bit resistant to adopt Canvas, but also for those teachers? Because, you know, there there is a teacher shortage. Right? There is a school shortage.
How do you actually maintain and keep those teachers happy, satisfied, supported? So is it not being bogged down with administrative tasks? Yeah. Well, I'm gonna be honest with you. It's all about relationship building. So I because I've been doing this role for such a long time, I actually know the schools quite intimately, and I know where their weaknesses are. So I'll say, okay, I'm coming out.
I want you to get a group of, teachers that aren't comfortable, and I will just sit with them. And if it means I'm gonna sit with them for two hours in a afternoon, and we'll go through each individual thing that they can't do, then I'll do that. So I usually have a beginner, intermediate and advanced group. And so that's what I'll do. Today I'm coming out doing a beginner group.
What date have you got available for me? Because they don't have to pay for me. They love it when I come out there. So, yeah, it's, I, I get paid by the corporation so they can invite me five times a week if they wanted to. And I think that's really unique about my role where I'm a consultant that they don't have to pay for. And so they really utilize that.
And that's where the relationship building comes from. And so it's a really exciting role because of that, because you walk into a school and they're not like, oh, here's glory again. It's like, here's glory again. Great. What can we learn from her? And so that is that just that's why I would never leave this job because it's just something that really gets me going.
And really, that's why I wake up in the morning because I know that they love to learn. And if it means I'm gonna meet them where they're at so they can meet their students where they're at, well, that's what I'm gonna do. That point there where you're saying that, you know, you go out to schools and everyone just wants to see you makes my heart so happy to hear that. Right? Because, yes, they want to learn. So we know that there's appetite for them to learn, but there aren't many organizations that sort of have a glory.
No. I know that. Yeah. And and for me and the success that we've seen throughout your organization is how can we and and this is part of the reason why I wanted you. Right? I I wanted you on today's show because we've seen what good looks like and how this can really shape and build that adoption and sort of embed Canvas.
Like, I had another another person on the show who said that it's an environment. Right? It's it's an environment. And, again, it sounds like you're doing that really well. And because it's, yay, his glory rather than, his glory. Right? That's a testament to you because it is relationship building.
But at the same token, you're obviously breeding that culture throughout. Right? Yes. And how and you're demonstrating to the teachers that, hey, using Canvas, there is a lot in it for you. Yes. How do you sort of, like, how do you build that? As in what I mean by that is how do you demonstrate to the teachers that using Canvas can save you time, you can mark with this, you've got templates, all of and build that consistency? Yeah.
Well, I take it back to what they're trying to achieve. So, usually, it's about it's around assessments, and they know they have to do assessments. Mhmm. That's okay. Okay.
Let's have a pretty program. Let's have a look at your assessment. Let's have a look at your assessment schedules. Let's use Canvas now as a tool to deliver those assessments instead of them being really overwhelmed by everything in the menu and going, oh my gosh. There's discussions.
I can do this. No. Well, let's just take it all the way back and start with your assessment. When we do that, then I said, okay. Leading up to this assessment, what activities do the kids actually have to do? Oh, well, they need to watch a movie.
Oh, really? Well, let's just put a clip in here and use studio for this. Great. So then we're utilizing the tools of Canvas without showing them every tool. We're using it so they can build their unit of work around it, then bringing in the tools, and then they get it. I think it you've just touched on the simplicity.
Right? So really pairing it back and meeting teachers where they're at to meet meet the students where they're at. Right? And sort of one of the other elements from what you said earlier is it's not about you. It's about teaching the kids. That's why you're here. Right? So Canvas how does Canvas support that? And how do you think Canvas supports the students throughout? Like, I love that you actually take videos of kids and their feedback.
Yes. I don't think there's many organizations that are doing that. Right? And I I would actually like to see schools doing it more. Yeah. Is that a regular thing or is that how do you talk can you talk me through that a bit, please? Look.
Because I'm at schools very, very often, and so I know the kids that can be videoed. So sometimes, I'll probably do it once a year. Mhmm. Towards the end of the year, I might do a reflection with some of the kids. So if I'm out in a meeting, I say, can I just grab a couple of kids? Yep.
No worries. I'll grab, you know, a range of students in year nine, year ten, and I'll say, well, what have you loved about this year? Have you used Canvas? How have you found it? What have you loved? Do you mind if I video you? They they love getting videoed. So, so that's what I do at the end of the year, sort of reflective process. Then I show the school first. I said, you think this is okay? Yep.
Great. Do you mind if I show another school? Because we're in one system, we've got intellectual property, and I can just show them those videos. It doesn't go anywhere else. So And talking about that one school, so when you say that sort of one system, you've got Canvas as your sort of head account. Yes.
Yep. Your root account. And then each school has a different sub account of that. Yes. Correct.
Awesome. So when you're coming to those sub accounts, right Mhmm. Do all schools have similar LTIs permissions to use or things mandated across the school? So because we have the root account, all of them have the same LTIs. Mhmm. Some schools prefer to use other LTIs than other, than others, and then they'll ask me as an admin, do you mind if I put this in? So we will vet that first for data security.
Yeah. And then we'll I'll say, yep. No worries. We can put that in. Give me give me the details, and I will put it in.
So we have to vet them first. Mhmm. Okay. That's really great. Sort of understanding sort of what that looks like.
Right? Because, you know, we see different schools. They have, you know, to your point, different LTIs and sort of how do you manage that and sort of those permissions as well. Right? And then all All the permissions are are the same for all of us. Yep. That's really that's really fantastic.
And then you guys also recently adopted intelligent insights. Right? Which I really love that LTI tool to show you sort of what LTIs you've got, who's using it, and also identify where those power users are. So to your point, you can spotlight them. Yes. Absolutely.
And that's really exciting. And I'm can't wait to get in there at the end of the term because now we've it'll be around about the end of the term where I'll say, okay, what have people done with with Canvas? Where are their strengths? How can I then utilize this for our next ICT conference? And to that point, you know, I think where are their strengths? Right? Because you utilize it's not just Canvas. Right? You utilize quite a few of our Canvas partners and other ed techs and all of those types of things, right? So there's two points. One is what partners are you using and how are you sort of finding the uptake? Yes. So the major the major partner is Cidi Labs and we just fell in love with Cidi Labs because where I found the sticking point was new teachers coming in, even though I had done beginner classes, especially in junior schools, they didn't, they didn't wanna spend all this time making pages and beautiful pages.
And as we know, Canvas as a blank Canvas, sorry, pardon the pun, can be a little bit dry. And especially for junior school teachers who really want, you know, year three students or year four students to really dive in, they wanted to make it beautiful and really quick and simple, Cidi Labs was was the way to go. So when we implemented Cidi Labs, I did a a day in the office for campus champions, and I said, right. Come over. We'll start doing we'll start doing some of this stuff.
And at that time, Julian, who you know, Julian Riddell, so he was leading that project. And so we did City Labs days once a term. And so people came on board and did City Labs days. And over the year, they were champions at City Labs. So That's really fantastic.
Incredible. Yes. Also, just at your individual schools, you talked about Canvas champions. Do you have I mean, we can't multiply glory, unfortunately. But do you have, like, Canvas champions in each individual school? Yes.
It's necessary because, obviously, I can't be in twenty places at the same time. Mhmm. So, I identify these Canvas champions every year. Sometimes they roll up. Sometimes they're the same person.
But once people leave, I send out a survey at the start of it start of the year to every school. So, right, who's your head of junior school? Who's your head of senior school? Who's your campus champion? Sometimes there's only one. Sometimes there's two. Best case scenario, there's three of them, because we are K-12. So it'd be great to have one in junior school, one in senior school, and then another person that's, like, ahead of department or something.
And that really helps because then I can bring all the Canvas champions into the office, and we can say, okay. Where are you at? Where are you where do you need to go? Let's have a look at your data. Okay. Great. This is where we might need to push this.
You do you need me to come out and help you? So it's those conversations that we have. Seriously, this is like wave a magic wand, and this is like what what good looks like. Like, when I envision this, you would and we have not chatted in this much detail before about how it runs across your organization. Answer these questions. Yeah.
I know. I know. And, like, mate, working, like, edge tech tech education or something. It's Yeah. I'm so smart.
Glory, sort of talking about your, conference. Right? So you have them every year and Canvas has been invited. I'm very, very excited. As soon as that email came through, I I didn't even read it. I was like, yes.
Yes. I didn't even know what I signed up for. Right? I'm like, yes. I'm there. Can you talk me through sort of like the uptake of that, the excitement, sort of what that day typically looks like for your attendees? Yeah.
So we started our conference when we first implemented Canvas, and then we ran one every year after that until COVID. After that, it was the two years that we didn't run one. And we found that even though teachers were thrown into the learning from home, they still wanted more. They, and then going back into the the classroom, it was like, well, what do I do now? That means I need to teach now. I need to actually use Canvas for teaching.
And that collaboration tool sort of went out the window. So a lot of schools are saying, I would love to see what blah blah blah is doing or what this school is doing. I said, right. Time for a time for a conference. So part of that conference was, the main goal was Canvas as well as AI.
And so that was such a big thing last year, especially before ChatGPT came in, that teachers were so scared. They were like, what is the future of education? What does that look like? So I said, right, we need to calm the farm. We really need to calm the farm. Let's bring in Canvas. Let's bring in some what what the roadmap looks like, and let's do some AI stuff.
And we just had sign ups. We I think we had 300 staff members come in. The only thing was that it was in between, some school holidays and not school holidays for some schools. So, okay, it's finding the right date that's really hard. So we decided that we'll do it on the last day of the school holidays.
So then schools didn't have to pay for a casual teacher because they don't have to pay for the conference. They come along. So this year we really want a folk we take all the feedback on board and some of the feedback was they want to do more learning. So they want to learn from the experts. So that's what this focus is learning from you guys about, okay, this is coming out, but this is what it can do for you and go and play with it now.
They want to have something to take away that they can implement tomorrow. So if we're doing it on the last day of school holidays, what can we do on Monday with the kids? So keep that fresh in their head and really excited to try something new. I cannot wait. Not only just for the fact is, like, of obviously being out and being amongst, but I can just you know, I've got goosebumps already thinking about the energy. Right? And and just seeing because in my role, I don't get to really get down to the teachers and to to ask questions.
And so thank you for inviting me. Like, I'm Oh, I'm so excited. I'm just rocking up. I'm not really gonna contribute anything. I'm just finding all of the great people to do it, but, you know, thanks for inviting me.
I'm great at buying doughnuts. Yes. Good. Great. Glory, I think also, you know, coming from my previous role, I was working in technology as well and didn't I didn't finish high school, haven't been to university and, you know, working in tech.
And I somehow sat there, and I had a pinch me moment going, how did I end up here? Right? Yeah. And in my previous role, I worked as a mentor for young people coming in to tech. Right? And women in tech, I don't know whether or not you know the ratio, but it's quite low. Yes. I do.
I work with a bunch of guys. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. And it's great because, you know, I I love my male allies.
Right? I've you know, I also sat on the Women at Amazon board and all of those types of things. Right? I always celebrate my male allies, but I'm always encouraging young people to step into IT and to consider that as a career. Because, yes, I work in IT. Can I hands on keyboards and do cool stuff? No. But I work in IT.
Mhmm. What would you say like, did your younger Glory self, when you sort of were becoming a teacher, what would you say to her? Did would you expect that your role would kinda look like this? Look. I've always been very ambitious. It comes it's it's from my family. So my dad was always, it doesn't matter what you do.
Just do it really well and just aim for the sky. So no dream is too big. And so when I was in the classroom, which which is where I wanted to be in the classroom, I was like, well, this can't be it. This can't be it. And so it wasn't it.
And I I just I don't know. I just I would probably say what my dad used to say to me. Don't put yourself in a box and just if you think it can't be done, just think again. It can be done because it doesn't matter if you're male or female or how old you are or whatever it is. I say that to my daughter, and she's only twenty three, and she's already, you know, doing amazing things in her career.
And she said, I I think I get that from you. I said, yes. I'm instilling it in in you. And I think, you know, that's what's really exciting as well. There is so much world of opportunity.
Right? And, you know, my son has has learning difficulties. And I say to him, like, he he's always going, oh, mom. I just really wanna get an a. I'm like, mate, I don't need you No. To be the smartest kid in the class.
I need you to be the kindest. Like, that is what I would love to hear. But, also, thinking back to my relationship with education and sort of my space, again, never in a million years. I was always a naughty kid. I blah blah blah.
Here I am. And I think it's sort of those stories and those great teachers and those people that believe in you that shape you where you end up. Right? And I think it's believing in yourself and aiming. I always say aim for the moon and you'll land in the stars type scenario. Right? Yes.
Exactly. Sort of throughout your school and sort of teaching ITC and those types of things, do you do much coding and all of, like, what cool things have you seen some teachers use Canvas for? Oh, yeah. The the AI right now in some schools is absolutely incredible what they're doing in that space. Mhmm. Really utilizing AI for kids to you to show them how to use technology in a really meaningful way.
Mhmm. And some of the stuff, the creative things that they can do, like music and creating music and and soundtracks and themes. And it's like, oh my gosh. What I could do if I was in the classroom right now with this, I just always look at things in a positive spin, not a negative spin. Right.
So AI at the moment is is incredible. Coding, I I do see a lot of coding in the junior schools when it comes to coding bots and things like that, and that's really cool. But I I've seen it drop off a little bit Mhmm. And really take on Well, AI can do it now for you, can't it? Yeah. Really take take on some more creativity when it comes to stripping everything back, being creative, and then using technology to showcase that creativity.
I think that's the space because as you said, Gems, not everyone is an a student in maths. Right? We've got kids from all spectrums, and it's about time we recognize their skills for what they are and really honing in on that whole student. Mhmm. Unfortunately, our education system doesn't allow for that because we still have to do tests and, you know, HSC and all that stuff. Okay.
But even HSC is coming a long way because now you kids don't have to have an ATAR. They can actually do things that really hone in on their skills with other VET courses. So there's there's I think it's shaping. It's slow, but we're shaping into a holistic approach with education. I think you've also really hit the nail on the head there about sort of, like, looking at the whole student.
Right? I always said that if you judge you know, it's one of my favorite quotes. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it's always gonna be considered stupid. Right? And I think it sounds like you're opening it up for all student types. Right? Like Right. I am ADHD.
Right? So I was always a naughty kid in class and, yeah, granted I was. And, I think, you know, I was having a conversation with the department the other day about how do we look at kids and how do we meet kids where they're at. So just talking about your teachers, do you when they're sort of planning out the use of Canvas and how they're gonna utilize Canvas to deliver content, do you consider, like, okay. Cool. We know that this child loves writing and an assessment type of work is great for them, but, you know, this kid hates reading, so we'll also offer them you know, can you talk me through that a bit? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Well, they use, a lot of the LTIs as well and a lot of the technology in the classroom. So instead of, if they're doing a comprehension activity, for example, they may not ask a specific child to to write it. Can you just talk me through what you what you heard? What did you hear? Let me record that. So then they record it, and then the feedback tool, I think that's the biggest thing about Canvas, the feedback tools.
Instead of writing their comment, they can record their their faces and say, oh my gosh, Gems. Well done. I'm so proud of you. That the feedback and the videoing is just incredible now. So yeah.
I've made you emotional. Yeah. You have. Because of the fact is that, the other afternoon, I was set helping my son with the comprehension task. Yes.
And he was struggling to read it. Of course. And you'll write it. Now these days, you don't even need it. You need AI to tell you what the story's about, or read it for you, and you can read it with the the text.
And and and I said to him, he was like, this is stupid, and he was getting frustrated. This school doesn't have an LMS, which and he was getting exceptionally frustrated. And I said to him, I might might yes. I completely understand. I'm like, but you need to see why the school is asking you to do this.
It's not just to learn about the monarchy. Yeah. But for you to understand and do problem solving and making sure that you understand the information. Right? And he was utilizing Siri and text to speech and all of that type of thing. Right? And I should have, as a parent, said no.
You have to do it properly. But I'm like, no. No. That technology is there to support you. Yes.
There to support you. And there's you're never not gonna have access to one of these. Like, my math teacher, you might please have a calculator. Well, suck it. Yes.
If I do. You know what I mean? Like, it and I think we need to our system needs to catch up, and we need to be able to support students. So everything that you just said there and if I think back to, you know, my own eight year old self at school, if I had have had a teacher knowing that I've worked really hard on something to send me back a video and go, oh my gosh, Gem. Like Yeah. That's right.
Me, game changer. Exactly. I'm sorry that I got emotional, but that's okay. Worry. That's okay.
I'm a teacher. I get it. I think I think it's really important for all of us and especially educators to understand that they technology is we use technology every day. And without teaching these basic skills to our kids to to solve a problem, well, it's just, you know, you're doing them a disservice, even teaching them how to comment and like. I mean, some schools have turned off all these features, and I'm like, well, how this is an opportunity to teach them what a good comment looks like.
This is an opportunity to show them what an a good emoji means. Yeah. And this is a life skill. Right? I mean, I use my, my phone, like I'm going to Italy next this year and I've used my phone to do translation. You just highlight and do translate.
I mean, I'm not going to go learn Italian, but I'm going to use my phone to tell me what it says. So I just think it's part of, it's part of our lives. Yeah. And, and again, to your point, you know, it's still the emojis and the GIFs and all of the things are still way of communication, right? And at the core of it, we're still humans that need to communicate. So you're not gonna lose that communication skill.
You're just using additional tools. Yes. You know, and they are tools. We are all human, and we still need that interaction. And I think it's just amazing your philosophy on, okay, how do you pull all these tools in to support the student at where they're at and giving your teachers license to actually consider and use different alternatives to support that's that child.
Thank you. Yes. From me. If you were in Queensland, I would enroll Yeah. My child in your school.
Glory, also something that I really wanna ask is, you know, do you have a collaboration space for your teachers? Right? We know that there's Canvas Commons, and we know that sort of in different schools, teachers are building different things and, you know, you've still got U9 Mass in every school. You know what I mean? How do you support your teachers around that? Yeah. So our Canvas Commons is locked down just for our schools. So definitely, and they love that only our schools can see that. You think that they would want to, you know, showcase the world.
So that's fantastic. Using the conference every year, there's always a middle part where I have teachers showcasing what they're doing. So it's not just keynote speakers and speakers and whatever. It's actually, look what this school's doing, look what this school's doing, and then taking that on board and then sharing that. We also have a lot of days where, we we have groups, of course, in our Teams chats, and we have so many Teams groups that with different faculties.
Like, there's a library group. There's the head of maths, and they all come together. There's a lot of days that we do professional learning together, and it may or may not be around about Canvas, but it's usually about teaching and learning, and then Canvas just pops in. And that's what it's all about. Right? It's not just about the LMS.
It's about the teaching and learning and then bringing Canvas in. Oh, well, I do that in Canvas. Oh, well, how did you do that? Fantastic. So there's a whole range of things that we do. Mhmm.
And I think that's part of the reason why I wanted Beyond the Canvas to become a thing. Right? I think that, you know, yes, it's great that yours is just locked down to your school and you completely understand that. Right? But, also, this is my opportunity to spotlight you guys and your teachers. And, you know, because I exist in my role because of you. Right? And there are ways that people are using Canvas that we probably haven't even thought of yet.
Like, I spoke to people that's using it for HSC compliance. Right? And the way that they're using it, it's like, oh, no brainer. You know? And I think that's the thing. Like, so coming back to the Canvas community, I was on it the other day. GemhypegirlK12.
But I've noticed that here in APAC that it's probably not as alive and as prevalent as it used to be. Right? And so I sort of wanna try and build that out. Do you know if many of your teachers use that or access that or, I mean, they don't need to do that anymore? It would be great to reinvigorate that. I don't think they are utilizing that. Yep.
And I would love to showcase them. Right? And even that to your point of, you know, because Canvas is one of those things that is set to enhance. And the fact that you've got Cidi Labs in there, so you've removed a lot of that administration burden. And for the people who are not designers, who as we discussed putting yellow on neon pink, like, it's beautiful, but it's not working hard. Right? So, again, sort of how you've adopted that technology to support your teachers.
But I think it's all of those little things that I would love to hear about as well. So, you know, for me, at your particular conference, I would love to meet your teachers and Yeah. Oh, that'd be so excited to meet you. Also, something that I wanna know is when you're doing that sort of feedback of of the students, right, Can you see that there have been particular or do your teachers come to you and go, oh, I was really struggling with this particular student. We saw the data.
We saw that there was this. And do you utilize Canvas for a well-being opportunity at all? Or No. That's one of the main goals for us this year, how we how we can do that for well-being. We've got a lot of ideas for some LTIs, but it'll be great if we could do some well-being things in there. Okay.
Watch this space. Yes, please. Reason being is because we're we're talking about this in Beyond the Canvas. Mhmm. And so there's there's some things coming.
But for me, it's also you know, Canvas is a teaching and learning platform. Right? But because there's some innovation taking place and all students are in it, it's about creating that consistency for also your teachers and your students already using it. Right? So how can we bring all of that in, which is, like, to your point, the LTIs. Right? And we just met with an organization that are fully using Google, and, you know, teachers are gonna be reluctant to jump off that. But we integrate with Yes.
Integrate with Microsoft. So, you know, again, when you've got new teachers come on board that have not had exposure to Canvas, how do you upskill them? Well, it depends on where they're coming from. If they've come from Google Classrooms, then look. It's really easy for us because we integrate with our student management system. So I'll say, well, that's great, but it can't do this.
And so I do have a this is what Canvas can do. This is what, Google classrooms can do. But because we have such an amazing integration, we had a developer write the code for us to do this integration from our student management system where teachers don't have to re input the data back into their, into their assessments or their school reports. Everything flows in, including comments. So that is really easy for me to transition them.
Yep. Well, this school uses Canvas because of this, and this is why it should be done, and this is how it can be done. Because Google customers is very, very similar, and, they're used to it. If they're used to Google customers, then it's pretty easy. Yeah.
It's an easy transition across. Yeah. And, obviously, you have a lot of students. Do you utilize sort of Canvas to communicate with parents, or do you find that many parents jump into their Canvas app? Can you talk to me about that? Yeah. Yeah.
We've got about four schools out of twenty that are ready to open up. Oh, actually, that have opened up Canvas observers. I think the problem that schools are having at the moment is consistency from courses. So making sure every course is consistent and keeping teachers accountable. So we're not saying, oh, well, my child's in year seven and year nine, and they look totally different, and they're not doing this.
So that is first and foremost. And then once they've done that, we help them with single sign on and having parents. That's all the technical stuff that we get done for them. And and I think also the thing is, you know, because you manage it centrally. Right? It's kind of you've removed a lot of that pain because Oh, yes.
You just tell tell me you want it, and we'll put it on. Easy. Gloria, you have been absolutely amazing answering all of my questions, and we even covered more than what I expected. And I think there are gonna be so many people watching today that are absolutely gonna have a lot more questions for you, and it's probably given you more work, but it's a testament to you because I think it comes down to your drive, your passion, and just doing better. And you absolutely deserve that title of innovation, you know, because you're doing it right.
And, you know, the engagement that you have through your teachers and the champions and, again, like, poster, a five stars. Like, amazing. But we are gonna get to one of my favourite parts, which are my hidden gem questions. Are you ready? Yes. Okay.
What did you wanna be when you grew up? It's gonna be cliche, but I always wanted to be a teacher and I felt sorry for my little brother, who is six years younger than me, that always had to sit in my room holding a piece of paper and a pen and I used to tell him what to do. So I always wanted to be a teacher. One time I wanted to be an air hostess, but then changed my mind. So you're definitely a teacher. That is you know, you are the first person who I've interviewed who has said that they've wanted to be a teacher and and is a teacher and you were looking at it.
Like, that is really, really cute. Yeah. You was there a particular subject or was it just No. I just want to teach little kids. And then when I finished uni, I just didn't think I had enough.
I didn't know what my HR was. Back then, it was in Victoria, so it wasn't an HR, but it was a score. And I thought, well, if I don't get to teach, that's fine. I'll just do preschools. And I went to look for, child cares, and then I got my ATAR the same day as I got my license.
So I went, oh, wow. I can do this. Yay. So, yeah, I just got into it. Just fell into it.
Well, congratulations. Next one, if you could have a superpower, what would it be? Oh, you know, traveling all around Sydney, and if you know Sydney, it is a nightmare to travel. Sometimes I'm in a car for six hours a day. It takes me three hours to get to a school and three hours back. If I had a click of a fingers tele portal, that's what I would do.
Because there's just so much time wasted in a car. Like, you can do podcasts. You can read audiobooks, but if I could just teleport, that would be amazing. I also, the the fact is that you want a superpower to enhance your efficiency at work makes me low. Yeah.
But yeah. No. I absolutely being a rep out on the road and the amount of time that I spend in a car, Siri is my best friend Yeah. Because I tell her to do things for me and with the use of AI and that kind of jazz. And that is my time to practice my car karaoke, along with have, lengthy conversation.
Yeah. So I absolutely. Yes. Lastly, what is your favourite thing about Canvas? My favourite thing about Canvas is the feedback tool. I think that's what sold me initially and the fact that, teachers can upload into, Commons and share their work.
That those two things are the deal breakers for me. I love that. You know, those two things are my favourite. I think that Commons is completely being underutilized. And same again, I think that teachers have such an opportunity even, you know, we had someone else talking about that they accidentally pressed the record button one day, right, and just discovered this whole note, new way of getting feedback.
Right? But, again, I think that that is something that we should talk about more. So Yes. Definitely. Clive. Glory glory, Puljak, you have been wonderful.
You are absolutely a hashtag role model of mine. Aw. Thanks, Gems. You are pretty cool yourself. Cool.
Thanks. Can I please have some feedback on that through Canvas? Yeah. But thank you so much for coming on today's show. I really appreciate all your great work, and thank you for driving all of that innovation and your Canvas champions. I appreciate you. Thank you. Bye.
My name's Glory. I work for the Anglican Schools Corporation, predominantly around Sydney and, regional New South Wales. And my role is the manager of innovation education. Awesome. I love that title, manager of innovation and education, because I think there's so many opportunities to sort of innovate within education.
But back in the day, that wouldn't have been a thing. Right? And innovation is so exciting for me, and that's part of the reason why I wanted you on today. Right? So you were one of the first customers that I spoke to when I came back to Instructure and learning the k twelve landscape and, you know, each sort of school is different, each organization is different. And what stood out to me was actually just your drive and how you sort of run it, right, and run the schools and how you're leveraging Canvas. But first of all, I wanna know a little bit about you, as in what drives you and how you got into education.
Yeah. Well, it's a bit of a long story, so I'll cut a bit short. So I have always been a teacher. So I've been teaching, I had been teaching for about fourteen years, and I was at that point where I was an assistant principal thinking, do I get to a principal level, or what do I do with my career? And at that time, I was the, computer sorry, the ICT manager at the same time Mhmm. And really looking at I was in a cluster of Catholic schools, really looking at their head office and thinking, how can I be part of what they're doing? It was really exciting.
They were doing Google rollouts and the whole range of things. And then the Anglican Schools Corporation, it just like it just appeared in in, like, an ad. And I'm like, oh, wow. This is exactly the role that I'm after. And so I got that role, and it was really exciting because at that time, we had just had, an internal mix up of where where our schools were at in ICT.
And so my role was to integrate ICT into the classrooms with some of these schools. And all of a sudden come a couple of years later, all twenty schools were involved in our ICT, management. So we manage all twenty schools. And so part of my role was to go and visit these schools and see what they were doing in the teaching and learning space. And that was really exciting for me.
And then Canvas came along. We had just signed up for Canvas, and it was a board requirement that every school use Canvas. And I was like, oh my gosh. This is such a big job. How am I going to do this? And we started off with a conference.
That's how we started off. And we invited all the schools to come to a conference, which is at the Pullman, and they all wanted to learn about Canvas. And it was fantastic because I had all these managers from Canvas, customer success managers, and we did three days of intense Canvas training with these champions at every school. And so I led that. I organized that.
And then, it was up to me to make sure they were really integrating Canvas, how they were going on their journey, and then using data to inform where they needed to go next. So That is quite a story. That is and so how long have you sort of had Canvas for? Nine years. Nine years? Nine years a lot. Yes.
So you were one of our first. Yes. Yes. So I've seen it come a long way. Yes.
Absolutely. I think also you and you've sort of said to me in one of our first conversations, you've been working with Paul and had that relationship with Paul. For a long time. Yes. Definitely.
Yeah. I think the the adoption and how you brought everyone together even, like, just as that started is just mind blowing to me. Right? Like, it it just makes so much sense that you invested in all of those schools to get them all together to do that intense training altogether. So something that I always say about sort of change management that people approach it differently when things are happening with them, not to them. Even though it was sort of, like, mandated and all of the things and it was the board decision.
Right? The fact that everyone was sort of a part of that right from the get go rather than all of and it built a community, I'm assuming. Absolutely. Absolutely. They were all so excited because at that time we didn't have any learning management system and every school was doing different things. Some were doing some things in, you know, docs and some things in Google.
At that time, Google classrooms wasn't really hitting the mark. And so it was brand new, shiny, and really exciting, and they really wanted the kids to really get involved. So that was that was the driving force, making a difference to the kids. And Mhmm. Also being Anglican schools and independent schools, they wanted a point of difference from other schools around the area.
So they wanted to say, well, this is what we do and look how amazing we are. So Well and and I think that's the thing. Right? You know, like, the way that you just adopted it and brought it on is already just amazing. Right? But then what is that differentiator? Right? So now Canvas has been around for a while. And when I walk into my demos with new schools considering it, I always ask whoever is in that room, hands up, who's had exposure to Canvas.
Yeah. And it is very rare that I will have anyone go, we've never seen it before. Right? And that is fantastic. But something that I've identified coming back is that Canvas has changed a lot. And I'm starting to see that, you know, schools like you, you've had it for, you know, nine years now, that it's kind of like a marriage.
People forget why you fell in love with Canvas in the first place, and you have to continually work at that. Yes. How do you sort of manage that? You know, when you've got sort of schools that are going, yeah, we've got Canvas and how do you keep that, you know, excitement alive, I guess like that? Well, I sort of look at it from, I choose a school that's really utilizing it well, and I showcase that school. But not only that, in that sense, I tell them what the what the kids say. So I give feedback from the kids.
And so I say, listen to the and I've actually got a couple of recordings of a couple of kids that allow me to video them. So look what the kids are saying at this school, what they love about canvas and what they hate about canvas. And the biggest thing they hate is the inconsistency between between, courses. So I thought, well, that you don't want to make that mistake. Let's have a look at why they love it.
Let's adopt the reasons behind that because so often schools think, oh, this is going to be too hard for teachers and it's in the too hard basket. They can't do it. They don't have IT skills. Well, I'm sorry, it's 2025 and we need to get with the program now. And if you are having problems, then you need to seek help.
And then because we need to remember that kids know more than us when it comes to IT. So how are we going to make their lives easier by making sure Canvas works for them? At the moment, I'm really pushing towards making sure that they're using all spectrums for children for, handing in work. So we're looking at the SAMR model and making sure that they're doing all things when it comes to okay. If you've got an assignment, how am I going to present this? Well, I'm really good at video videos, and I'm gonna make a video. I'm gonna hand that in.
I'm actually really good at, you know, making collages, so I'm gonna hand that in as a collage. So really looking at kids as a whole and what is it that they can do to make them to make their education a bit more exciting. There's so many elements of what you just said that I wanna draw down on. So one is obviously the different styles that you look at for the student. Right? You just talked about, I'm really great at making videos, so I wanna be able to do that.
Yeah. Right? For me, that is absolute game changer because, you know, meeting the kid at where they're at and sort of enhancing on what they're good at, not what they're bad at. Do you know what I mean? Like, yes. Exactly. There's certain elements that we have to test and make sure that they meet the requirements and the competencies and all of those things.
But, you know, I think giving the kids the choice, where possible, to actually submit based on what their strengths are because it's also that engagement piece as well. Right? It's it's human nature that you're not gonna do something that you don't really love. But if you're giving the child and the student and that learner license to submit based on what their strengths are, then, I mean, that's excitement. Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Also, I think something that I wanna talk about is you talked about the teachers, you know, yes, and and how you support them. And, yes, it is 2025. We know that things have come quite a long way and to the point Canvas isn't new. Right? How do you support the teachers that have been maybe a little bit resistant to adopt Canvas, but also for those teachers? Because, you know, there there is a teacher shortage. Right? There is a school shortage.
How do you actually maintain and keep those teachers happy, satisfied, supported? So is it not being bogged down with administrative tasks? Yeah. Well, I'm gonna be honest with you. It's all about relationship building. So I because I've been doing this role for such a long time, I actually know the schools quite intimately, and I know where their weaknesses are. So I'll say, okay, I'm coming out.
I want you to get a group of, teachers that aren't comfortable, and I will just sit with them. And if it means I'm gonna sit with them for two hours in a afternoon, and we'll go through each individual thing that they can't do, then I'll do that. So I usually have a beginner, intermediate and advanced group. And so that's what I'll do. Today I'm coming out doing a beginner group.
What date have you got available for me? Because they don't have to pay for me. They love it when I come out there. So, yeah, it's, I, I get paid by the corporation so they can invite me five times a week if they wanted to. And I think that's really unique about my role where I'm a consultant that they don't have to pay for. And so they really utilize that.
And that's where the relationship building comes from. And so it's a really exciting role because of that, because you walk into a school and they're not like, oh, here's glory again. It's like, here's glory again. Great. What can we learn from her? And so that is that just that's why I would never leave this job because it's just something that really gets me going.
And really, that's why I wake up in the morning because I know that they love to learn. And if it means I'm gonna meet them where they're at so they can meet their students where they're at, well, that's what I'm gonna do. That point there where you're saying that, you know, you go out to schools and everyone just wants to see you makes my heart so happy to hear that. Right? Because, yes, they want to learn. So we know that there's appetite for them to learn, but there aren't many organizations that sort of have a glory.
No. I know that. Yeah. And and for me and the success that we've seen throughout your organization is how can we and and this is part of the reason why I wanted you. Right? I I wanted you on today's show because we've seen what good looks like and how this can really shape and build that adoption and sort of embed Canvas.
Like, I had another another person on the show who said that it's an environment. Right? It's it's an environment. And, again, it sounds like you're doing that really well. And because it's, yay, his glory rather than, his glory. Right? That's a testament to you because it is relationship building.
But at the same token, you're obviously breeding that culture throughout. Right? Yes. And how and you're demonstrating to the teachers that, hey, using Canvas, there is a lot in it for you. Yes. How do you sort of, like, how do you build that? As in what I mean by that is how do you demonstrate to the teachers that using Canvas can save you time, you can mark with this, you've got templates, all of and build that consistency? Yeah.
Well, I take it back to what they're trying to achieve. So, usually, it's about it's around assessments, and they know they have to do assessments. Mhmm. That's okay. Okay.
Let's have a pretty program. Let's have a look at your assessment. Let's have a look at your assessment schedules. Let's use Canvas now as a tool to deliver those assessments instead of them being really overwhelmed by everything in the menu and going, oh my gosh. There's discussions.
I can do this. No. Well, let's just take it all the way back and start with your assessment. When we do that, then I said, okay. Leading up to this assessment, what activities do the kids actually have to do? Oh, well, they need to watch a movie.
Oh, really? Well, let's just put a clip in here and use studio for this. Great. So then we're utilizing the tools of Canvas without showing them every tool. We're using it so they can build their unit of work around it, then bringing in the tools, and then they get it. I think it you've just touched on the simplicity.
Right? So really pairing it back and meeting teachers where they're at to meet meet the students where they're at. Right? And sort of one of the other elements from what you said earlier is it's not about you. It's about teaching the kids. That's why you're here. Right? So Canvas how does Canvas support that? And how do you think Canvas supports the students throughout? Like, I love that you actually take videos of kids and their feedback.
Yes. I don't think there's many organizations that are doing that. Right? And I I would actually like to see schools doing it more. Yeah. Is that a regular thing or is that how do you talk can you talk me through that a bit, please? Look.
Because I'm at schools very, very often, and so I know the kids that can be videoed. So sometimes, I'll probably do it once a year. Mhmm. Towards the end of the year, I might do a reflection with some of the kids. So if I'm out in a meeting, I say, can I just grab a couple of kids? Yep.
No worries. I'll grab, you know, a range of students in year nine, year ten, and I'll say, well, what have you loved about this year? Have you used Canvas? How have you found it? What have you loved? Do you mind if I video you? They they love getting videoed. So, so that's what I do at the end of the year, sort of reflective process. Then I show the school first. I said, you think this is okay? Yep.
Great. Do you mind if I show another school? Because we're in one system, we've got intellectual property, and I can just show them those videos. It doesn't go anywhere else. So And talking about that one school, so when you say that sort of one system, you've got Canvas as your sort of head account. Yes.
Yep. Your root account. And then each school has a different sub account of that. Yes. Correct.
Awesome. So when you're coming to those sub accounts, right Mhmm. Do all schools have similar LTIs permissions to use or things mandated across the school? So because we have the root account, all of them have the same LTIs. Mhmm. Some schools prefer to use other LTIs than other, than others, and then they'll ask me as an admin, do you mind if I put this in? So we will vet that first for data security.
Yeah. And then we'll I'll say, yep. No worries. We can put that in. Give me give me the details, and I will put it in.
So we have to vet them first. Mhmm. Okay. That's really great. Sort of understanding sort of what that looks like.
Right? Because, you know, we see different schools. They have, you know, to your point, different LTIs and sort of how do you manage that and sort of those permissions as well. Right? And then all All the permissions are are the same for all of us. Yep. That's really that's really fantastic.
And then you guys also recently adopted intelligent insights. Right? Which I really love that LTI tool to show you sort of what LTIs you've got, who's using it, and also identify where those power users are. So to your point, you can spotlight them. Yes. Absolutely.
And that's really exciting. And I'm can't wait to get in there at the end of the term because now we've it'll be around about the end of the term where I'll say, okay, what have people done with with Canvas? Where are their strengths? How can I then utilize this for our next ICT conference? And to that point, you know, I think where are their strengths? Right? Because you utilize it's not just Canvas. Right? You utilize quite a few of our Canvas partners and other ed techs and all of those types of things, right? So there's two points. One is what partners are you using and how are you sort of finding the uptake? Yes. So the major the major partner is Cidi Labs and we just fell in love with Cidi Labs because where I found the sticking point was new teachers coming in, even though I had done beginner classes, especially in junior schools, they didn't, they didn't wanna spend all this time making pages and beautiful pages.
And as we know, Canvas as a blank Canvas, sorry, pardon the pun, can be a little bit dry. And especially for junior school teachers who really want, you know, year three students or year four students to really dive in, they wanted to make it beautiful and really quick and simple, Cidi Labs was was the way to go. So when we implemented Cidi Labs, I did a a day in the office for campus champions, and I said, right. Come over. We'll start doing we'll start doing some of this stuff.
And at that time, Julian, who you know, Julian Riddell, so he was leading that project. And so we did City Labs days once a term. And so people came on board and did City Labs days. And over the year, they were champions at City Labs. So That's really fantastic.
Incredible. Yes. Also, just at your individual schools, you talked about Canvas champions. Do you have I mean, we can't multiply glory, unfortunately. But do you have, like, Canvas champions in each individual school? Yes.
It's necessary because, obviously, I can't be in twenty places at the same time. Mhmm. So, I identify these Canvas champions every year. Sometimes they roll up. Sometimes they're the same person.
But once people leave, I send out a survey at the start of it start of the year to every school. So, right, who's your head of junior school? Who's your head of senior school? Who's your campus champion? Sometimes there's only one. Sometimes there's two. Best case scenario, there's three of them, because we are K-12. So it'd be great to have one in junior school, one in senior school, and then another person that's, like, ahead of department or something.
And that really helps because then I can bring all the Canvas champions into the office, and we can say, okay. Where are you at? Where are you where do you need to go? Let's have a look at your data. Okay. Great. This is where we might need to push this.
You do you need me to come out and help you? So it's those conversations that we have. Seriously, this is like wave a magic wand, and this is like what what good looks like. Like, when I envision this, you would and we have not chatted in this much detail before about how it runs across your organization. Answer these questions. Yeah.
I know. I know. And, like, mate, working, like, edge tech tech education or something. It's Yeah. I'm so smart.
Glory, sort of talking about your, conference. Right? So you have them every year and Canvas has been invited. I'm very, very excited. As soon as that email came through, I I didn't even read it. I was like, yes.
Yes. I didn't even know what I signed up for. Right? I'm like, yes. I'm there. Can you talk me through sort of like the uptake of that, the excitement, sort of what that day typically looks like for your attendees? Yeah.
So we started our conference when we first implemented Canvas, and then we ran one every year after that until COVID. After that, it was the two years that we didn't run one. And we found that even though teachers were thrown into the learning from home, they still wanted more. They, and then going back into the the classroom, it was like, well, what do I do now? That means I need to teach now. I need to actually use Canvas for teaching.
And that collaboration tool sort of went out the window. So a lot of schools are saying, I would love to see what blah blah blah is doing or what this school is doing. I said, right. Time for a time for a conference. So part of that conference was, the main goal was Canvas as well as AI.
And so that was such a big thing last year, especially before ChatGPT came in, that teachers were so scared. They were like, what is the future of education? What does that look like? So I said, right, we need to calm the farm. We really need to calm the farm. Let's bring in Canvas. Let's bring in some what what the roadmap looks like, and let's do some AI stuff.
And we just had sign ups. We I think we had 300 staff members come in. The only thing was that it was in between, some school holidays and not school holidays for some schools. So, okay, it's finding the right date that's really hard. So we decided that we'll do it on the last day of the school holidays.
So then schools didn't have to pay for a casual teacher because they don't have to pay for the conference. They come along. So this year we really want a folk we take all the feedback on board and some of the feedback was they want to do more learning. So they want to learn from the experts. So that's what this focus is learning from you guys about, okay, this is coming out, but this is what it can do for you and go and play with it now.
They want to have something to take away that they can implement tomorrow. So if we're doing it on the last day of school holidays, what can we do on Monday with the kids? So keep that fresh in their head and really excited to try something new. I cannot wait. Not only just for the fact is, like, of obviously being out and being amongst, but I can just you know, I've got goosebumps already thinking about the energy. Right? And and just seeing because in my role, I don't get to really get down to the teachers and to to ask questions.
And so thank you for inviting me. Like, I'm Oh, I'm so excited. I'm just rocking up. I'm not really gonna contribute anything. I'm just finding all of the great people to do it, but, you know, thanks for inviting me.
I'm great at buying doughnuts. Yes. Good. Great. Glory, I think also, you know, coming from my previous role, I was working in technology as well and didn't I didn't finish high school, haven't been to university and, you know, working in tech.
And I somehow sat there, and I had a pinch me moment going, how did I end up here? Right? Yeah. And in my previous role, I worked as a mentor for young people coming in to tech. Right? And women in tech, I don't know whether or not you know the ratio, but it's quite low. Yes. I do.
I work with a bunch of guys. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. And it's great because, you know, I I love my male allies.
Right? I've you know, I also sat on the Women at Amazon board and all of those types of things. Right? I always celebrate my male allies, but I'm always encouraging young people to step into IT and to consider that as a career. Because, yes, I work in IT. Can I hands on keyboards and do cool stuff? No. But I work in IT.
Mhmm. What would you say like, did your younger Glory self, when you sort of were becoming a teacher, what would you say to her? Did would you expect that your role would kinda look like this? Look. I've always been very ambitious. It comes it's it's from my family. So my dad was always, it doesn't matter what you do.
Just do it really well and just aim for the sky. So no dream is too big. And so when I was in the classroom, which which is where I wanted to be in the classroom, I was like, well, this can't be it. This can't be it. And so it wasn't it.
And I I just I don't know. I just I would probably say what my dad used to say to me. Don't put yourself in a box and just if you think it can't be done, just think again. It can be done because it doesn't matter if you're male or female or how old you are or whatever it is. I say that to my daughter, and she's only twenty three, and she's already, you know, doing amazing things in her career.
And she said, I I think I get that from you. I said, yes. I'm instilling it in in you. And I think, you know, that's what's really exciting as well. There is so much world of opportunity.
Right? And, you know, my son has has learning difficulties. And I say to him, like, he he's always going, oh, mom. I just really wanna get an a. I'm like, mate, I don't need you No. To be the smartest kid in the class.
I need you to be the kindest. Like, that is what I would love to hear. But, also, thinking back to my relationship with education and sort of my space, again, never in a million years. I was always a naughty kid. I blah blah blah.
Here I am. And I think it's sort of those stories and those great teachers and those people that believe in you that shape you where you end up. Right? And I think it's believing in yourself and aiming. I always say aim for the moon and you'll land in the stars type scenario. Right? Yes.
Exactly. Sort of throughout your school and sort of teaching ITC and those types of things, do you do much coding and all of, like, what cool things have you seen some teachers use Canvas for? Oh, yeah. The the AI right now in some schools is absolutely incredible what they're doing in that space. Mhmm. Really utilizing AI for kids to you to show them how to use technology in a really meaningful way.
Mhmm. And some of the stuff, the creative things that they can do, like music and creating music and and soundtracks and themes. And it's like, oh my gosh. What I could do if I was in the classroom right now with this, I just always look at things in a positive spin, not a negative spin. Right.
So AI at the moment is is incredible. Coding, I I do see a lot of coding in the junior schools when it comes to coding bots and things like that, and that's really cool. But I I've seen it drop off a little bit Mhmm. And really take on Well, AI can do it now for you, can't it? Yeah. Really take take on some more creativity when it comes to stripping everything back, being creative, and then using technology to showcase that creativity.
I think that's the space because as you said, Gems, not everyone is an a student in maths. Right? We've got kids from all spectrums, and it's about time we recognize their skills for what they are and really honing in on that whole student. Mhmm. Unfortunately, our education system doesn't allow for that because we still have to do tests and, you know, HSC and all that stuff. Okay.
But even HSC is coming a long way because now you kids don't have to have an ATAR. They can actually do things that really hone in on their skills with other VET courses. So there's there's I think it's shaping. It's slow, but we're shaping into a holistic approach with education. I think you've also really hit the nail on the head there about sort of, like, looking at the whole student.
Right? I always said that if you judge you know, it's one of my favorite quotes. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it's always gonna be considered stupid. Right? And I think it sounds like you're opening it up for all student types. Right? Like Right. I am ADHD.
Right? So I was always a naughty kid in class and, yeah, granted I was. And, I think, you know, I was having a conversation with the department the other day about how do we look at kids and how do we meet kids where they're at. So just talking about your teachers, do you when they're sort of planning out the use of Canvas and how they're gonna utilize Canvas to deliver content, do you consider, like, okay. Cool. We know that this child loves writing and an assessment type of work is great for them, but, you know, this kid hates reading, so we'll also offer them you know, can you talk me through that a bit? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Well, they use, a lot of the LTIs as well and a lot of the technology in the classroom. So instead of, if they're doing a comprehension activity, for example, they may not ask a specific child to to write it. Can you just talk me through what you what you heard? What did you hear? Let me record that. So then they record it, and then the feedback tool, I think that's the biggest thing about Canvas, the feedback tools.
Instead of writing their comment, they can record their their faces and say, oh my gosh, Gems. Well done. I'm so proud of you. That the feedback and the videoing is just incredible now. So yeah.
I've made you emotional. Yeah. You have. Because of the fact is that, the other afternoon, I was set helping my son with the comprehension task. Yes.
And he was struggling to read it. Of course. And you'll write it. Now these days, you don't even need it. You need AI to tell you what the story's about, or read it for you, and you can read it with the the text.
And and and I said to him, he was like, this is stupid, and he was getting frustrated. This school doesn't have an LMS, which and he was getting exceptionally frustrated. And I said to him, I might might yes. I completely understand. I'm like, but you need to see why the school is asking you to do this.
It's not just to learn about the monarchy. Yeah. But for you to understand and do problem solving and making sure that you understand the information. Right? And he was utilizing Siri and text to speech and all of that type of thing. Right? And I should have, as a parent, said no.
You have to do it properly. But I'm like, no. No. That technology is there to support you. Yes.
There to support you. And there's you're never not gonna have access to one of these. Like, my math teacher, you might please have a calculator. Well, suck it. Yes.
If I do. You know what I mean? Like, it and I think we need to our system needs to catch up, and we need to be able to support students. So everything that you just said there and if I think back to, you know, my own eight year old self at school, if I had have had a teacher knowing that I've worked really hard on something to send me back a video and go, oh my gosh, Gem. Like Yeah. That's right.
Me, game changer. Exactly. I'm sorry that I got emotional, but that's okay. Worry. That's okay.
I'm a teacher. I get it. I think I think it's really important for all of us and especially educators to understand that they technology is we use technology every day. And without teaching these basic skills to our kids to to solve a problem, well, it's just, you know, you're doing them a disservice, even teaching them how to comment and like. I mean, some schools have turned off all these features, and I'm like, well, how this is an opportunity to teach them what a good comment looks like.
This is an opportunity to show them what an a good emoji means. Yeah. And this is a life skill. Right? I mean, I use my, my phone, like I'm going to Italy next this year and I've used my phone to do translation. You just highlight and do translate.
I mean, I'm not going to go learn Italian, but I'm going to use my phone to tell me what it says. So I just think it's part of, it's part of our lives. Yeah. And, and again, to your point, you know, it's still the emojis and the GIFs and all of the things are still way of communication, right? And at the core of it, we're still humans that need to communicate. So you're not gonna lose that communication skill.
You're just using additional tools. Yes. You know, and they are tools. We are all human, and we still need that interaction. And I think it's just amazing your philosophy on, okay, how do you pull all these tools in to support the student at where they're at and giving your teachers license to actually consider and use different alternatives to support that's that child.
Thank you. Yes. From me. If you were in Queensland, I would enroll Yeah. My child in your school.
Glory, also something that I really wanna ask is, you know, do you have a collaboration space for your teachers? Right? We know that there's Canvas Commons, and we know that sort of in different schools, teachers are building different things and, you know, you've still got U9 Mass in every school. You know what I mean? How do you support your teachers around that? Yeah. So our Canvas Commons is locked down just for our schools. So definitely, and they love that only our schools can see that. You think that they would want to, you know, showcase the world.
So that's fantastic. Using the conference every year, there's always a middle part where I have teachers showcasing what they're doing. So it's not just keynote speakers and speakers and whatever. It's actually, look what this school's doing, look what this school's doing, and then taking that on board and then sharing that. We also have a lot of days where, we we have groups, of course, in our Teams chats, and we have so many Teams groups that with different faculties.
Like, there's a library group. There's the head of maths, and they all come together. There's a lot of days that we do professional learning together, and it may or may not be around about Canvas, but it's usually about teaching and learning, and then Canvas just pops in. And that's what it's all about. Right? It's not just about the LMS.
It's about the teaching and learning and then bringing Canvas in. Oh, well, I do that in Canvas. Oh, well, how did you do that? Fantastic. So there's a whole range of things that we do. Mhmm.
And I think that's part of the reason why I wanted Beyond the Canvas to become a thing. Right? I think that, you know, yes, it's great that yours is just locked down to your school and you completely understand that. Right? But, also, this is my opportunity to spotlight you guys and your teachers. And, you know, because I exist in my role because of you. Right? And there are ways that people are using Canvas that we probably haven't even thought of yet.
Like, I spoke to people that's using it for HSC compliance. Right? And the way that they're using it, it's like, oh, no brainer. You know? And I think that's the thing. Like, so coming back to the Canvas community, I was on it the other day. GemhypegirlK12.
But I've noticed that here in APAC that it's probably not as alive and as prevalent as it used to be. Right? And so I sort of wanna try and build that out. Do you know if many of your teachers use that or access that or, I mean, they don't need to do that anymore? It would be great to reinvigorate that. I don't think they are utilizing that. Yep.
And I would love to showcase them. Right? And even that to your point of, you know, because Canvas is one of those things that is set to enhance. And the fact that you've got Cidi Labs in there, so you've removed a lot of that administration burden. And for the people who are not designers, who as we discussed putting yellow on neon pink, like, it's beautiful, but it's not working hard. Right? So, again, sort of how you've adopted that technology to support your teachers.
But I think it's all of those little things that I would love to hear about as well. So, you know, for me, at your particular conference, I would love to meet your teachers and Yeah. Oh, that'd be so excited to meet you. Also, something that I wanna know is when you're doing that sort of feedback of of the students, right, Can you see that there have been particular or do your teachers come to you and go, oh, I was really struggling with this particular student. We saw the data.
We saw that there was this. And do you utilize Canvas for a well-being opportunity at all? Or No. That's one of the main goals for us this year, how we how we can do that for well-being. We've got a lot of ideas for some LTIs, but it'll be great if we could do some well-being things in there. Okay.
Watch this space. Yes, please. Reason being is because we're we're talking about this in Beyond the Canvas. Mhmm. And so there's there's some things coming.
But for me, it's also you know, Canvas is a teaching and learning platform. Right? But because there's some innovation taking place and all students are in it, it's about creating that consistency for also your teachers and your students already using it. Right? So how can we bring all of that in, which is, like, to your point, the LTIs. Right? And we just met with an organization that are fully using Google, and, you know, teachers are gonna be reluctant to jump off that. But we integrate with Yes.
Integrate with Microsoft. So, you know, again, when you've got new teachers come on board that have not had exposure to Canvas, how do you upskill them? Well, it depends on where they're coming from. If they've come from Google Classrooms, then look. It's really easy for us because we integrate with our student management system. So I'll say, well, that's great, but it can't do this.
And so I do have a this is what Canvas can do. This is what, Google classrooms can do. But because we have such an amazing integration, we had a developer write the code for us to do this integration from our student management system where teachers don't have to re input the data back into their, into their assessments or their school reports. Everything flows in, including comments. So that is really easy for me to transition them.
Yep. Well, this school uses Canvas because of this, and this is why it should be done, and this is how it can be done. Because Google customers is very, very similar, and, they're used to it. If they're used to Google customers, then it's pretty easy. Yeah.
It's an easy transition across. Yeah. And, obviously, you have a lot of students. Do you utilize sort of Canvas to communicate with parents, or do you find that many parents jump into their Canvas app? Can you talk to me about that? Yeah. Yeah.
We've got about four schools out of twenty that are ready to open up. Oh, actually, that have opened up Canvas observers. I think the problem that schools are having at the moment is consistency from courses. So making sure every course is consistent and keeping teachers accountable. So we're not saying, oh, well, my child's in year seven and year nine, and they look totally different, and they're not doing this.
So that is first and foremost. And then once they've done that, we help them with single sign on and having parents. That's all the technical stuff that we get done for them. And and I think also the thing is, you know, because you manage it centrally. Right? It's kind of you've removed a lot of that pain because Oh, yes.
You just tell tell me you want it, and we'll put it on. Easy. Gloria, you have been absolutely amazing answering all of my questions, and we even covered more than what I expected. And I think there are gonna be so many people watching today that are absolutely gonna have a lot more questions for you, and it's probably given you more work, but it's a testament to you because I think it comes down to your drive, your passion, and just doing better. And you absolutely deserve that title of innovation, you know, because you're doing it right.
And, you know, the engagement that you have through your teachers and the champions and, again, like, poster, a five stars. Like, amazing. But we are gonna get to one of my favourite parts, which are my hidden gem questions. Are you ready? Yes. Okay.
What did you wanna be when you grew up? It's gonna be cliche, but I always wanted to be a teacher and I felt sorry for my little brother, who is six years younger than me, that always had to sit in my room holding a piece of paper and a pen and I used to tell him what to do. So I always wanted to be a teacher. One time I wanted to be an air hostess, but then changed my mind. So you're definitely a teacher. That is you know, you are the first person who I've interviewed who has said that they've wanted to be a teacher and and is a teacher and you were looking at it.
Like, that is really, really cute. Yeah. You was there a particular subject or was it just No. I just want to teach little kids. And then when I finished uni, I just didn't think I had enough.
I didn't know what my HR was. Back then, it was in Victoria, so it wasn't an HR, but it was a score. And I thought, well, if I don't get to teach, that's fine. I'll just do preschools. And I went to look for, child cares, and then I got my ATAR the same day as I got my license.
So I went, oh, wow. I can do this. Yay. So, yeah, I just got into it. Just fell into it.
Well, congratulations. Next one, if you could have a superpower, what would it be? Oh, you know, traveling all around Sydney, and if you know Sydney, it is a nightmare to travel. Sometimes I'm in a car for six hours a day. It takes me three hours to get to a school and three hours back. If I had a click of a fingers tele portal, that's what I would do.
Because there's just so much time wasted in a car. Like, you can do podcasts. You can read audiobooks, but if I could just teleport, that would be amazing. I also, the the fact is that you want a superpower to enhance your efficiency at work makes me low. Yeah.
But yeah. No. I absolutely being a rep out on the road and the amount of time that I spend in a car, Siri is my best friend Yeah. Because I tell her to do things for me and with the use of AI and that kind of jazz. And that is my time to practice my car karaoke, along with have, lengthy conversation.
Yeah. So I absolutely. Yes. Lastly, what is your favourite thing about Canvas? My favourite thing about Canvas is the feedback tool. I think that's what sold me initially and the fact that, teachers can upload into, Commons and share their work.
That those two things are the deal breakers for me. I love that. You know, those two things are my favourite. I think that Commons is completely being underutilized. And same again, I think that teachers have such an opportunity even, you know, we had someone else talking about that they accidentally pressed the record button one day, right, and just discovered this whole note, new way of getting feedback.
Right? But, again, I think that that is something that we should talk about more. So Yes. Definitely. Clive. Glory glory, Puljak, you have been wonderful.
You are absolutely a hashtag role model of mine. Aw. Thanks, Gems. You are pretty cool yourself. Cool.
Thanks. Can I please have some feedback on that through Canvas? Yeah. But thank you so much for coming on today's show. I really appreciate all your great work, and thank you for driving all of that innovation and your Canvas champions. I appreciate you. Thank you. Bye.
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