Omaha Public Schools outlines districtwide shift to aligned professional learning, Canvas registration

Omaha Public Schools trustees heard an informational workshop Monday on the district’s plan to align professional learning, move course registration and materials into the Canvas learning management system, and build an internal Facilitator Development Network to support staff development.

The presentation, led by Dr. Chisholm (title not specified in the transcript) and Suzanne Creamer, chief school improvement officer, outlined a phased, 1-, 3- and 5-year approach to migrate offerings from separate departmental systems into a single Canvas catalog and to track participation and outcomes. "For 170 years, OPS has been providing learning and training to its employees," Creamer said. "We have now undertaken the process of digging into and implementing practice for how adults learn best."

Why it matters: District leaders tied the work to the systemwide ‘‘moonshot’’ goal of having all students reading on grade level by 2030, saying aligned adult learning and clearer registration will make it easier to deliver job-embedded, just-in-time training and to measure implementation across schools. The workshop was information-only; the board took no formal votes.

Presenters said Canvas will serve three primary purposes: a single catalog and registration point for staff, a delivery platform for in-person/online/blended learning, and an analytics source for enrollment and completion data. "It is a single place for all staff to locate, register, and then access the professional learning experiences across the district," Alex (role/title not specified in the transcript) said while demonstrating course pages used this year for instructional coaching, principal institute materials and district professional learning days.

Board members pressed presenters about access, equity and sustainment. Dr. Holman asked whether courses uploaded to Canvas remain available; presenters said some courses will remain open as long as they are useful (principals’ institute was cited as an example), while other sessions may be archived on a summer/fall/spring cadence. Presenters said retention policies will be decided case by case: "how long we keep it open is to be determined by how long it needs to be," a presenter said.

On scope and timeline, presenters said the migration is phased and largely internal at this stage. Departments already engaged include Curriculum Instruction Support (CIS) and Student Community Services; the Facilitator Development Network (FDN) will initially be an "internal ecosystem" of OPS trainers. The team said they will work across districts operations, talent services and other departments to bring additional groups (transportation, nutrition services, custodial) under the Canvas catalog over time.

Presenters highlighted several operational details discussed during the workshop: registration gives immediate access to course materials; Canvas preserves artifacts (videos, discussion boards, reflective prompts) for later review; built-in feedback tools allow staff to upload agendas and receive written descriptive feedback; and analytics capture enrollment counts (the team noted more than 6,000 staff registered for a district professional learning day this year and that more than 700 paraprofessionals used a course during improvement-day late starts).

Board members asked about trainers and outside partners. Presenters said OPS can host external keynote speakers but the facilitator network and course hosting will remain an internal ecosystem for now; external content can be supplemented with Canvas artifacts so staff can revisit material. On quality control, submissions of proposed professional learning offerings are evaluated against five guiding principles (transformative learning/change management; reflection and feedback; collaborative participation; equity; and learning design). The presenters said they review submissions for alignment with the moonshot and for an emerging multi-year arc of learning.

Other operational clarifications included: - A state requirement for professional learning hours was discussed in the meeting; a board member cited a 10-hour figure for state minimums and presenters said the district’s job-embedded offerings exceed that minimum. - Presenters reported an initial round of submissions for the new catalog numbered about 44 and said they aim to respond quickly to submissions (the office’s stated target for initial review was roughly "10 to 15 minutes" in the presentation, which the presenters described as an operational goal rather than a guaranteed turnaround). - Some in-person sessions were limited by room capacity (presenters used a capacity figure of 25 in describing an instructional-coaching registration example); the learning artifacts from those sessions remain available in Canvas even if the in-person seat capacity is limited.

The district tied professional learning to implementation monitoring: presenters and board members described connections between training, principal and school support teams, classroom observation tools (the Elliott tool was mentioned) and school improvement cycles so that learning is followed by implementation checks rather than remaining isolated training events. Presenters said the district already uses surveys and research partnerships to collect feedback and is increasing the immediacy of that feedback by using Canvas analytics and built-in forms.

Board members asked about equity and accessibility for staff with limited device access or English proficiency. Presenters said the work includes asynchronous supports (documents, videos, how-to sheets), office hours, and an effort to identify "power users" or champions in departments to do localized training. Presenters said content can be provided in any language that can be typed and that the team is building supports to make materials more accessible.

The presentation closed with no formal motions. The board moved on after a question-and-answer period that included more than a dozen trustees and staff speakers. Presenters said they will return to report progress and that a culminating reflection on the district strategic plan is scheduled for a June meeting tied to system accreditation by the Cognia Global Commission.

What’s next: OPS staff will continue phased migration of professional learning into Canvas, expand the facilitator network internally, and refine retention and review policies for course materials and analytics. The board did not adopt formal policy changes in this workshop; the session was intended to inform trustees and solicit feedback.