Small move #5: Student-centered course design using Canvas

Letters by Nico Kaiser cc licensed via Flickr at https://flic.kr/p/dohth3

In this series of blog posts I’m going to share some of the small moves that were discussed during the online session Student-Centered Course Design Using Canvas. If you were not able to participate in the session feel free to follow along here as I share some of the activities and design elements that you can implement in class to amplify the connectivity in your class.

Small Move #5: Stop – communicate and listen!

Who isn’t overwhelmed by email? Did you know you can use the message feature within Canvas to message students and classes and keep those messages connected to their relevant course spaces? Consider this a way to create a built in filter system for communications that you would otherwise have to manage manually in your email client.

Learn more about Conversations in Canvas by reading these instructions.

Canvas also offers a chat feature that allows you to conduct an open-real time chat with class participants who are online in Canvas at that moment. This is a good way to foster interactivity in an online space and check in with students as they are actively navigating your course. Just keep in mind the chat is open for viewing for the whole class and the history is retained, so messages should be general and openly sharable.

Connected Canvas Topics:

Using Conversations as an instructor

Using Chat as an instructor

What does this look like to students?

To view this functionality from a student perspective contact me to be added into a course space designed to demo this feature.

 

Small move #4: Student-centered course design using Canvas

Picture of an old teacher's desk

Teacher’s Desk – Linn School, by Todd Petrie, cc licensed on Flickr at https://flic.kr/p/omuFWN

This is the 4th in a series of posts to cover small actionable steps you can make to create a more student-centered course design in Canvas. These moves were developed from the Zoom session hosted on October 25th.

Small Move # 4: Virtual office hours

How convenient can you make it for students to have one-on-one time with you? By coupling Canvas’ scheduler function with your personal Zoom room you can offer flexible office hours without having to adhere to a set physical location meeting space.

To set up online office hours using the scheduler in Zoom follow these instructions.

To get started using Zoom visit help documentation here.

What does this look like to students?

To view this functionality from a student perspective contact me to be added into a course space designed to demo this feature.

 

Small Move #3: Student-Centered Course Design Using Canvas

Image of tired student with text "What are your students' concerns?"

How do you know unless you ask?

This is the 3rd in a series of posts to cover small actionable steps you can make to create a more student-centered course design in Canvas. These moves were developed from the Zoom session hosted on October 25th.

Small Move #3: Interest Surveys

To be able to tailor some of the content or options available to your students throughout your class is helpful to know their interests and questions as early on in the semester as possible. You can use the ungraded survey (quiz) option in Canvas to construct some quick questions that can help you collect info that would be helpful to you when making these adjustments.

As you create your questions think carefully about what information is helpful to you and how you might use that info in your course. Most will find this to be an iterative design process that they tweak each semester to best serve their needs based on previous semesters’ responses and your unique course content.

Connected Canvas Help Topics:

Creating a survey in Canvas

Viewing survey results in Canvas

What does this look like to students?

To view this functionality from a student perspective contact me to be added into a course space designed to demo this feature.

Small Move #2: Student-Centered Course Design Using Canvas

“If teaching is conceived as constructing a bridge between the subject matter and the student, learner-centered teachers keep a constant eye on both ends of the bridge.”

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, 2000, p. 136

Picture of a bridge

University Bridge by Brandon Giesbrect, cc licensed on flickr at https://flic.kr/p/avDHs9

This is the 2nd in a series of posts to cover small actionable steps you can make to create a more student-centered course design in Canvas. These moves were developed from the Zoom session hosted on October 25th.

Small Move #2: Virtual introductions – one end of the bridge

Ideally this can happen even before the class starts so that students can start to make connections and have a chance to share some of their interests and perhaps even outstanding questions about the course topic.

This is a great way to introduce learner-choice options including the opportunity to use the text, video and audio options within the discussion forum in Canvas. Be sure to enable threaded replies so that students can respond to each other and start mini-conversations along the way.

Connected Canvas Help Topics:

How to create a discussion in Canvas

What does this look like to students?

To view this functionality from a student perspective contact me to be added into a course space designed to demo this feature.

Small moves to make your Canvas course more student-centered

In this series of blog posts I’m going to share some of the small moves that were discussed during the online session Student-Centered Course Design Using Canvas. If you were not able to participate in the session feel free to follow along here as I share some of the activities and design elements that you can implement in class to amplify the connectivity in your class.

So let’s get started with small move #1 – making a virtual tour of your class site.

Move #1 – A Virtual Tour of your Class Site

One step that you can take in designing a student-centered Canvas site is that once your site is designed you can take time to give your students a virtual tour of the class space.

This can be done in-person via projection in a classroom, or asynchronously by creating a video-walk through of your course space. Below is a rough sample of what a course tour can look like. It was created on one take (with a script) using Panopto.

When you are making or sharing your course tour be sure to include your expectations for how often and how students should be accessing your course as well as:

  • How they will know new content is posted?
  • What components of Canvas are you using for your class?
  • Where can students find due dates?
  • What do they do if they have a question about the course?
  • What do they do if they have a question about Canvas?

This is a time to distinguish how you are using Canvas. Although students will encounter Canvas several times in their classes, it can be set up and configured many different ways. Taking time to introduce them to your layout and help them understand how your space works is a great way to try to avoid confusion and surface course site questions early on.

Connected Canvas Help Topics:

Canvas Course Home Page Options