As a student, I gave many presentations in class. I hated standing in the front of the class. I hated the unrevisable nature of a live presentation. Sure, I understand that live presentations have their place, but online presentations also have their place, and Canvas makes online presentations easy for both faculty and students.
The built in media tool is great. It can be used to record video presentations by both faculty and students. It is so easy that I have found myself offering more video messages in discussions, conversations, and announcements. These quick and easy videos help me feel a greater sense of presence, connection, and communication with my students. Besides, if I mess up, I can revise.
My students report the same experience I have: ease of use and better feelings of connection.
For more formal presentations, Canvas does a great job of integrating with web services. I like to create slides with Haiku Deck and use Screencast-O-Matic to record the slides, audio, and webcam for a polished lecture type of video. The whole thing ends up as a YouTube video that embeds nicely on any page, discussion, or announcement in Canvas by simply pasting in the url. While my students find these more involved presentations, most of them report enjoying the process.
