Canvas in the classroom

[Mark_Sluzky]

For many educators the first experience with using an LMS came during the start of the Covid lockdown in the Spring of 2020. Since then, thousands of teachers have had to learn how to utilize new tools and technologies to support student learning. The past few years have seen educators host virtual sessions with students in Zoom rooms while distributing and collecting content through an LMS such as Canvas. Teachers have had to balance the technological needs of their students while learning how to deliver impactful lessons in a new learning environment.

Once districts returned to the classroom for in-person learning during the 2021-22 school year, some educators put aside the tools utilized during remote learning. Many assumed that the tools were no longer relevant as students returned to the classroom. While they might be used for slightly different reasons and ways, the dynamic tools within Canvas are powerful and impactful in a traditional classroom.

As school leaders, it is important to highlight that Canvas is a powerful learning management tool regardless of the modality of learning. Guiding teachers toward uses for Canvas in a face to face environment will help them see the benefit of continuing to utilize the tool.

Below are a few ways that various Canvas features can be used in a traditional face to face classroom:

Canvas Pages: Pages can be a digital whiteboard where key information is presented to students. Pages are a great place to put all of a teacher’s teaching resources. From videos, slide decks, PDFs, and embedded Google Docs; teachers can put everything they are presenting to their classes in a Canvas page. It gives quick and easy access to learning resources by both teachers and students. Pages now also integrates Immersive Reader, providing powerful UDL tools to students such as text translation and text reader.

Assignments: Assignments are a teacher’s best friend. Imagine a world where there are no worksheets turned in without a name or planning periods wasted battling toner issues and paper jams. Canvas assignments allow students to submit work in a multitude of ways. Assignments are time stamped and always connected to the submitting student. Grade everything from a computer (or phone with the Canvas Teacher App) and have those scores populate into your grade book automagically. Truly a game changing feature for teachers.

Discussions: Discussions could be used in a multitude of ways, both synchronous and asynchronous. Students can showcase their work and get feedback in a virtual gallery. Current events or other media can be embedded within a discussion post, allowing students to present their points of view and interact with other students. Increase engagement and participation with discussion boards that are integrated within a traditional classroom environment. Discussions can also be used as a classroom Q&A board, saving teachers the chore of sending redundant emails to multiple students answering the same question.

Quizzes: There are many uses for Canvas Quizzes in the classroom. With 12 question types, there are abundant opportunities to create engaging and auto-grading activities for your students. Gather quick data with bell ringers and exit tickets. Convert worksheets into Canvas quizzes and let Canvas do all the grading and data entry work.

These are just a few of the many ways to utilize Canvas in a face to face learning environment. Do you have an innovative, in-person way to utilize Canvas? Please share below in the comments.