Canvas Mobile Apps, Not Just for Students Anymore

[Stef_retired]

 @rseilham ‌

Let's explore a day in the life with Canvas Mobile apps which includes a real-world experience by students and teachers while on-the-go. This session will help teachers and designers better understand mobile use, optimize course content, communicate effectively, and create an awesome learning experience, anywhere.

[isobel_williams]

Hi 

This is such a great way to show all the things the mobile app can do - will use this in my PL.

[michellez]

Excellent job  @rseilham ‌ and  @kenneth_rogers ‌! So much fun to watch this video.  I loved the mobile design checklist - I will be using this.  I use Canvas as a teacher so I especially loved seeing the demonstration videos at the end between teacher and student using the mobile app. I will be using this more now. Is it dafe to assume that the "parent" app is for K-12?  I teach in a higher education setting and I cannot imagine parents are checking in with their students' assignments, but you never know. Thanks for this great presentation. ##mobile‌ #mobile site‌ 

[KristinL]

Hi  @michellez  -

The Canvas Parent app was designed with the target audience of K12 families who use the Observer role. However, I have seen other "roles" use the Canvas Parent app...even though these family members/cheerleaders/support people are not technically parents. (On a side note, I wish that the app was called Canvas Observer to make it more inclusive, but that's a topic for a different conversation.  )

At the University level, most parents are comfortable with their students doing their own thing. However, the way the pairing codes are generated, it can be completely on the student whether or not they want someone following their academic progress. Of course, the university has to turn on the Canvas Parent feature, so that's a big conversation in itself.

I've heard of counselors and academic advisors using the Observer role with higher education students. That would allow them to use the Canvas Parent app for quick at-a-glance views of their students' progress as well.

[michellez]

Thank you  @KristinL  - this is very informative.  I happen to love the idea of a Canvas Observer app - happy to join in on that conversation at another time! It makes sense that once students are part of a higher education institution, parental roles are more limited. Thanks again!

[Bobby2]

 @rseilham nd  @kenneth_rogers his was a really handy watch. The checklist is so well thought through, love it. 

https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/designers/blog/2018/06/29/mobile-app-design-course-evaluation... 

[gemma_sinclair]

Good introduction to the Canvas native apps

[valentinesking]

 @rseilham  From one person who has won some of your swag, sm competition is always appreciated. Glad that I was able to attend one of your sessions in person. Great mobile overview of where Canvas has been to where we are now. Imagine how many downloads there are now! Are you presenting again this year at #instcon‌ ?

-Sky V.

[rseilham]

Hey  @valentinesking ‌! 

Thanks! I always love presenting on Canvas mobile. Good news is I'll be there again this year, presenting for my 7th straight year. It should be great! 

[tellison]

 @rseilham ‌ and  @kenneth_rogers  for putting this together.  It is nice to review conference presentations and think of other ways to utilize the apps.

[udelhsar]

Nice presentation!  Thank you for sharing and loved the tips and tricks.  Always good to see how everyone uses tools as we all function in our own routine.  Seeing something new can make all the difference.

Can you expand on how you determined the mobile usage data? 

[rseilham]

HI  @udelhsar ‌, 

At UCF we use three data points to examine usage, beliefs, and preferences. 

1. An annual mobile survey administered through Qualtrics. The survey gives us good qualitative and quantitative feedback. We share all the data with the Canvas mobile team. 
2. Google Analytics: We have GA installed with Canvas so it gives us good stats on mobile vs desktop vs tablet usage. Keep in mind, this is only web usage since the native app doesn't support GA.
3. Canvas Data: This is where we get the most data. Our admins have created dashboards for me to follow general usage and unique users of the Canvas Student and Teacher apps. This is tracked every month with our KPIs to see how the trends compare from month to month and year to year. We do this by searching for User Agents that appear in the Canvas Data that allows us to extract only native mobile app usage.

With that, no data is perfect, but it's clear that the app is widely used, important, and generally liked by students and teachers. Hope this helps! 

[mmoore1]

Good Presentation.  Great Demo of Wayback Machine.  Tells the story of the App. 

[rseilham]

Thanks! I think knowing where we've been will help us appreciate where we are at. The apps have come a long way since their humble beginnings! 

[wwolf]

 @rseilham ‌, great video, great presentation.  We are preparing for our Canvas PD for our teachers (both new and old) for the 2019-2020 school year.  I have been urging teacher to use the Canvas Mobile Teacher app, but few have done so.  We are trying to get more buy in with the app and I think this video will be very helpful.  Thanks!

[Maeve_McCooey]

Great Job and a very useful resource to explain the Canvas apps to our users.

[janejump]

 @rseilham ‌ how did I miss this presentation until now? This is great information on the apps! I remember the days of Speedgrader as the only way for Teachers to work through the app. The Teacher app is so helpful for our faculty who wouldn't otherwise think of using their phones or tablets to work in their courses. AND having the videos demonstrating the usage is an added bonus! Nice work here.

[rseilham]

Thanks, I appreciate it! The apps have come a long way and give teachers, students, and parent much more flexibility to participate anywhere and at any time. 

[ayoder]

Great intro!  Even the recent update I got on my phone gets me excited or all the canvas has the potential for!

[rseilham]

Thanks! It was fun putting together the story about the wayback machine and how far the app has come in the last 8-9 years!

[stacy_lambert]

Love the history lesson. Our Parent App is working so much better now - with the pairing code, way better access. Kids are all over the student app too. Design tips are great too and I love a good checklist!

[rseilham]

Thanks! I know the mobile team is committed to making the parent app even better. Stay tuned...

[amandathecarpen]

Great demo!

[rseilham]

Appreciate it! 

[leonoronhas]

Awesome video. Thanks

[rseilham]

Thanks! 

[adarsh]

Thank you. Very useful updates to the Canvas Mobile interfaces - particularly for teachers.

[fosterl]

I wasn't able to attend this at InstructureCarn last year, what a great presentation! Our institution is working on developing an over-arching student app, and it is helpful to be able to show them what is already so well covered by the Canvas Student app.

[rseilham]

Thanks! yeah, we have a campus app as well and Canvas Student is still the most popular app at our school.  

[dlocklin129]

Thanks

[garrett_william]

I've been thinking about the app and this helped clarify things

[rseilham]

Great! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the presentation! 

[gouldt]

Thanks, I loved seeing the history. We forget how much has changed in such a short time.

[mmoore1]

Yes, people get accustomed to a new feature quickly and forget that we did not have it a few months ago.  Human nature is interesting. 

[crhyland]

This was a very informative overview of the apps.  I LOVED the history lesson on how the current app evolved.  The Mobile Design tips were very helpful.  Being in a  K12 1 to 1 district with iPads, all our student use the Student App for iOS.  I think it is SO important that teachers think about the layout of their course and how the students will see it.  I feel like chunking the content is one of the most important parts in designing a course.  We just started using Canvas this year across the entire district i really hadn't looked or thought about requirement until now.Thank you for pointing out that requirements will help the students see where they left off in the course.  I think this could be very helpful to the students even if they are getting face to face instruction as well. So much more to think about when it comes to training and informing our teachers in the district.

[Chris_Hofer]

 @crhyland ...

You might also be interested in watching this video from this past Summer's InstructureCon 2019 conference: .

[crhyland]

THANKS!  I'll check it out!