I thought I would treat it like a birthday and give a list of the gifts I would like Canvas to get for me going forward.... a list of the things I would love to see in place in the learning platform I have used for 10 years. I may return to this in a year to see how many of them I got....
They are in no order other than the ones that spring to mind.
Gift #1 - How old do you need to still be New?
I took part in the beta trial of New Quizzes, I think that was around 2017. Eight years ago. Please can we stop calling it New Quizzes and make a decision about the 'old' quiz tool. I sometimes feel we cannot move on with developing the quiz functionality because we still have two different approaches. I continue to be amazed at how many institutions are using 'classic' quizzes. I would love to know what issues mean they cannot move on..?
Gift #2 - New for Old!
We moved to New Quizzes pretty much straight away at my previous school. This was not without some frustrations which I am sure you will find posted somewhere in the Community. They are slowly being sorted but a few crucial ones still remain which pretty much concern functionality and in particular the RCE. I like the range of quiz tools in 'New' Quizzes but with a few little tweaks they could be amazing and all it needs is access to the RCE. We've only got two more to do!
Matching Quiz - Bring in the RCE. Language teachers can have text in English matching to a sound file equivalent in French. Science and Maths teachers can match symbols to words. History teachers match sound file speeches to images and so on
Categorization Quiz - Add in the RCE. Imagine being able to group images and sounds. Art teachers grouping images based on Artistic movements, Geography teachers grouping physical and human characteristics, English teachers grouping spoken quotations to key characters or themes and many more ideas
Gift #3 - Embedding Instant Happiness
Another Quiz feature and perhaps one that sits best as a lesson starter or review - instant feedback. Could we have a quiz feature to add to a Canvas page as a review. No grade reported to the gradebook. No need to spend time altering all the settings. Enter your answers, press the Check button and see your responses, perhaps even with some feedback?
Gift #4 - HTML Pages
I brought this up in another post - Vibe Coding and Canvas - Surely its time for Canva... - Instructure Community - 641044 where I expressed some frustration at the inconsistencies of the design of features within Canvas. A student submits an html page for an assignment and I can view all the features they have added, even those created with lots of JavaScript and 'blocked' code. However, I cannot add that same html page as a page to display to all students (without a very long-winded approach that is not going to encourage others to follow suit). I wonder why there is such discrepancy, if it blocked both things I would understand more. With the growing developments of AI, perhaps it's time to review some of the current limitations of Canvas tools particularly html.
Gift #5 - Assign to [ ]
It was great to see this feature being added to Canvas. I remember it being an idea I submitted very early on in my Canvas days in response to a wish to have multiple classes using the same Canvas course but accessing different modules at different times. I now use this feature lots. What is most frustrating is that Assign to only applies to Canvas features. I encourage our staff to make use of Text Headers to help separate and manage content. For some reason text headers were not included in the Assign to feature. So now, when staff add Text headers for different sections, students get confused as to why there are Text Headers with nothing underneath. I just wish Canvas had sought wider views and opinions because just with the RCE, it must surely have been easier to add it in first time than go back and do it retrospectively. I don't know why there are not more comments about this especially as without text headers, you are in danger of creating just lists of stuff.
Gift #6 - Finding the right space
A popular CPD training event is when I show staff how to make Home pages with buttons and links to Modules. A well-designed home page can make a big difference and you want it to be the focus when you click on a course. Frustratingly, it does not occupy the whole page because over on the right is a small column with the following features:
Now I get the importance of the To do list but to be honest, could they not all be added as Menu bar features so we can then release the full page for the menu?
Gift #7 - Gradeboooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook views
The gradebook has had some attention paid to it with the ability to filter out various features, but you know what would be great - the ability to hide and unhide any column you want
Gift #8 - Bronze, Silver and Gold
When I talk about badging with staff and students, the phrase I always use is that a badge both rewards and recognises the skills achieved in a task. I have designed badges for some staff CPD and they are always very welcomed - everyone loves a badge! One thing I have noticed that should not be happening with badges is as follows. I create a new Grading Scheme to match Points scored to some other feature eg emojis or stars or statements eg bronze, silver, gold. With staff training, staff are not interested in a score of 10 and actually I want to link to a comment of item. For some reason I cannot do it. I have to give them points. I don't understand why as they are being given points in the first place, and it is just being translated into the grade. I have mentioned this a few times and hope it gets sorted. We just don't need more points and percentages! That's not what I want a Badge to represent; badges are not grade stickers. Yes, they reward completion of an activity but more importantly they recognise the skills that a student has, skills that can be transferred across any subject area.
Gift #9 - Bronze or Silver or Gold
It has been wonderful to work with digital badges over the last two years and almost a wish fulfilled. I am hugely thankful to lots of people for sharing their time and ideas with finding different ways to use badging. One thing I would love for Canvas Credentials to put in place in their integration is the ability to award different badges based on the score you get. What, you say, it can do this! Yes, you can set up the integration to award a Bronze badge for 5-9 points, Silver for 10-15 points and Gold for 16-20 points. The only problem is that if you score 17 and earn Gold, you also get Silver and Bronze thrown in. Know I know you have earned them, but it then things get very big and messy with lots of badges being awarded rather than just the ones you achieved based on your score. I am surprised that no-one has mentioned this and perhaps it is because our particular use case wants just the one badge. I dont know how tricky it would be to sort out but it would make a huge difference.
Gift #10 - The K12 Community
Before using Canvas, I spent nearly 8 years working with Moodle. I thought that nothing would come close to quality of the Moodle Community group, but Canvas comes very, very close. What the community lacks in sharing technology solutions it more than makes up with conversations of pedagogy and instructional design. The 'new' (in the same vein as 'New quizzes) community design is not quite as engaging as the previous one where gamification was to the fore with badges, leaderboards, quests and rewards but it is getting there. I just wish there was a little more focus and opportunity for K12. It sits as a separate group, and I wonder how much traction it gets with people actively seeking out and sharing ideas. Perhaps this is already happening, and I just don't know how to find it but sometimes I think it is easy to get lost withing a myriad of menu options and features.
So, there we go. My 10 gifts I'd like from Canvas. Lets see what happens over the year. What gifts would you like from the platform? Maybe Ive already got one of the ones above and I dont yet know it?
Let me know in the comments below.
Happy 50th...
