Can logging in be simplified for younger students?

[Bobby2]

We are introducing Canvas to primary schools in our state. Is it possible to simplify the login for younger students, or those with special needs? 

[hurst]

We haven't simplified their login at all but what we have done is ensured that the devices they are using remember the login details inclusive of passwords.  This obviously is not great in a shared device environment but in the 1:1 that we have it works a treat!

[Bobby2]

That is very helpful. I shall pass it on. Thanks Carmel.

[ysmalls]

Hello,

This has been a struggle for our teachers too.  I do know that some take the time to go around and login the younger students themselves.  Maybe not too productive but once in the students know to navigate.

[melissa_kreider]

What grade level/age are you wanting this for? I taught technology to K-8 and have a few tricks up my sleeves. 

[Bobby2]

Melissa this will mainly be for K-2, but there are learners who are older than that who still struggle with long usernames etc. I'd love to hear your work arounds.

[melissa_kreider]

Great,  @Bobby2 ‌!

Have you tried having the younger students handwrite it out? I use to have them handwrite their login information on all written assignments (maybe better for 1/2). It really helped build their memory of it! 

For kinders - I have put stickers on the keys that they needed to log in. I used number stickers so they just had to follow number order. That gets a little tricky if you have multiple kiddos using the same keyboard. 

Another great program that worked really well was at one K-6 school I taught at. I created a technology "buddy" system. So, a rotating group of 6th graders would come and help login the kinders, a rotating group of 5th graders would help login the 1st graders, etc. The goal was not for the older kids to do it for them, but to scaffold the learning and get the younger kids comfortable with logging in. 

The good news, in 12 years I have always, always seen these younger kiddos master the login process, it takes some time and consistency, though. 

[Bobby2]

Melissa I love these ideas and will be passing these on to peeps in need. Many thanks.

[kmeeusen]

Great tips,  @melissa_kreider ‌!

Thank you.

[thompsli]

In the past, I've seen this handled with a set of index cards (one per student) with their login information on the card so they can see exactly what to type in where. A printed screenshot with their login information superimposed over the fields where they should type it would be even better. I'm not sure if modern browsers have an easy way to make it not obscure the password field - I feel like at some point in my life I had a way to do this but couldn't find one in a few minutes of halfhearted poking around in Chrome. If such an option could be found, it would probably be helpful for kinders trying to slowly match letters and make sure they typed the right ones.

[kenneth_rogers]

 @Bobby2 ‌ -

Thanks for calling me out on this and asking for my views as a parent of a second grader and spouse of a K-5 educator. While I don't have any specific ideas or resources, I can speak to what my experience is.

As I said, my son is in second grade, but he hasn't had to login to any resources or know his login information until this year. As a parent - I like the fact that he hasn't had to authenticate into any systems and his only computer classes have revolved around web based applications up until this year (although, I'm still scratching my head as to why a second grader needs an e-mail address, but you didn't ask that!).

Now that he has the ability to authenticate, his computer class and his regular class use computers pretty heavily (that's a credit to his gen ed teacher, not a requirement). He's on a google campus, so he has access to anything google - including google classroom.

Now - the authentication part. They're pretty smart in creating usernames as "firstname.lastname@district.net" (plus, then he learns his e-mail address). His password is his student ID number, which then any teacher would have access to and can help him with that - but this is the same ID number he has used in the lunch room since kinder, so he already knows it. I can't speak to whether or not that was intentional - but if it was, that's dang smart.

I hope this helps folks out some. I'll admit, at times I'm not crazy about how some things are handled and I guess some of my Higher Ed starts to show....then my wife tells me to relax and everything is ok!

[bogardde]

Are you familiar with Clever.com?Clever now supports a Canvas login, and Clever has a QR code login ability. The QR code login is SWEET for our kindergarten and first grade students - then once they get beyond first grade, the standard login process seems to become less onerous a task.

Each student has their QR code on a card, and they don't have to type anything in at all, just a few clicks. Although we don't use Clever to log into Canvas yet because of other logistical reasons, we use Clever for other software logins such as STMath. Clever doesn't cost school districts anything to use - they charge the companies instead.

Here's how a login looks via QR code:

[Bobby2]

Brilliant bogarddeThis will be shared instantly. Thank you!

Here's the url if anyone needs it Sign up for Clever | Clever 

[tameika_munday]

Have you seen this process used in any classrooms Bobby? I would love to know how successful it is?

[Bobby2]

I haven't seen Clever in action but keen to see it.

Using Teacher Aides in the mornings to help log kids in has been super successful.

But what works best is regular use I think. The more they do it the faster they get.

[lalesi]

We authenticate our users through their network account -(AD) which is their name.  In lower primary grades our teachers sometimes have students use the same password, ex. room12.   With Canvas using LTI tools and Clever, we are then able to have them use different apps right in Canvas without them having to login to the other apps.  This works very well for younger students.

[craig_nicholls]

Hi.

We use 1:1 iPads with our students and one of our techies set up an app that is basically a bookmark repository for students to use. The students need to log in to Canvas once and the app remembers their details. Simple for them to use from then on.

Let me know if you want more details and I can connect you with the person who created this.

Craig

[henry_ozsoy]

Hi,

Our school has the same environment as mentioned and we would love to have the solution  @craig_nicholls  mentioned. Any chance of us connecting with the person who set this up?

[Bobby2]

On our 1:1 iPads we just bookmarked to the home page How to Use Bookmarks on the iPad. But that's just to the web version of Canvas.