Young student users

[marthazumack]

How old are your youngest Canvas users? We currently do not have students younger than 9 years old enrolled on Canvas but are looking at how younger students will use and experience Canvas. Do you have any advice, hints, or tips for engaging younger students?

[MattHanes]

One thing I would recommend is putting Elementary schools in their own sub-account. Then you can use the CSS and Javascript overrides at that sub-account level. That will allow you to have differences in the way the interface looks from Elementary to Secondary. In our case, we use big icons for the top-menus and also added icons for the menu items on the left. You can also use more interesting colors that might look silly for older students but are bright and engaging for the younger students. You can even go as far as defining different fonts for the text that might look more fun.

[marthazumack]

We use sub-accounts for middle-school students which has its own look, but as you pointed out, we will need bigger icons and brighter colours for younger students. Could you share a screen shot to show how you use top menus?

[MattHanes]

Of course! You can see the screenshot below with icons. The "Toolbox" menu item is added via javascript and contains links to several of the online programs that our elementary students are using. I hovered over the Toolbox for the screenshot so you can see what that looks like.

[jpark]

I teach first grade, and my 6-7 year olds are enrolled as students. Come visit me on Thursday!

[jpark]

i have​ used canvas with my 6-7 year old first graders for the past 3 years. You can look for my presentation at Instructurecon

[clong]

Hi Martha, I think you'll find some great ideas over in How to use canvas with 5-7 year old children?

[marthazumack]

Thanks for bringing it to my attention!