Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1 Getting Started with Canvas LMS 5
Chapter 1 The Who, What When, Where, and Why of Canvas 7
Who Uses Canvas? 8
Educators 8
Administrators 9
School staff 10
Students 10
What Is an LMS? 11
When Should You Use Canvas? 12
Traditional learning 12
Hybrid and online learning 13
Where Is Canvas Used? 13
K-12: Panda Cubs 13
Higher Education: Panda Pupils 14
Career and technical education: Panda Professionals 14
Why Do Folks Use Canvas? 15
The importance of blended learning 15
The flexibility of efficient educators 16
Chapter 2 Shifting Your Mindset 19
The Pandemic That Reinvented Education 20
Synchronous learning 20
Asynchronous learning 22
It's Go Time! 24
Helping Learners in the Digital Space 26
Incorporate the basic elements of instructional design 27
Create a visual experience 28
Leveraging Canvas for All Learning Styles 29
Part 2 Welcome to the Jungle 31
Chapter 3 The Panda Primer 33
The Lowdown on Logging In 33
Getting Comfortable with the Canvas Dashboard 36
The Global Navigation Menu 37
Account 37
Courses 42
Calendar 43
Inbox 43
History 43
Help 44
Using the Three Dots, er, Options Menu 44
To the Right: The Sidebar 46
To Do 46
Coming Up 47
Chapter 4 Where the Magic Happens: Setting Up a Course 49
Creating Your First Course 50
Getting Creative with Course Tiles 53
Updating Course Settings 58
Sections tab 58
Navigation tab 58
Apps tab 59
Feature Previews tab 60
Looking at Learning in the Student View 61
Validating Your Links 62
Checking for Accessibility, Usability, and Learnability 64
Accessibility Checker 65
Immersive Reader 66
Chapter 5 Rolling in the RCE 69
Exploring the RCE 70
Accessing the RCE 70
Finding your way around 72
Mastering the toolbar buttons 75
Creating a Visual Learning Experience 76
Adding images to your course 76
Including image attributes 77
Resizing images 80
You're the Star! Using the Media Recorder 81
Practicing with an Announcement 83
Less Is More: Aesthetics and Logical Learning 85
Chapter 6 You've Got Mail in Canvas Inbox 89
Exploring the Canvas Inbox 89
Filtering 90
Address Book 92
Conversations 92
Composing a Message 94
Considerations Regarding Communication 97
Should You Delete or Archive? 98
Implementing a Deliberate Communication Plan 99
Your Secret Weapon: Using the Media Recorder 102
Chapter 7 Using the Canvas Calendar 105
Exploring the Canvas Calendar 106
Adjusting Calendar Views 108
Selecting calendars and changing course colors 108
Choosing week, month, or agenda views 109
Adding Events 111
Adding Assignments 114
Change Dates Here, Sync Everywhere 115
Integrating the Canvas Calendar with Other Calendars 117
The Power of the Calendar to Teach Life Skills 118
Part 3 Living That Panda Life 121
Chapter 8 Communicating the Canvas Way 123
Creating Canvas Announcements 124
Multiple courses, same announcement 127
Timing and scope of announcements 129
Media Recorder: Letting Students Hear Your Voice 132
Building Compassion and Relationships 133
Elevating Communication with the Mobile App 134
Chatper 9 Grazing through a Forest of Modules 135
The Backbone of Self-Contained Learning 136
Creating Modules 139
Adding Content to Modules 142
Organizing with text headers 144
Deciphering the icons 146
Editing Modules 147
Pace Yourselves! Using Requirements and Prerequisites 149
Setting requirements 150
Setting prerequisites 151
Gamifying Your Course with Badges 152
Chapter 10 Climbing the Deliverables Tree 155
Creating and Editing Pages 156
Building Meaningful Discussions 160
Designing Assignments 164
Creating an assignment group 165
Creating an assignment 166
Selecting submission types and entry options 170
Launching Quizzes and Question Banks 174
Quizzes 174
Question banks 179
Chapter 11 Grading Efficiency for Panda Naps 181
Navigating the Gradebook 182
Opening the Gradebook and filtering your view 182
What do all these colors mean? 186
Viewing assignment details 187
Messaging "Students Who" 188
The Low-Down on Canvas SpeedGrader 190
The menu bar 191
The preview window 193
The sidebar 193
Targeting Feedback with Laser-Focused Communication 195
Creating Rubrics and Outcomes 197
Rubrics 197
Outcomes 200
Part 4 Collaborating with Your Panda Pals 205
Chapter 12 Running Wild: How to Own Student Ownership 207
Impactful Integrations 208
Canvas LTIs 208
Canvas Studio 209
Canvas ePortfolios 212
MasteryConnect 214
Extending Learning Beyond the Ordinary 216
Project-based learning 216
Skills-based learning 217
Chapter 13 Collaborating with Fellow Pandas 219
Finding Inspiration in Canvas Commons 220
Searching for content 222
Vetting content 223
Sharing Content in Canvas Commons 227
Leveraging the Power of Blueprint Courses 230
Chapter 14 Joining the Canvas User Family 233
Exploring the Canvas Community Website 234
The Canvas tab 237
The Additional Products tab 238
The Roadmap tab 239
The Interest Groups tab 240
The Events tab 240
Becoming a Canvas Certified Educator 241
Connecting with Fellow Pandas 242
Twitter 242
Facebook and Instagram 243
The Canvascasters Podcast 245
Part 5 The Part of Tens 249
Chapter 15 Ten Canvas Facts and Figures 251
The Canvas Community Is Huge 251
Canvas Is Updated Frequently 252
Canvas Uptime Is 99.99% 253
Canvas Is Cloud-Based 254
Canvas Is Brought to You by Instructure 254
Canvas Has Been Adopted in 13 States 255
Canvas Is Worldwide 256
Canvas Is the Number One Choice in Higher Ed 256
Canvas Offers Three Mobile Apps 256
Canvas Loves Pandas 257
Chapter 16 Ten Favorite Canvas Add-Ons 259
Canvas Studio 259
MasteryConnect 260
Google Assignments LTI 261
Flipgrid LTI 262
Redirect Tool 263
YouTube 265
InSpace 266
ClassCraft 267
ePortfolios 268
Impact by Instructure 268
Chapter 17 Ten Productive Ways to Use the Canvas Mobile App 271
Shift Your Mindset 272
Set a Profile Pic 272
Help Students Set Up Notifications 273
Take Attendance 273
Keep Calendar Events Up to Date 274
Add Audio and Video Comments 274
Send Messages 275
Access Student View 275
Add Files Directly to Your Course 276
Join the Canvas Mobile Users Hub 276
Index 277