Blended Learning - Exemplar Guide

Canvas

BLENDED LEARNING course Guide

8 Minimum Standards for Canvas Course Design

Course Information

Structure

Homepage

Navigation

Assessments

Accessibility

Key learning content

Recorded Video content

Course Homepage

Homepage Example

Why is this important? The main function of the homepage is to direct students to key areas of their Canvas course - allowing them to quickly find what they are looking for while enabling Teachers to gain the attention of all students (e.g via course-level announcements).

Homepage Elements

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Digital Checklist

Homepage Example

The Homepage (opposite) displays a more professional view of the course - with key information and navigation buttons built in using the Cidi Labs Design Plus tool. For more information on applying Cidi Labs to your Canvas course, contact the Centre for Excellence Technology Enhanced Learning team at: canvassupport@belfastmet.ac.uk

And for more information on Homepage essientials follow the link

TEL Hub

Canvas course - Homepage Elements

Course Title

Banner image

The Homepage elements are made up off:

• Course Title
• Banner Image
• Course Navigation
• Course Information

Course Navigation

Course Information

Course Information

Course Information Example

Why is this important? This standard seeks to ensure that students can quickly and easily locate the important information about their Canvas course, such as learning outcomes, contact details of the teaching team, information on how the modules will be assessed as well as details of where to get help.

Key Information

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Digital Checklist

Course Information Example

Your Canvas course should include these key elements:

• Welcome Message
• Aims & Objectives
• Course Handbook
• Contact Information
• Addional College Resources

Contact Information

For more information on Key information follow the link

TEL Hub

Key Information

Banner Image

Course Title

Navigation/further information

Welcome & Course information

Accessibility score

For more information on Key information follow the link

Digital Checklist

*Click on the boxes to reveal their purpose

Navigation Example

Navigation

Why is this important? Keep course navigation simple by maintaining a consistent order of menu options across the Canvas course modules. And as students frequently access their Canvas course via the Canvas mobile app make sure all course content is mobile friendly.

Navigation Purpose

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Digital Checklist

Navigation Example

The Canvas course navigation pane remains visable to students at all times and enables Teachers to present, or hide, key functionalities.

For more information on Key information follow the link

Key Information

Navigation purpose

The purpose of good navigation is to keep your course simple so the content is easily accessible. Students increasingly use their mobile phones to access Canvas so its important to ensure your course content remains mobile frendly. The TEL Team can help you with this so contact at: canvassupport@belfastmet.ac.uk

For more information on this please contact the TEL Team at: canvassupport@belfastmet.ac.uk

Structure

Structure Example

Why is this important? Course content should be organised into manageable units of study, with each unit providing a brief introduction that contextualizes the learning materials within. Inconsistency can arise when there are several Teachers, each delivering a part of the same module, with each taking a different approach to the presentation of their content.

Key Points

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Digital Checklist

Structure Example

Good course structure makes access to content clear and simple for students. This module example shows the foundational elements needed for good Canvas course structure .

Structure Key Points

Welcome

Structure Key points

Text Header

Course Content

Course Content

Indentaion

Course Content

When structuring your Canvas course use these key points:

Text Header

• Intro/Welcome message
• Use Text Headers
• Stack course content in order
• Correct Naming Conventions
• Use module indentation
• Module Conculsion

Course Content

Course Content

Text Header

Advanced structure tools include:

Conclusion

• Prerequisites
• Mastery Paths

Digital Checklist

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Key Learning Content

Key learning Content Example

Why is this important? This standard aims to make sure that important content is available, including course materials, multimedia resources, assessment information, supplemental textbooks, reading lists, and details on how learning activities relate to learning outcomes.

External Tools

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Digital Checklist

Key Learning Content

Tools available, within Canvas, allow Teachers to interact and communicate with their students. Teachers can make their course content fun and enjoyable by applying features such as:

• Disscusions
• Quizzes
• Chat
• Announcements
• Collabrations
• External Tools

External Applications

A range of 'Externals Apps' have been integrated within Canvas - providing Teachers with a great way to take their 'blended learning' to the next level. These include:

• Lesson Up
• ClickView
• Blackboard Ally
• Unicheck
• MS Teams
• Lockdown Browser
• Blended Learning Consortium materials

For more information on each of these tools click on the button, below.

Applications

Recorded Video Content Example

Recorded Video Content

Why is this important? Students place importance on recorded content because it enables them to develop a thorough understanding of the topics taught. ClickView is all about video content and, as an intergrated Canvas app, helps students to benefit greatly from video-recorded content while enabling Teachers to formatively assess student engagement by means of interactive video content.

Interactive Video Content

Digital Checklist

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Canvas Rich Text Editor tool bar

Recorded Video Content

Video content enriches learning, allowing you to use recordings of your lessons and lectures. You can upload your recorded content to Canvas directly through the Rich Text Editor or by using an external app like ClickView which affords a wide variety of Further Education content.

Interactive Video Content

Interactive Videos is a great way to make your content more engaging by emerging the student to interact with the content. ClickView enables Teachers to easily add interactive elements to any video. And when these videos are imported into Canvas as assignments Teachers can easily formatively assess each student's enagement / understanding.

Blackboard Ally Software

Accessibility

Why is this important? Accessibility is a core part of making teaching and learning inclusive for all learners. Inclusive practice benefits everyone, and this is particularly true in a digital learning environment.

Backgrounds, Colour, Images & Hyperlinks

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Digital Checklist

Blackboard Ally Software

'Blackboard Ally' is the integrated software we use to track and manage the accessibility of all our Canvas hosted courses - to help ensure the best possible 'content accessibility' standards. The image, opposite, shows how the software works by scanning all Canvas course documents, searching each for accessibility issues. For more info on Blackboard Ally follow the link below

Blackboard Ally

Colours, Images, Styles, Hyperlinks

Images are used to support course content (e.g., banners, headings and icons) and accompanied by text descriptions (Alt text) or captions for more complex descriptions.

Styles (e.g. Paragraph, Heading 2, etc.) are used to format text. Hyperlink text incorporates the hyperlink destination/purpose (avoid raw URLs, e.g.,

Colour enhances the aesthetic appeal and effectiveness of the course; sufficient contrast between text and background makes information easy to read; and colour is not used in isolation to convey meaning.

Canvas Accessiblity Guidelines

Assessments

Assessment Example

Why is this important? Within Canvas, Teachers can 'assess' their students at any time via a number of core and integrated apps (e.g. via discussions, individual and/or group assignments, quizzes etc) - to promote student engagement while determining each student's understanding of course materials.

Key Points

For more information check out our Canvas digital checklist

Digital Checklist

Assessment Example

Why is this important? A variety of assessments methods can be used within Canvas (discussions, quizzes, individual and/or group assignments) to challange learners and gauge their understanding through formative and summative assessment. In the example, opposite, a scoring 'Rubric' added to an assignment enables Teachers to 'Speed Grade' submissions and helps students to appreciate their awarded grade/score.

Assessments Key Points

Assignments include Quizzes, graded Discussions, and online submissions (i.e. files, images, text, URLs, etc.). Assignments in Canvas can be used to challenge students' understanding and help assess competency by using a variety of media