This week I attended our staff CPD session, hosted in a blended environment. Most of our teachers were present, some are part time. Hence a session available via Canvas is just the ticket.
The instructor delivered a short and light hearted presentation (the Powerpoint is now recorded with audio and now available on Canvas) and set out three short activities. A couple of readings, a discussion forum and a survey (feedback). In my humble opinion, little more is needed, simple and effective. It is a formula use over at FutureLearn. Their Assessment for Learning in STEM Teaching one of the very best teaching courses / CPD I have experienced.
At the end of the course, one of the staff wanted to ask a question regarding the scheduling and expectations.I suggested they contacted the tutor via the course. So today I learnt how to message the tutor. Either via the INBOX or via the HELP icon.
Wednesday
I have said it on more than “many occasions,” design a course with the end in mind. That is difficult to do, if this is your first attempt. Very quickly the file area is cluttered and finding what you need is made a lot more difficult. Just like you personal user area / folder area, keeping your Canvas files ordered is important. The “file” section offers file and folder management. I highlighted the importance of zipped files in the previous post.
The look of your course is important, it needs to be appetising. Two quick thoughts – banners and tiles are super easy to design with Adobe Spark Post. Otherwise, general curriculum tiles are two a penny in any image search.
That said, the editing options are not as good as I had thought they might be. Using tables without gridlines can certainly help.
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