This semester as we return to to campus and face to face classes you may be breathing a sigh of relief. One year ago at this time you were preparing to run your class online and now? Maybe you’re thinking you no longer need to use Canvas at all.
I’d like to ask you to reconsider that stance.
Teaching face to face doesn’t mean the Learning Management System no longer has a role to play. Your in-person pedagogical practices can benefit from a thoughtful incorporation of some of the same tools that made Canvas useful for teaching online, such as:
- Gradebook
- Assignments
- Modules
- Announcements
Gradebook:
Students have a right to know what grade they are earning in the class so that they can make informed decisions.
“But I put the weights of the grade categories in my syllabus!” I do too. But I also know that many of my students can feel stymied trying to use that knowledge to compute their current grade. (Or they use it incorrectly and calculate the wrong grade.) Setting up the gradebook mitigates the issues caused by leaving them to do the math on their own.
“Well the student can always come ask me what the grade is and I will tell them.” That’s great! But what if the student is shy? What if the student is afraid to approach you because they think you’ll be angry at them because their grade is not up to snuff? One of the learning goals for our students is for them to grow confident and be able to self-advocate, but that is a skill we’re expecting them to learn. If they haven’t reached that level yet, they may not be comfortable using this method to find out their grade. Does this mean they don’t deserve to stay informed on their performance?
Having multiple ways the student can check their grade improves their access and supplies them with the important information they need for some of the critical decisions they’ll have to make.
Additionally, accurate grades in the gradebook are necessary in order for advisors to support their advisees. Aviso will send alerts to both the student and their advisor if grades start slipping. But this is only meaningful if the grades in the Canvas gradebook are up to date. Without accurate grades students may receive a notification that they’re failing when they’re not or, worse, they may think they’re fine when they’re actually failing. In order for our system of checks to catch the student and get them the assistance they need in a timely manner, we need an accurate picture of how the student is performing.
Assignments:
The assignments feature in Canvas provides you with a multitude of ways to improve your students’ in class experiences. You can:
-Post a clear, detailed description of an assignment in addition to explicitly stating the requirements of an assignment (possibly even through a rubric!)
-Communicate the due date (or deadline for submission) of an assignment (now they can’t “write it down incorrectly” from the board, there’s a way to verify)
-Collect digital copies of the assignments so that you needn’t use class time to accumulate a pile of unstapled, frilly-edged paper that was ripped out of their spiral bound notebooks
-Leave feedback on their work using the built in Speedgrader that you’ll continue to have access to (unlike when you hand back their work and are left with just the grade you assigned and none of your comments. Unless you make copies of everything before you hand it back. But that’s not very eco-friendly of you….)
Modules:
Similar to posting your assignments in a place where the students can’t lose them, Modules provide you a way to post and organize other information you want students to have access to: files, URLs, structured information, and more! For more on ways you may want to organize and upload your content, check out the Canvas Remote Delivery Resources page.
Announcements:
The announcements feature is a great way to message all the students in your class at once to share an update or draw their attention to important changes. We’ve even talked about how to use them once or twice in the Canvas Coaches’ Corner!
