Requesting Sample Canvas Courses
Answered
Hello!
I've read the previous questions and responses about sample Canvas courses, and I have to say: "Growing with Canvas" is NOT an effective example for us to be using for creating our own courses. Although I know each module builds in complexity, all I'm seeing so far after the initial page of modules is pages of pure text-- the equivalent of boring Power Point slides. It is NOT multimodal-- it is NOT neuro-diversity and learning-diversity friendly. If we are to believe that Canvas offers real options for our students we need to see some. What I'm seeing so far is miles less interactive and engaging than what I currently do on iLearn. Canvas needs to provide some real examples from different disciplines that we can explore.
I hope this post does not read as disrespectful to AT-- I know you're working hard for this transition. But I will not be quiet about issues that impact students negatively. I'm going to need evidence of what Canvas can provide, and "Growing with Canvas" does not meet my pedagogical standards so far. I promise you, students would not even read the full introduction module. It might as well be a page from a textbook without a picture. We can't be offering students a website that's less engaging than what their banking app provides and expect that they'll use it effectively.
So I'm going to assume Canvas can do much more, and we need to be shown examples of that. Canvas ought to be providing those examples to SFSU for the fees we're paying them.
Thank you.
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Official comment
CEETL will be offering workshops on best practice approaches to designing course content in Canvas around mid-Fall. This content is coming, but takes some time to develop.
One of the things we have access to in Canvas is the Canvas commons; these are courses that other institutions have built out and have shared with the greater Canvas community. Within that, the CSU has also built a consortium of shared content that you can pull from. What I would suggest is browsing through the commons (the Commons menu item on the left hand navigation) to see if there's a course you want to take a look at and poke around with. You can pull any class from commons into your sandbox to get a better picture of it.
The Growing with Canvas course is a self-paced, teacher training course. It's an example of a course that doesn't have an explicit "instructor", so as you said, it's just pages and pages of content. With a human at the helm there'd be a lot more interaction.
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Thank you, Jennifer, for voicing my concerns with such clarity. And thank you, Donna, for voicing my discouragement! Faculty and students are burned out as it is in the wake of the pandemic and all that it required of us. I'm discouraged to think that faculty are going to put so much time into adapting to a dull system that is little more than a file cabinet for course handouts.
Canvas seems so buttoned-up and constrained, uninspiring and rigid. I'm hoping there are ways to bust out and use Canvas to wake up course material and not put it (and students) (and myself) to sleep. I spent years learning to use iLearn (somewhat) creatively. Please tell me there's more to Canvas than I see on "Growing with Canvas."
I don't think I need an excess of detailed instructions, or more "human interaction." I'm extremely eager to see some lively, inventive models of what Canvas can do, how it can offer multi-modal means of engaging students in course content.
I fear I'll be seeking out Google Classroom and other possibilities. I haven't given up. But please, provide us with some imaginative, stimulating Canvas course models. Many thanks.
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I’ve mentioned it in other threads on this topic, but I’ll bring it up again, aside from the content that CEETL is about to release during the Fall semester, we also have access to Canvas commons (the commons button in the leftmost navigation). As part of the CSU, we have access to the CSU consortium created content which are courses made by other CSU faculty that they’ve decided to share out. There’s a good variety of different types of courses in multiple disciplines to browse through there.
And Michelle: while as faculty you’re free to use whatever you’d like, just keep in mind that something like Google classroom has not been evaluated by DPRC, nor by any campus units to check for student data security. Using that platform would put your students at risk of data privacy violations, not to mention potential inaccessibility and just general tech support concerns as we are not a Google campus and our students do not automatically have Google accounts.
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Hello, Everyone,
I read all of your messages in this discussion. I agree change is hard. But you can do it!
I learned our new Canvas and used our new Canvas for my 4 courses this Summer 2022. Most of my students were happy with Canvas and preferred it over iLearn. Cristian was very responsive and helpful when I had questions. I will join the CEETL workshops hopefully to share what I learned and to learn more about Canvas.
I hope you have a wonderful Fall 2022 semester.
Best,
Duc
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