Level Up Your Course Site With These Awesome Canvas Resources

Oct 7, 2020

Background

At the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester, Northeastern transitioned to Canvas – a modern learning management system (LMS) that is mobile-first, reliable, accessible, and that can evolve with the ever-changing needs of Northeastern’s learners from diverse backgrounds. Throughout the semester, faculty, students, and staff have been adapting to this transition under remarkable circumstances — learning how to use a new platform, while balancing the demands of teaching remotely amid much uncertainty. Canvas can be so much more than a tool for building a course site, and there is a host of available resources to help Northeastern faculty and staff elevate the learning experience beyond the basics.

CanvasCon Online

CanvasCon Online is a free global conference for educators, edtech experts, and Canvas users. And for the health and safety of all attendees, it’s virtual.

Join Academic Technologies for professional development, idea-sharing, and skill-building at CanvasCon Online. The event will be hosted live on October 15th at 12p.m. ET. Registration closes October 9th at 7 p.m. ET. Please click here for a direct link to register.

The full agenda for CanvasCon Online is available here, but below is a sneak peek at some sessions that promise to be particularly valuable to Northeastern Faculty and Staff.

Keynote Addresses:

LeVar BurtonImage of Sal KhanLeVar Burton – LeVar Burton is an actor, director, educator, and co-founder of the award-winning Skybrary App; former host and executive producer of PBS’s “Reading Rainbow;” and a lifelong children’s literacy advocate.

Sal Khan – As founder and CEO of the nonprofit Khan Academy, Sal Khan seeks to remove the barriers to education that leave over 600 million children lacking basic math and reading skills.

Breakout Sessions:

Faculty and staff interested in attending can filter and search the agenda based on their interests. Once registered, users can also star sessions to keep track of those they are interested in attending.

  • 10 Ways to Make Online Learning More Engaging – Sometimes techniques and approaches for teaching that worked well in a classroom setting may not always be the best approach for distance education. Learn several ways to keep your students engaged and successful in an online classroom.
  • Teaching From Canvas: Tips for Successful Online & Hybrid Instruction – As educators, we have an arsenal of tools for teaching face-to-face – but what about our digital spaces? What do we do? How do we do it? How do we do it well? Join us as we explore tips, tricks, and considerations for successful teaching and learning in online and hybrid spaces.
  • Designinfor Kindness – When students feel like their teacher cares about them as a person, as well as their success in the course, it creates a foundation of trust that promotes meaningful interactions and learning. This session covers what this learning environment looks like, how it functions, and the impact on student learning.

Unable to attend CanvasCon? Not to worry, all sessions will be available on-demand on October 16th at www.canvascon.com. 

Canvas Support

Northeastern users have access to 24/7 Canvas support via chat or phone. Canvas users can contact Canvas Support through the Help menu in Canvas Global Navigation on the web or the Help option in the User Menu from one of the Canvas mobile apps. Canvas support agents are trained to assist faculty, students, and staff on a variety of topics, including how-to questions on basic Canvas features and troubleshooting issues. Questions related to enrollments or other Northeastern systems should be directed to Northeastern Tech Support, which can also be accessed from the Canvas Help menu. 

The Canvas Community

Screenshot of the Canvas CommunityThe Canvas Community is a collaborative space where users can go to access the Canvas guidesjoin groups based on their interests or roles, or ask questions about how other users are getting the most out of Canvas. Users can also subscribe to the Canvas Product Release space to receive notifications about new Canvas features and important platform updates.  

The Canvas Instructor Guide is a great place for quick how-to guidance about Canvas features, including Assignments, Grades, Announcements, and more. The Question Forum can be a go-to spot for insight from other Canvas users about best practices or thinking-outside-the-box solutions. For users who are looking to go a step further with Canvas, the Group Hub can help generate ideas about how to leverage Canvas based on their interests and roles.

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