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Canvas, 91��Ƭ��’s learning management system for grades 3-12, was adopted in the 2015-2016 school year. Usage during the 2020-2021 school year skyrocketed because of virtual learning. Post-pandemic, many teachers remain highly motivated to leverage technology to enhance their instructional practices and students’ learning experiences. As the school year draws to a close, TI² celebrates the various ways 91��Ƭ�� teachers engaged students in over 301,417 assignments, 24,914 discussions, 440,397 file uploads and 8,061 media recordings in Canvas!��

Why are teachers continuing to leverage Canvas, and how has it impacted student learning and behavior? In what ways were Canvas features, tools, and integrations utilized when designing student learning experiences? Here’s what several of 91��Ƭ��’s top Canvas users shared about their use of Canvas this year:

 

“When we designed the math and science Canvas courses, we wanted to create something that was dynamic, engaging, rigorous and user-friendly. Our Canvas courses include the following components: problem of the day, videos, daily short quizzes (Exit Tickets that give students and teacher lesson taught), a Choice Board page and an extension page for enrichment. Since we started using Canvas, our scores have been among the highest and student behavior is at a minimum because students are always engaged. It also allows us to pull students for small groups without them missing out on a lesson.”

– Juan Frausto, Corey Academy, 3rd Grade Math & Science

 

 

“Using Canvas has provided ease and flexibility to student learning that they don’t usually have. Being physically and mentally present can be hard at times therefore, posting assignments, how-to-videos, and recording my own read-alongs of texts, ensures that that material is available forhem when a student is ready to process a lesson. Frankly, using Canvas has increased my students’ learning, their engagement and their general attitudes not just towards me or my class, but also my subject (English) and school overall. They’ve become comfortable with sharing sources back with me, such as articles or school-related TikToks, unprompted, via Canvas.”

– Hannah Cobble, Sam Houston High School, English II

 

 

“Canvas provides many useful tools for students and teachers alike. When students are absent, they have an opportunity to capture what they’ve missed through lessons and digital notes uploaded into Canvas. Every day we start class the same way with students logging in to their Canvas course and answering a daily STAAR question. This creates a very directed behavior to get settled into class quickly and get focused on learning without direct instruction. Canvas New Quizzes is very useful in exposing my students to the new question types for STAAR.”

– Jennifer Carter, Mary Moore Elementary, 6th Grade Math

 

 

“Our favorite Canvas tool is the Drag and Drop content type within H5P. It allows us to use text and pictures to get quick assessments of student learning before and after a lesson. It‘s also a different way to see if a TEKS is mastered instead of using a multiple-choice assessment. For next school year, we are planning to extend our work on Buerk rubrics and better integrate it into Canvas using the item requirements settings as students move through a module.”

 

– 7th Grade History Team, Ousley Junior High
(Keely Matthews, Cam Hill, Mike Dunbar, Jake Bartoszek)

 

 

“Canvas Announcements are a great tool that we use for students to be able to go back to the day they were absent and access everything they have missed. Mastery Paths are used very frequently as we assess student learning. Students who have to complete reteach or retake assessments are quickly identified and given the appropriate information over the material they missed. Mastery Paths can also automatically let students move on to an extension assignment based on the assessment score.”��

 

– 8th Grade Science Team, Young Junior High
(Jenny Kivlehen-Sayers, Chris Wyatt, Elizabeth Strange, Kanani Whelchel)

 

 

“Canvas helps me provide blended learning experiences to my students and has had a great impact on student learning in many areas like providing instant feedback and communication, but for my class, participation and engagement has been especially impacted. When it comes to speaking in a foreign language some students are hesitant to participate in front of others for many reasons but with Canvas they have many options to participate and provide their input through discussions, individual or group messages and audio, video, or written responses.”

– Sal Ramos, Lamar High School, Spanish

 

 

“I use quizzes every dayfor multiple-choice warm-ups, and I often use student annotations assignments to familiarize students with making text annotations online in preparation for STAAR. Putting assignments in Canvas makes grading easier. Since students can see their feedback almost immediately they are more apt to try to get things right because they can see for themselves where they missed it.”
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– Nikki Stroba, Carter Junior High, 7th Grade Language Arts

These powerful insights are a testament to the dedication of educators to use and integrate technology in meaningful ways, and the technology integration and innovation department is excited to support the continued uses of Canvas for learning next school year!