Canvas Navigation, Pedagogy, and Online Course Design Notes

Canvas Course Management and Shell Navigation

  • Shell Copying Procedures: When moving content to a new semester, instructors should copy from their "live shell" (the active course) rather than the "development shell."     * The development shell is considered a "vanilla" or "bare bones" version.     * Live shells contain customizations like extra credit assignments or specific quiz settings created during the term that would be lost if only the development shell is used for the next class.
  • Vocabulary and Terminology: Understanding Canvas-specific vocabulary is essential as it functions as a "new language" for instructors.

Course Dashboard and Customization

  • The Global Dashboard: Courses appear as "tiles" on the Canvas dashboard.
  • Favoriting (Starring) Courses:     * Clicking the star icon on a course list ensures it appears as a tile on the dashboard.     * Un-starring a course (e.g., Spring 2026) removes the tile from the dashboard view for cleaner organization.
  • Tile Customization: Dashboard tiles can be customized with specific colors and images. This is particularly useful for instructors teaching multiple courses who want quick access via visual recognition.
  • Professor View: This is the default landing page for instructors. It shows all available tools, including those hidden from students.
  • Student View: Accessed via the "View as Student" button.     * The interface appears much cleaner, often reduced to a few essential links (e.g., seven navigation links compared to the dozens available to instructors).     * A pink bar appears at the bottom of the screen as a persistent reminder that the user is in student view.     * Instructors must click "Leave Student View" to return to administrative functionality.     * Warning: There is a specific "Reset Student" button (or similar) within this view that instructors are advised not to touch, as its specific behavior in live courses can be unpredictable.
  • Navigation Links:     * Items with a "crossed-out eyeball" icon are hidden from student view.     * Instructors should proactively turn off unused navigation links to reduce student confusion and "clutter."
  • Teaching Assistants (TAs): For graduate courses, TAs (usually other graduate students) must have access requested for them. Instructors can grant TAs the same functionality levels as the primary professor.

Communication Strategies and Announcements

  • Communication Platforms: Instructors must decide whether to communicate via Canvas or the official university email (ttu.edu\text{ttu.edu}). Consistency is key; once a platform is chosen, the instructor should stick to it.
  • Canvas vs. Blackboard: The Canvas mail client (Inbox) and mobile app are noted to be significantly more reliable than the previous Blackboard system.
  • Announcements Functions:     * By default, posting an announcement in Canvas triggers an automatic email to the students' official university email addresses.     * Students can set their own default email client (e.g., Google Mail), and Canvas will route notifications there.     * Creating Announcements: Use the "Add Announcement" button to open a "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) editor, allowing for the inclusion of figures and formatted text.
  • The "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" Problem: In distance courses, consistent communication is vital to prevent students from forgetting about course requirements due to the lack of physical classroom attendance.

Syllabus and Course Governance

  • Syllabus as Contract: The syllabus serves as the official policy and procedure contract.
  • Canvas vs. Syllabus: There is a tendency for modern students to believe that Canvas (the software) dictates the course rules rather than the syllabus. Instructors must explicitly "dispel them of that notion."     * If Canvas has a technical error (e.g., a quiz not opening), grace should be given.     * If a student attempts a "gotcha" based on a Canvas setting, the instructor should point back to the syllabus as the final authority.
  • Simple Syllabus: A potential upcoming university-wide tool mentioned for future implementation at Texas Tech University, currently under the purview of administrative leadership (e.g., Jacqueline).

External Tools and LTIs (Learning Tool Interoperability)

  • Definition of LTI: LTI stands for Learning Tool Interoperability, which essentially serves as "apps within the app."
  • Publisher Integration:     * Major publishers like Pearson and McGraw Hill have LTIs that allow textbooks to be baked directly into the Canvas framework.     * Students can click a link in Canvas that takes them directly to the publisher's site or embedded textbook page.
  • Instructional Designers: Resources at TTU Online help instructors design online courses, handle captioning, and integrate technical components like LTIs into the Canvas environment.

Interaction and Pedagogy: The "Think Pair Share" Model

  • SACSCOC Requirements: The accreditation body requiring "substantive interaction" in distance courses to distinguish them from old-fashioned correspondence courses.
  • Think Pair Share (Peer Instruction): A pedagogical technique where students first work alone, then defend their answers to a peer, and finally share with the class.
  • Viva Engage: Part of the Microsoft ecosystem used as a real-time discussion board to facilitate peer instruction asynchronously.     * Instructors can create private communities and approve join requests.     * Treatment Team Metaphor: In healthcare-related courses, students are encouraged to treat their discussion group as a "treatment team" (physicians, nurses, therapists) to solve case studies.     * Interaction Value: While worth very few points (e.g., 0.001%0.001\%), the true value is in preparing for exam questions that will mirror those discussions.

Academic Integrity and the Role of AI

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI): There is no "silver bullet" to stop AI use in distance courses.
  • Instructor Approach: Instead of policing, instructors should focus on creating a culture of responsible use and using AI-related issues as teaching opportunities.
  • Texas Tech AI Policy: Historically, there was no official policy, but recent poor use cases have led the Provost to require more departmental self-policing.

Grading Systems and Denominator Management

  • Points vs. Percentages: The speaker recommends using total points rather than percentages because undergraduate students often struggle with the basic arithmetic required to understand weighted percentages.
  • The Moving Denominator Problem:     * Canvas calculates grades based only on attempted assignments.     * If a student has completed only two out of ten assignments with high marks, Canvas may show them as having an "A," even if they are failing relative to the total possible points.
  • Automatic Zeros: Instructors must enable a setting in Canvas to automatically assign a zero to any assignment past the deadline to ensure the grade denominator is accurate for all students.

Content Delivery and Video Production Best Practices

  • Start Here Module: Should include learning objectives using Bloom’s Verbs (specific task-oriented verbs), contact policies, and a "How to be Successful" page.
  • Micro-Lectures: Literature suggests students have an attention span of 1515 to 2020 minutes. Lectures should be broken into multiple 2020-minute "chunks" (e.g., Micro-lecture 18a, 18b, 18c) rather than one long video.
  • Khan Academy Style: Recommended video format featuring voiceover with real-time drawing on slides rather than a "talking head."     * Showing the instructor's face on screen is often a "cognitive overload" and can be distracting.     * Drawing on the screen helps with "pacing," ensuring the instructor does not move faster than the student can follow.
  • Continuity: Each video should reference the previous one and set up the next one to maintain a narrative flow.

Questions & Discussion

  • Query regarding TA access: A participant asked about TAs for small graduate courses. Response: Access must be requested manually, and professors can grant TAs full administrative functionality.
  • Query regarding AI prevention: A participant asked how to stop students from using AI in discussion boards. Response: You cannot catch or enforce it perfectly; you must train them to use it responsibly and make the assignments low-stakes enough that the incentive to cheat is minimized.
  • Query regarding Pearson Integration: A participant (Celine) asked how to tell Canvas to use a specific book. Response: This is a task for an instructional designer, who specializes in the technical "baking in" of publisher content.
  • Query regarding self-paced courses: A participant asked if asynchronous means "at your own pace." Response: No. Successful students need structure and deadlines to maintain accountability and professionalism; self-paced courses are discouraged for graduate training.