Canvas Trainings

The following is a selection of trainings I’ve designed and delivered via the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS). Feel free to contact me if you’d like to learn more.

Accessible Design: UDL for Your Emerson Course (hybrid, 4-week)

In this 4-week course, faculty work with the Instructional Technology Group (ITG) and their colleagues to redesign a course using principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), with a focus on digital accessibility and organizational strategies that benefit all learners. The course flows through these modules:

  • Week 1: Introduction to UDL
  • Week 2: The UDL Framework
  • Week 3: Accessibility Tools in Canvas
  • Week 4: Creating Accessible Documents and Media

Following the four weeks of workshopping, the ITG design team conducts an accessibility sweep of each participant’s course, ensuring all videos and PDFs are accessible. ITG also performs a detailed course review to identify common pain points and areas to improve. This training lays the foundation for a smooth student experience while providing the tools and training to maintain peak accessibility.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this training, participants will be able to:

  • Discuss the benefits of UDL, identify resources for requesting accessible materials, and tidy up their Canvas course.
  • Incorporate the UDL framework into course design.
  • Build Canvas content that is accessible by default, rather than adding accessibility features as a response to accommodation requests.
  • Recognize and improve the accessibility of documents, videos, and remote meetings.

UDL for International and Multilingual Learners (asynchronous, self-paced)

This self-paced course explores ways in which instructors teaching in an online environment can apply the principles of UDL to support international and multilingual learners. The course addresses the following questions:

How can instructors…

  • …design courses to reduce or eliminate cultural and linguistic barriers in order to increase engagement for everyone?
  • …approach different ways of being a learner or academic with cultural awareness and sensitivity?

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to provide academic and cultural support for international and multilingual learners by implementing UDL principles in their online courses. To this end, the course develops the following skills:

  • Module 1: Multiple Means of Engagement
    • Build-in opportunities for low-stakes reflection and collaboration.
  • Module 2: Multiple Means of Representation
    • Provide equitable means of access to text-based activities.
  • Module 3: Multiple Means of Action & Expression
    • Design assessments that allow multiple tools for composition.

Getting Your Materials Online (asynchronous, 1-week)

This training introduces faculty participants to Fair Use decisions, connects them with librarians who can help source their materials, and covers the basics of creating accessible content. Themes and topics for each module are as follows:

Day 1: Fair Use & Sourcing Materials
Day 2: Permalinks, Creative Commons, and OER
Day 3: Accessible Images & Videos
Day 4: Accessible Documents
Day 5: Accessible Canvas Pages

Learning Objectives

After fully participating in this training and completing the required assignments, participants will be able to populate their Canvas course with digital content and optimize that content’s accessibility. Each day we cover several objectives that lead us to this goal:

Day 1:

  1. Apply Fair Use guidelines when choosing materials.
  2. Identify library resources available for requesting materials.

Day 2:

  1. Locate permalinks to library content.
  2. Recognize Creative Commons licenses on online material.
  3. Locate Open Educational Resources.

Day 3:

  1. Create alternate text for images included in Canvas courses.
  2. Select captioned videos for inclusion in Canvas courses.
  3. Use the Ally tool to improve media’s accessibility.

Day 4:

  1. Evaluate the qualities of an accessible digital document.
  2. Perform the OCR process on a PDF.

Day 5:

  1. Build accessible content using the rich content editor in Canvas.
  2. Use the Canvas Accessibility Checker to verify that Canvas pages are accessible.

Advanced Canvas (asynchronous, 1-week)

This training walks faculty participants through various Canvas tools that can help them manage their courses efficiently and foster online community. Themes and topics for each unit are as follows:

Day 1: Notifications
Day 2: Gradebook
Day 3: Scheduler and Teacher App
Day 4: Groups
Day 5: Peer Review

Learning Objectives

After participating in this course and completing the required assignments, participants will be able to use Canvas to design courses that minimize cognitive load for learners and create spaces for collaboration. Each day we cover several objectives that lead us to this goal:

Day 1:

  1. Manage Canvas notification preferences on the account and course levels.
  2. Post announcements to notify learners about important information.

Day 2:

  1. Customize experience of the Canvas Gradebook.
  2. Choose between Manual and Automatic Posting Policies.

Day 3:

  1. Use the Canvas Scheduler tool to provide appointment slots for virtually meeting with learners.
  2. Identify which Canvas tools are available in the Canvas Teacher App.

Day 4:

  1.  Create student groups and group sets in Canvas.
  2.  Design group assignments and discussions.

Day 5:

  1.  Create assignments in which learners can peer review each other’s submissions.
  2.  Explain to learners how to submit their assigned peer reviews.

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