Learning Canvas was a very positive experience. We started with a topic that we thought was popular and would engage an audience. Our topic was alternative energy. Our instructional learning model was 5E. This model calls to engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate. The question was how can you use Canvas to provide and easy way to take those steps. The first element of the design was focussed on the navigation. It was easy to set up the navigation with each of the 5 “E” on their own tab. A nice visual graphic that was related to alternative energy became the background picture.
It was also very easy to place video into the Canvas environment, Even better we were able to embed YouTube videos into several of the main categoried. For example, the explore section was primarily a video to get the participants attention. Video was used again in the explore section. When it came to the explain section it was easy to establish a posting area where ideas could be shared. So from a student/participant perspective, the course was easy to access and navigate.
Here are my thoughts from a developer perspective. It was easy to establish and build a course in Canvass. If you want to make quick changes to the layout it is easy to do. It is easy to get feedback from the student and also provide guidance on how to use the course from a teaching perspective. The tools that are built into Canvas allow an easy way add structure to a course. The tools are flexible and can be modified as needed, but at the same time they are part of the infrastructure so you do not have to start from ground zero. You can use or deactivate the tools and features that you want to use.
Overall, the easier it is to use a LMS, the more comfortable you become in developing and using the LMS. It is a positive feedback experience. It is not unlike any web-based environment that provides a consistent user interface. The basic building blocks of the LMS allows you to quickly organize and deliver content. A part of the deliverable in this short course was to create a bumper sticker as part of the marketing campaign, which would support the theme of the lesson.
