Back to school with Canvas: 5 tips to have a great year

Ready or not, classes are back in session, and your educators and admins might be feeling a bit rusty on using Canvas. That's why we’ve rounded up five of our best tips for using Canvas LMS. Try these out and put your school on the path to success this year.

1. Personalise your Canvas training

Every Canvas user at your school is unique. Admins, educators, designers, leadership, support staff, and any member of your faculty or institutional staff can benefit from knowing how to use Canvas LMS. As you organise back-to-school training, consider offering specialised content for each user group, which is more effective than one-size-fits all training. We recommend asking your users a few questions to tailor the content, including:  

• What features do they want to understand better?
• How are they currently using Canvas LMS?
• What areas are they trying to improve usage in? 

Include this content in the trainings, and be sure to record them so your team can refer back to it throughout the year. By providing focused learning opportunities tailored to your users' needs, you can maximise the impact of your training and ensure everyone is Canvas-confident. 

Need support creating meaningful trainings? Explore our Services offerings to get expert help. 

2. Dig into your data

Data-driven decisions are informed decisions. Schools collect so much data, but unless you can extract insights from them, they're not too helpful. That's where Canvas comes in. There are several places you can view usage data in your Canvas instance. It’s a good idea to be familiar with these as you are creating and tracking your Canvas related goals for each school year. 

Data can be accessed by Canvas Admin in the following ways:

• Account Analytics
• Admin Analytics (New)
• Account Reports
• Account Statistics
• Intelligent Insights

The breadth of data and analytics Canvas LMS offers makes it easier for educators to take data-informed action, establish better practices, and drive learning forward. 

3. Consolidate your content 

Canvas LMS provides great flexibility for supporting your innovative course content—but there’s so much that educators can learn from accessing each other’s content. This is where Canvas Commons comes in.

Canvas Commons is a repository where teachers can create and share the resources they make in Canvas LMS with each other. Teachers can also copy previous course content to their new courses by using the Course Import Tool and Direct Share.

Blueprints and Templates can also be used to give teachers a starting point for their new Canvas courses. Explore a more detailed comparison of Canvas Templates v. Blueprints v. Canvas Commons to determine which makes the most sense for your school.

4. Organise your Modules

Planning and getting organised early sets the groundwork for success the rest of the year. Canvas Modules are a tool that help educators organise course content, and they're an excellent way to manage all the materials for your courses. 

The great thing about Modules is that they’re flexible, so teachers can choose if they structure by day, week, unit, topic, or outcome. Educators can also hide content from students, allowing them to focus only on the tasks at hand. 

Modules help educators keep track of everything, and also simplify the student experience by showing the sequential flow of course content. Within modules, educators can require interaction with content before students complete assignments. Each Module can contain files, discussions, assignments, quizzes, and other learning materials, making them an easy way to start building courses.

5. Remember your why

Whether it’s your first, fifth, or 10th year with Canvas LMS, it’s important to remember why you’re using the technology so it doesn’t turn into just one more item on the to-do list. The best technology is human-powered.

As you plan for the year ahead, keep these questions in mind:

• Why did you choose Canvas LMS?
• What do you want your classrooms to look like?
• How do you want your students to learn and how will you evaluate their understanding?
• How does Canvas fit this vision and connect to your school's strategic plan?
• How can you further develop your own skills within Canvas? 

As you prepare for a brand-new school year, remember to personalise training, tap into data insights, consolidate content, stay organised using Modules, and remember how technology can help bring your your educational vision to life.