{"id":15186,"date":"2022-01-30T15:43:59","date_gmt":"2022-01-30T04:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/?p=15186"},"modified":"2022-01-30T18:44:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-30T07:44:05","slug":"8-simple-things-to-do-in-canvas-to-make-learning-more-accessible-for-all-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educational-innovation.sydney.edu.au\/teaching@sydney\/8-simple-things-to-do-in-canvas-to-make-learning-more-accessible-for-all-students\/","title":{"rendered":"8 simple things to do in Canvas to make learning more accessible for all students"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 3rd Dec 2021, the Faculty of Medicine and Health and the Education Portfolio ran a <\/span>\u201cdesign, plan, apply\u201d workshop<\/span><\/a> featuring staff and students who discussed how they designed and experienced online learning. This was in the context of <\/span>Universal Design for Learning<\/span><\/a>, which aims to provide all students an equal opportunity to learn and demonstrate their achievements. We’ve pulled out some of their key tips for quick and simple tweaks you can do in Canvas to make learning universally better for all your students.<\/span><\/p>\n

1 – Structure and consistency<\/h2>\n
\"two<\/a>
Example of some well-structured modules.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Use Canvas Modules<\/a> for structured consistency and to help provide a good overview of all the important elements in the site. Students recommended that modules are structured by week or topic (and include the topic, e.g. ‘Week 3 Contract Law’)<\/b>, instead of resource type (e.g. ‘lectures’, ‘practicals’) because this helps them more easily find relevant information.<\/p>\n

Within each module, it’s important to keep the structure and design consistent to reduce extraneous cognitive load – for example, each module could have an introduction page, followed by a page of resources for the week, then a page for class content and activities, and then a page with review questions and reminders for the following module. This is particularly important if team teaching; ensure that other teachers use the same structure for their modules. Students also appreciated the modules page on Canvas, as it allowed them to see everything at once and quickly search for main topics.<\/span><\/p>\n

This approach links to the UDL principle <\/span>Representation<\/span><\/i> by <\/span>guiding information processing and visualization (3.3)<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2 – Explain why<\/h2>\n

We all like to know why we need to do things. In your Canvas sites, including brief explanations of why certain resources and activities are used can help students better understand their importance and why they should care. For example:<\/span><\/p>\n