As Associate Instructors (AIs), it’s necessary to have a strong foundation on the best instructional technologies available to support faculty and students. AIs are expected to be well-versed in a variety of tools that can enhance learning outcomes, improve student engagement, and streamline grading. Canvas is the central hub (our learning management system) for instructors to communicate with their students, and this blog post will explore some of the most useful features of this learning platform for IUB Associate Instructors to use, along with tips for incorporating them into teaching practices.
Modules
One of the most challenging aspects of designing a course is organizing course content. With so many files and assignments spread across multiple classes, students often have trouble navigating readings and assignments. If you are worried about organizing your course, have no fear! Canvas Modules is a one-stop-shop for you and your students. Modules allow you to group information and streamline course content by dividing the course into manageable sections. Within each module, students have direct access to assignments, activities, quizzes, discussions, readings and more. Even better, Modules allow you to add prerequisites and requirements, so you can ensure that students are completing the steps necessary to succeed in your course, and, just as importantly, so that they can easily keep track of their progress.
Need help getting started? Watch this short video on using Canvas Modules or take a look at frequently asked questions.
SpeedGrader
It is very, very, veryyyyyyy likely in your role as an AI, you’ll be required to do some grading. That’s when your friend, Canvas SpeedGrader comes in to help! SpeedGrader offers quick, effective ways to assess and provide feedback on student assignments. (Students can also respond to your feedback!) With SpeedGrader, AIs can quickly navigate through student submissions, view and annotate documents, and grade assignments all in one centralized location (see more details on using rubrics below)! SpeedGrader also supports inline commenting, providing a convenient way to offer feedback directly on students’ submissions. Additionally, depending on what type of assignment you’re grading, you might find it useful to use audio, highlighting, drawing, and text annotation. There’s also the option to grade anonymously, removing the risk of bias.
Canvas Rubrics
As AIs, a frequent role is giving feedback to our students and rubrics can help! When used successfully, rubrics are a way to grade assignments consistently and swiftly. They can provide transparent guidelines to students and can create unified feedback amongst multiple AIs in the same class. Additionally, Canvas rubrics enable effective communication with faculty members by ensuring alignment between grading practices and course expectations. We also know graduate students are frequently juggling multiple responsibilities (research, time with community, writing, working out, AND grading?!) and rubrics also facilitate streamlined grading processes, saving time and effort for AIs.
To begin using Canvas Rubrics, AIs should explore the resources and tutorials available on IU’s Teaching.IU website and the CITL website. AIs can also get CITL support, which includes one-on-one consultations and workshops focused on rubric development. It is also crucial to collaborate with lead instructors and other AIs to ensure alignment between rubrics, course objectives, and grading expectations. Regularly reviewing and updating rubrics based on feedback and reflection is a normal part of the rubric creation process.
Assignments
Assessment is an important part of ensuring learners achieve course objectives, and with Canvas Assignments, AIs can design assignment sheets, build in rubrics connected to course learning objectives, manage when and how students submit work, and group assignments. This tool also allows you to weigh grades, so you can easily drop students’ lowest or highest grades and even manage how much each group contributes to the course final grade. Need to quickly change assignment due dates? No problem! Canvas Assignments allows you to efficiently manage when course assignments are due as well as how long they are available to students. You can even build peer review directly into assignments, making collaboration and revision a seamless part of your course.
As you develop assignments for your course, remember that you are not alone. For more help designing assignments that are meaningful to your students and that align with your course learning objectives, don’t hesitate to reach out for a one-on-one consultation and/or check out these CITL blog posts on assessment.
Interested in learning more about Canvas tools? Consider attending a CITL workshop or contact our office for an individual consultation. Canvas is a powerful learning management system and these are just some of the capabilities it has to offer!
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