Canvas LMS Design

Math SAT Prep 2022

Canvas is used throughout my school as the LMS standard and therefore the natural choice when designing and delivering the learning content. This is designed to be used primarily in the classroom as a direct instruction teaching tool, although the learning environment in Canvas also allows itself to be used in a hybrid manner. This is helpful especially now when there are gaps both in students’ education but attendance as well.

I designed this course to be used in my after-school SAT prep program. It was developed from the SAT lessons provided by Collegeboard to help teachers prepare materials based on the Khan Academy SAT Practice, which is the official SAT practice used by Collegeboard. Collegeboard provides a very basic outline for teachers on how to use the practice material. These lesson plans state that it is the teacher’s responsibility to find the best way to deliver the material to the students; in other words, they tell you what you need and where to find it, but it’s your job to figure out what to do with it. Canvas is how my organization has decided to manage our learning materials, so the best option was to use Canvas as opposed to another interface.

The lesson plans provided by Collegeboard focus on essential topics, suggest the specific practice to be used for classwork, key vocabulary to wrap up each section, and homework assignments. The benefits of using Canvas in course design include varying embedding tools, discussion boards, and grading that it is very user-friendly. The lesson plans suggest some breaks for discussion, but there is little direction on how to implement this during instruction. I decided to adapt this lesson for a hybrid learning environment so I could make sure students were collaborative and engaged, whether they were in the classroom, at home, or wherever they may be.

Within the Canvas course, I used the video practice examples from the SAT practice Khan Academy and created Edpuzzle activities for the students. It was important to include the videos that were assigned in the lesson plans, but I also wanted to increase engagement and critical thinking throughout the entire viewing of the video. I wanted to make sure that my students were listening attentively and create some accountability on their part. Edpuzzle is a tool that lets the user edit either new or existing videos and insert questions for their learners to answer. The tool creates a lesson that requires the student to answer the questions to finish the video. The questions are graded with immediate feedback, unless it is a question that requires manual grading by the instructor. Edpuzzle is a tool which is easily embedded into a Canvas assignment, and the grades automatically populate into the Canvas gradebook.

Varied Question Creation and Placement

Looking at the lessons with the end in mind (i.e. the SAT), I inserted questions into the videos of the suggested practice that help the learners analyze key concepts within the example.

The students also participated in discussion boards throughout the course that do not necessarily relate to the content but serve more to give the students an outlet to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in the course. This was designed as a community-building exercise rather than a discussion specifically about the content.

If I were to design this material for a traditional class period, more formative assessment would be used to connect varied questions from real SAT practice tests, as well as timed summative activities to hone the learners’ time-management skills. I would also embed more questions, either through a tool like Edpuzzle or simply as formative assessments in each lesson that connect prior knowledge as well as to other concepts that may not be included in the practice example questions.

Adapted for Rise