Pages are the ability to share content with your class and we use them as web pages of information, class pages of content, and landing pages before we get to the assignment. But Pages are powerful, they can become places for student collaboration with the toggle of a drop-down menu.
As you are becoming more adept at navigating Canvas you might be looking for ways to leverage it for more student collaboration and participation. Pages is a place to do this. When creating a page, it defaults to only the teacher can edit, but you can change this to students and teachers can edit and now you have a place where collaboration can easily happen.
But we won’t send you out there to try this without some peace-keeping ideas and need-to-knows. Here is a list to refer to before you get started:
- Edits have to be SAVED in order to be seen by everyone.
- Limit the number of contributors to a page by having multiple templates available.
- Changing the TITLE of the page creates a NEW page.
- Pages has “View Page History” in the upper right corner (3 more dots) and you can check the revision history or restore past iterations. This is also how you can check and see who participated.
- Add a page to the students to-do list so it appears on their dashboard and adds a due date.
- Advanced option: add to mastery paths and allow the mastery path quiz to determine which page they edit.
Why might you use this? This is a great way to provide your students with choice. You might have a project where they can decide on a topic and instead of sending them to a group, you might share a collaborative page for them to add ideas and content for their classmates to later view. This might be a way to breakdown a test review, research on a new project, completing tables, finding resources, etc.
As we are learning more about Canvas and using our Course Evaluation Checklist (you will need to be logged into Canvas to view this file), this use of pages meets the following 2-star criteria “Personalized learning is evident through opportunities for student choice.” Further, it supports students through the use of Universal Design for Learning, UDL 7.1 Optimize individual choice and autonomy.
During the month of January we have been focusing on the ISTE Knowledge Constructor standard. Here is a sample lesson that uses the ISTE standard and collaborative page editing.
Here are some Canvas resources you might find useful when working with pages:
Adding a page to student to-do list
For support please contact your Ed Tech lead or TOSA!
BITS AND PIECES 