In this episode, we are talking all about an amazing, and easy-to-use tool called Canva. We will be diving into the how-tos, ideas for using Canva with your students, features within Canva, and the differences between the types of accounts (free, pro, and education).
If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!
We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!
News and Updates
Featured Content
Connect with EduGals:
In this episode, we are talking all about an amazing, and easy-to-use tool called Canva. We will be diving into the how-tos, ideas for using Canva with your students, features within Canva, and the differences between the types of accounts (free, pro, and education).
If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!
We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!
News and Updates
Featured Content
Connect with EduGals:
Welcome to the Edge U Gals podcast. We are your co-host Rachel Johnson
Katie:and Katie Atwell. We are here to bring you tips and tricks to help you integrate technology into your classroom.
Rachel:In this episode, Katie and I are gonna be talking all about Canva. So we're gonna go over some of the how-tos to get started with Canva, as well as some ideas for you to use Canva with your students.
Katie:We will also go over the differences between the personal account and the education account and go over all of the different features that you can use within both. Let's get
Rachel:started. We are gonna start off with some news and updates from the Twitterverse and beyond.
Katie:So for this week, we first wanna say Happy New Year. We hope that you had a great winter break if you had one. Um, and that 2021 brings you good health and lots of happiness.
Rachel:And so with that being said, what we wanted to do instead of bringing you our typical news from Twitter is we wanted to talk about a blog post that we put out recently about our Top 10 podcast episodes from 2020. So we're pretty excited about this because we started our podcast back in April of 2020, so it's. What, eight months old? Yeah,
Katie:just over eight months, which is totally
Rachel:crazy. And it was really kind of fun to go back and look at some of our analytics and see which of our podcast episodes were the most popular. Yeah, it's
Katie:been, it's been really neat kind of going through and, and kind of reminding myself of all of the episodes that we have done and how they were received by our audience.
Rachel:And just really nice to be able to reflect on our year as well and how much we've accomplished. So yeah, we wanted to celebrate that in a blog post. And also, if you haven't had a chance to listen to all of our podcast episodes yet, I think this is a really good place for you to start because these have been our most popular episodes.
Katie:Definitely. So check it out. We will be sure to put the link in our show notes so that you can check out this blog post. Our show notes can be found@edugals.com slash 32. That's edu G A ls.com/ 32. And now onto our featured content.
Rachel:This. Week, Katie and I are gonna be talking all about Canva and how you can use it for yourself as a teacher, an educator, as well as with your students. Yeah,
Katie:so for those who have never used it, Canva is a pretty great, I don't know, creative tool that's easy to use, that really makes things look a little more visually and aesthetically pleasing. So like we've used it to create some posters to create some of the visuals for Well or Edge Gs podcast. And then I also used it in a couple of my courses as assignments. Like I created assignments with it. So yeah, no, it's, it's a pretty versatile
Rachel:tool. It's definitely my go-to whenever I need to create some kind of image or some kind of graphics. So like Katie said, we do all of our visuals for our podcast on here. I'll do things like even social media posts, and one thing I really like doing with Canva is whenever I wanna create like a. Custom icon for different websites that I'm building. So in Google sites or something like that, Canva is my go-to as well. Yeah,
Katie:I have never found a tool that offers such a range of options in terms of visuals and editing tools that ends up with the same type of product. So to me, the fact that it's easy to use as well is a bonus because sometimes I'm not the most patient when I'm putting together visuals. So, um, I really enjoy how kind of simple it is. So I guess we get into like how to access it. And so it depends on if you're using it for a personal counter education account. So the basic, if you're using it for a personal, you get it@canva.com. Um, and then if you wanna do it for an education account, you go through canva.com/education. Now, one thing to note, if you are doing it for an education account, They ask for a lot of information and you really do have to prove that you're an educator. So it's hard to kind of cheat your way into an education account.
Rachel:It really is an intense application process. I was kind of a little, a little taken aback when I first. Went onto that Canva education page. It asks for things like a website address for your school that you're working at. It asks for proof of your teaching certification, and then it also asks for proof that you actually work at a school and they'll only grant education accounts for. K to 12 teachers. So really important that you provide all of that information and that it is very accurate or else your application won't get approved. And it does take a little bit of time too. So just to be aware that when you submit that application, I think mine took a few days before I got the word that I got accepted into
Katie:it. Yes. And one thing to note is that once you do have an education account, it is actually free for students as well. So it's free for educators and students, but please make sure that it's an approved tool in your board or district, because not all boards are going to approve every single tool. Like for us, we can't actually use it with our students, but we can use it for
Rachel:ourselves. There are some advantages too, of getting an education account versus just going the free personal Canva account. It does give you access to some of the pro features. It's not everything. It's basically like a watered down version of what their pro accounts are that you would pay for. It does give you access to some of those. Different fonts and images and elements that you can add into your designs, though for free. So that's kind of handy. I've, I've found a lot of things as I've kind of been putting together different visuals for myself in that education account that you wouldn't find in. One of the free Canva accounts. And then what's also really nice about the education accounts is, and I haven't played with this much, I'll be honest, because like Katie said, this isn't a tool we're allowed to use with our students. But you can set up classes and you can set up templates and folders and assignments. And so you can do a lot of things within Canva and use it as a hub for your classroom. And
Katie:I just wanna say like I've only looked through their education templates and whatnot because I don't yet have an education account, but it, it's actually, I like it and I wish we could use it. There are so many different templates that you can use and then tweak. There's, well, Rachel's going to like this part. There's over 3000 different fonts that you can use, so that's pretty amazing in and of itself. And then it also actually, it, it goes well with Google Drive, Dropbox folders, et cetera. So it, it is kind of linked in to different, um, l m S systems like Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams Remind, et cetera. Like there, there is a lot of interaction. So
Rachel:what we're gonna do is we're gonna start off with a little bit of a tour around Canva, just in case you haven't used Canva before, to give you an idea of what you can do with it, and then we'll dive into some of the ideas and how you can use it as an educator, both for yourself and with your students in your
Katie:classroom. Yeah, so when you first log in right away, you're kind of taken to a homepage where you have some recommended types of templates or at the very top, you can just click on create a design, and then there's different options as well, so you can do based on dimensions. You can do based on an image that you wanna start with. And then it also suggests a bunch of different types of posts or
Rachel:media as well. What I really like about this is when you click on that create a design, it gives you a search. So if you know you want to create, for example, uh, visual for Twitter, if you just start typing in the word Twitter, you get. All of the different dimensions that are already set up for you for the different types of Twitter things. So you can do a Twitter ad, a header, a post, like it just goes on and on in terms of how many different things there are for that particular tool. And what I really, really like is if you search for classroom, you get a Google Classroom header. So you can come in here and create a custom Google Classroom header for your class. So there's a ton of different. Options, and you're not even stuck to just the ones that are listed in that section. Use the search tool and look for whatever that kind of keyword is and guaranteed you're gonna come up with a ton of different options
Katie:here. And you know that students love social media, so even having them create. Some sort of assignment that could use, like Instagram type thing, Instagram posts and stories. They all, they have templates for all of those, so really play around with it, see what they have, take a look at all the different features and templates. It, it's actually. A pretty intense and robust
Rachel:tool. You can also browse through templates up at the top toolbar. So you've got your Canva, you got home, and then if you hover over the templates, they do give you a bunch of different ones in there as well. So you got social media and they give you some suggestions, personal business, marketing, education, and trending. So you can go take a look through there as well if you kind of wanna browse a little bit
Katie:more. I like the education one right there because they give you really easy ideas like lesson plans or worksheets or certificates if you wanna create them. So we're talking about like creating badges and some sort of system for PD last week. So you know, why not create certificates as well for your students as they kind of go through? I don't know, there's, there's lots that
Rachel:can be done. So once you find one that you like and you click on it, it's going to open up the Canva editor. And from there, there's a ton of options in here. I think the first one we should really kind of highlight though, is it opens up on the side panel, the templates. So not only does it open up the right dimensions for you, but it gives you a whole bunch of starting points where you can start with a template. So, And then you can also search in here. So if you're looking for a specific keyword, say maybe, I don't know, something food related, you can type in that search term and then it'll bring up everything that's related to that particular search. So you can narrow down the templates because there's so many in there into even. I don't know, basically smaller kind of keywords, right, that you're looking for. And then you can click on one of those templates and it's automatically gonna bring everything into your design for you. And then from there you can start editing it. So it's a really sort of nice, quick way to create visuals is to start from a template itself. I find it overwhelming to start with just a blank canvas. So I like going and finding some of those. Templates and then tweaking them to what I want it to look like. No,
Katie:I agree wholeheartedly. There's so many things there that you
Rachel:really do have to narrow it down a little bit, and then everything within there is clickable. You can edit to basically your heart's content.
Katie:So you can click on any text or images that are there, and then you're gonna see along that left hand panel all of the different options and like ways that you can customize. So if you have photos that you want to, of your own that you want to include, you can upload photos, you can access photos that are kind of built in within Canva and available for use. Um, and then there's a bunch of different elements as well. So there's different shapes, frames, so how to frame an image. Stickers like so much, I, I can't even tell you how many items there are because it seems
Rachel:endless. It really is. The next option down is the text. So you know, I think it's kind of fitting that I talk about it in here. You can add any kind of text box to your design, so you can add a heading, subheading, a little bit of body text. They actually give you some different font combinations and suggestions. So if you're not good at pairing fonts, this is kind of a good place to start. But then you can also search in here. And again, there's. So many options in terms of text, it's, it's actually pretty, pretty overwhelming.
Katie:But this is good for me. Like I think that I'm not very good at pairing text and kind of seeing the graphic design end of it. So to me, this is fantastic because I don't have to think about that. They've already kind of paired them and designed them. In such a way that makes
Rachel:sense. Now, as you're kind of navigating through this, it depends on the kind of account you have. If you have just a personal account, you gotta be really aware of any kind of font or element or anything like that that has the little crown beside it, because that means that you do have to pay extra for that particular thing. So as I'm scrolling through the fonts, like there's a bunch of fonts that have the little crown beside it. Now, if you're an education user, Then all of those are free.
Katie:Now to be honest, there are like a lot of free ones. Like the first while for me is all free. So, but just keep that in mind as you're kind of scrolling through because you know we pay for so much as educators, you really do wanna try to take advantage of things that you don't have to pay
Rachel:for. I think it is a really great reason though to go and get that Canva for Education account because it does open up even more. Possibilities for fonts and elements and photos and all of that sort of stuff. And yeah, it's, it's a lot of fun. So the next
Katie:one down is music, which I think is great. I, I don't know how I would use it. I mean, I guess you could use it if you're putting together a presentation or like a, an Instagram story or one of those. So something that's animated. I'm apparently not very good at doing animated. But yeah, so there are various different, uh, music clips that you can include. A lot of them are locked for education, at least on my end, but there are quite a few that are free as well. Now I
Rachel:kind of think it's interesting to note because when I'm looking at my side panel, I didn't have music in there as the next one down. I ended up having to go into my more, and then it was at the very top with a few different options. Now that I've clicked on it, it is in my side panel, so I think. Maybe just if you're not seeing what we're talking about as we, we go through some of these different tools in Canva, then go click on your more, the three dots at the very bottom. And if you click on those there, they should be in there and then they should get added to your side panel. So when I did that, I not only found music, I also found a tab called Styles, which has. You can actually add in text styles along with a color palette. So that's kind of cool. And then I also found charts in there as well. And so I clicked on that one and that's now being added to my side panel as well. And you can add in different charts with pretty colors in there. I also
Katie:really like how they do like the font and color combinations under style because then I don't have to think about it because I'm not good at knowing colors and what. Match Well, and essentially it's a good thing that I didn't ever contemplate graphic design. I'm glad there's somebody to do that thinking For me,
Rachel:I've actually always wanted to learn more about graphic design and yeah, it's, it's something that I don't really know a whole lot about, but I think it'd be really cool to learn
Katie:more. You have a good eye for colors and stuff and fond.
Rachel:Yeah, so that's why I've always kind of wanted to learn and dive in a little bit more. I've actually gone, and we're going off on a tangent here, which is okay cuz we always do, right? But I've gone onto some of those, what do they call'em? MOOCs, and done some of those kind of courses, you know, the massive online courses. And done a few of the graphic design ones. I don't know what you're talking about. What's a mooc?
Katie:You don't
Rachel:know what a MOOC is? No. It's all of those courses that you can sign up for free. So things like edX, how do I spell mooc? M O O C. It stands for a massive open online course, and so you can go sign up for these. They're free. Sometimes you can pay to get like an extra certification certificate or PD credit or whatever. And I think that's probably more important than in the States than it is here in Canada. But there's a bunch of different sort of organizations and a lot of the really big universities offer these courses for free. So you can take a course from Harvard, m i t, like all kinds of places. And I've gone through a couple of, like Corsair is another one. Okay, and I've gone through a couple of these, or at least started them. I, I never really finished the courses, but you do learn a lot from it. And so there's a ton out there on graphic design. If you ever wanted to learn a little bit more about graphic design, you have just blown my mind. Well, maybe we need to do a whole episode on
MOOCs
Katie:because I had no idea. They're pretty cool. I'm just a sucker who keeps paying for all my courses.
Rachel:Coursera's another big one too. I've done a few through Coursera. So what we'll do
Katie:is we'll make sure that we actually share in those links to MOOC and Coursera, uh, in case anybody else had no idea what those were and want to check them out. And so you'll be able to find those in our show notes@edgygals.com slash 32. That's EDU G A ls.com/
Rachel:32. There's a few other options too. If we, if we go back to Canva now, there's things like videos, so you can add videos to your design. You can also change the background and you can search for a whole bunch of stuff in there in terms of what you wanna set as your background. You can do charts, which I, I mentioned previously. And, um, the one I really, really like is I like clicking on the more button because there are so many different apps and integrations with Canva. So you can, and my favorite one is linking my Bitmoji. Understandably, yeah, but there's so many integrations in here. So things like Pexels and Pixa Bay, those are all free images that you can use and search through. So if you can't find what you want in the photos, Which I'm, I can't believe if you can't find what you want in the photos, but you can go and search there instead. You can also do embeds. You can do different GIF from gfi. You can integrate your Google drive. So many options in here. So it's really worth kind of poking around in that more tab because there really is a lot more you can do. That's
Katie:amazing. Even Pixton. Like Pixton is a really neat comic book tool that, uh, you can use for education. And you can integrate pixton too and add the comic
Rachel:characters. Yeah. So when you click on different elements within your design, you get different kinds of editing options depending on what you've clicked on. So if you click on your background, you can, they, they've got a little color box at the top so you can go change the color of your background. You can animate things, which is kind of neat. So depending on what the thing is, again, you can do some different sort of effects there. Now, I haven't really played around with the animate stuff, but when I click on that and click on some of the different things, it does animate different sort of pieces within your design. So you can get it to, I don't know, the text to kind of fly in or pan in or rise or tumble. Like there's a whole bunch of different sort of options there, I think. Then yes, if you download it from there, it will download it then as a video, so you can then go embed that in. Wherever you want. So it's kind of a neat, kind of quick way to create an animated video, or even if you cycle that video, then like an animated
Katie:gif. And another thing to consider is that share button at the, at the top of the screen beside download. So you can actually share this with someone and then they can edit it. So you can share a link to edit. Share a link to use it as a template, which is an additional paid feature, or you can share a link for people to be able to view it. So I think that's kind of, I don't know. It's fun. I like it because then you don't have to do it on your own. If it's a group project, you can get a few people in on it. Yeah,
Rachel:it's kind of neat. Now, if you have a Canva for Education account, instead of clicking on the share button, it's either the, it depends on the design that you're in, but if you look for the three dots in the very top right hand corner and click on that, then you can save things as a template in here, and it actually gives you a whole bunch of other options and ways that you can download your design. You can also send it directly to your Google classroom. You can share a link, you can present it, but then there's usually another three dots menu, and if you click on that, it gives you even more ways that you can use it. And one of those options is saving it as a template. So if you have classes set up in your Canva account, your Canva for Education account, you can save templates to folders and create assignments basically for your students to use so they can take your template and then edit that template and create their own designs from it.
Katie:And there's lots of options for the record, for the sharing. Like it's like, it's an intense number of options, so pretty much anything you're ever going to want to find is in there. I think that's
Rachel:kind of the whole theme of Canva, right? Yes. Is there are so many options and every single button you click on, the number of options is actually pretty overwhelming.
Katie:Y yes. So really think you have to really know what you want out of the tool before you go in. So if it's something that you want to be able to save as a template, like go in knowing that you're gonna do it as a template. If it's something, maybe you wanna design a poster for an event, know that that's what you wanna do, because I think that helps you wrap around the number of options and really focus in on what you wanna do with
Rachel:it. Yeah, it even gives you options. And these are like paid options, but you can print t-shirts and all kinds of stuff too.
Katie:Yeah. I thought that was really fun. So once you're done kind of setting it up, designing it, and you're like, okay, it's good to go. I'm gonna share it or print it or download it. There are different options. So you can download as A P N G, which is a high quality image as a JPEG pdf. There's two different options. So one is a smaller file size, whereas one is uh, obviously a larger one and it's more high quality. From there. There's an S V G, which I've never used,
Rachel:have you? Yeah, so the svg, it does have a little crown beside it. It has that on your personal account, right? Yep. That means that that's a premium feature. So if you're using a personal account, you're gonna have to pay if you wanna download something as an svg. But with education accounts, you can do that for free. The cool thing about v g files, Is if you have a dye cutter, so something like a cricket or a silhouette, then you can take these s v g files and then you can go cut them out with your machine. So you could, um, cut it out in vinyl or paper or whatever you're doing with your cricket. And so that's kind of cool. That is neat. You could create all kinds of classroom decorations or different things that you wanna cut out. Maybe it's even manipulatives that you're creating for your class. Like there's a lot of options you could do there. And then it makes it easy to cut out with those files and with one of those machines.
Katie:I like it. I've never used one. Not shocking. I'm sure. And then the last two options there on the download list are mp4 video, uh, and then a gif. Or a gif, however you wanna
Rachel:say it. I think we're both GIF in the GIF camp,
Katie:right? Yeah. I say GIF all the time, but I've heard it mentioned as a gif. So putting that out there,
Rachel:you do get some other options in terms of it, whatever sort of. Type of file that you choose to download. So depending on what you've picked, some of them will allow you to pick the size so you can change the size perspective as well. And for a paid account or with an education account, you can download it with a transparent background, which is so important if you're gonna go embed it on any kind of website. And you don't want that ugly white. Backgrounds or whatever colored background to show up there. And then you might also be able to compress the file. So giving you a smaller file size, it is a bit lower quality, but it can, for example, if you're sticking it on a website, it, it will load quicker if it's compressed. Yeah. So there's lots of
Katie:different options there.
Rachel:And then if you wanna title your design, maybe we should say where you title it, because that's not always super intuitive if you go up to right beside your share box. It'll say untitled design, blah, blah, blah. If you just click on that, then you can start typing a title in there.
Katie:And it's probably worth mentioning that within there you also have some different, um, things that can show up to help you with your editing, like rulers, guides, margins, ets cetera. So I mean, it's worth kind of checking it out. And then the one thing I like is version history. So if I go back in the next day and I'm like, oh, I don't like what I did yesterday, you can actually go back and, and change the
Rachel:version. So those are all in the file option. You can also change the name there as well. Yeah. Now you can also resize designs if you're in a personal account. Again, this is a paid feature, but if you have a Canva for Education account, this is another great reason for getting that kind of account. Because you can resize them for free. Yes. And so you can, if you've designed something and you, you're like, oh no, it's the wrong dimensions. You can come in here and create new dimensions for whatever you
Katie:need. And now I think it's worth talking about, you know, not just how to use it in terms of putting things together and stylizing, et cetera, but how can we practically use this in the
Rachel:classroom? Like we've kind of mentioned, there's some really great templates for you to create as an educator. So maybe it's, you're not even getting students to log in here. Maybe this is just your place where you're designing different things for your students to use. So you can do things like lesson plans, worksheets, certificates, storyboards, class schedules. There's a whole bunch of really great kind of. Education templates in there that you can start from, so you're not starting from scratch
Katie:and there's so many different options in terms of worksheets, et cetera. Like it's actually kind of amazing and they're actually look like they look nicer. I hate handing out handouts where they're just black and white text and not really much to them. So like some of these templates like. I might already use something that's similar, but it kind of gives it a little more of a, an appeal to actually doing it. Like there's a little more effort put into it and it's just more exciting,
Rachel:especially since everything's online now and most people are switching to doing digital work as you could come in here and create some kind of worksheet that is very colorful and visually engaging. And then maybe you are app smashing that with Google Slides and creating the different text boxes and such that your students can then go and fill in all the different options for,
Katie:no, there's lots of possibilities here, so it's definitely worth, you know, if you're not sure, just go to camba.com/education. Check out that page. They have so many different examples and templates that you can see. And then decide if you wanna go through the whole getting the
Rachel:account. Now, if you wanna create a Bitmoji classroom, they actually have some templates for virtual classrooms already made for you. So it's already got the different backgrounds. All you have to do is click on one. You can change the colors and do a whole bunch of different things. So this is a very, very quick way. Especially if you then link to your Bitmoji account to create one of those Bitmoji classrooms. Yes,
Katie:and I actually like the look of these virtual
Rachel:classrooms. They are, they're very visually pleasing and you gotta kinda look at them as, okay, I like the design, but maybe I don't like the color or some of the elements that are in there. That's okay because it gives you a really great starting place to create a Bitmoji classroom very, very quickly. Yes. And I think anything that saves time this year is gonna, it's so important because with the kinds of, um, like frameworks and stuff that we're using in terms of our teaching, so a lot of us are teaching hybrid or virtual. Time is so precious.
Katie:I don't like, you don't really have time to create your own virtual classroom at this point. So having something that I can just plug in my own kind of personality into, but it's already there. Uh, it's great. And what I
Rachel:like about some of these virtual classrooms too is that they have things such as an agenda for the day. So maybe you're even creating this as your agenda slide. You can add links to any of this. So, Your students can click on the different links. It could be that landing page that you're using to help keep your class organized for the entire learning block. Especially because learning blocks are huge now, for, at least for us, we have either two or three hour learning blocks. So being able to keep that organized and to have a, like a one-stop shop for your students, I think is really important. Yes. Definitely the other kind of templates I like. So they have classroom kits, so you could create a whole bunch of different visuals that all kind of have the same theme. So if you wanted to make everything sort of cohesive and look really. Pretty together. Then they have that. They also have lots of really great presentation templates as well that go along with that. And then one that I find really interesting is the flashcards. They have flashcard templates. It's one of the suggested kind of templates that pop up when I'm on my homepage. But I think if you just search for the templates and search for flashcard, it'll bring up all the flashcard templates. This is awesome. It is awesome. Right. So I can see Katie using this with her ELLs for sure. Uhhuh? I
Katie:was going to say that. Yeah. Especially the ELDs, right? Because then it gives you a visual to go along with the word, which when you are starting from nothing and, and no literacy in any language. These are great. I wish I knew about this last year, especially after the closures, right? Because I actually put together my own flashcards and I was like using my paper cutter. I was cutting the ball up, sending them to my students. This would've made my life so much easier.
Rachel:It really would've saved you a lot of time. Yeah, and again, you just kinda look for the layout that you want for a set of flashcards. If it's not the right words or not the right kind of thing, you can go in and change all of it. So really neat. It'd be fun to make some chemistry related ones. Yes. No, that would be great. So I guess for those using Brightspace, We're kind of probably speaking to just Ontario educators right now, but you can really customize your Brightspace core shell or any LMS really. You could, you could customize and create some visuals in here. So that's what I've done in terms of my Brightspace core shell is I've come in and created my own personalized header in here, which is actually really quick to do. But then if you wanted to take it further, even your navigation bar at the top, you could create custom icons for all of your different things that you have on there. So you can really, I don't know, create a, a really sort of custom feel and make it your own.
Katie:Yeah. It's more personal that way instead of just. The defaults. I will be honest, I haven't changed my nav bar at all. Mostly because time, if that makes sense. Like I feel like I have so many other things to worry about. But, um, I think now that I have a prep, you know, I'll have a bit more time as we get settled into Quad two, and that could be something that I actually spend some time doing, making it look a little
Rachel:bit prettier. You could even then, On Brightspace, you can create custom widgets. So maybe you are creating a virtual classroom with all of your contact information there, and then you're posting that on your front homepage as well, so your students know where they can get in touch with you. And you could put things like your email address on there, links to booking appointments with you, and a whole bunch of different information. So I think it really just personalizes that experience a little bit more. And I know some of this stuff is a little superficial, but I feel like creating that kind of welcoming environment, when students first log in, they get a little bit more comfortable with the space itself.
Katie:And you may say it's, it's superficial, but if you think about it, like when they log in, everything looks the same. How can you identify which course it is? How do you know where you're supposed to be going? When it all just blends in, because that's the reality right now. Everything kind of looks the same. So yes, superficial, but it's still student comfort and, and you know, giving them a bit more comfort with the tool and knowing, okay, I know where I'm at this Miss Atwell's class.
Rachel:Yeah, you could do even do things like if you're creating presentations or videos or gifts or whatever from here, you can embed all of that sort of stuff in your newsfeed posts too. So, or into your content section as well in your l m s. So as long as you can find a place for an embed code, you can pop those in there. You could also create really nice newsletters that you sent
Katie:home. I did see that. I saw that there were a few for that. And I kinda
Rachel:like those, anything that can save you a bit of time right? And gives you a template, a starting place to work from, and then you can personalize it for yourself. I think really, uh, it's just such a huge time saver. They even
Katie:have, uh, resume templates and I'm teaching careers right now, so it's kind of a neat conversation as to, you know, how to make your resume stand out, things to do, things not to do. So, yeah. Lots of different things that you can do with
Rachel:Canva. Yeah, it just keeps going on and on for sure. Now, if you do wanna use the education features and you wanna create classes, you can do that and you can create different assignments. And like I said, I haven't really played with this feature, so I don't know a whole lot about it. But I think what we'll do is there's a bunch of resources on Canvas education page, so we'll make sure that we link out to those resources for you to take a look at about how to set up a class and how to share assignments with your students because I think there's a lot of power and getting students
Katie:creating Yes. I think that's the good thing about Canva, like getting students on here and actually putting things together. I think that's the power in it. Yes, it, it's good for me cuz I can make things look nicer and make my lessons better, but I think there's a lot of power in the kids using it. I
Rachel:think another sort of great way to use Canva as an educator is if you are running any kind of Instagram account or any others. Social media type account. I think of, for example, our school library account. We have an Instagram account, and so you can create some really nice visuals to advertise different events that are going on or different tips that might help students or I think the possibilities are endless there and creating something very sort of visually appealing. Does. Help to improve engagement in those kinds of posts. So one
Katie:other way that we can get students creating on here is, um, infographics. So they actually have a category called an education infographics. And so they can choose from a template and, and maybe they're doing a little bit of a research project or putting together, you know, some instructions on like, like safety in the classroom, or maybe it's even safety in the tech classroom. They can actually create these infographic posters. I think it's really good. It gives them kind of a chance to put together their learning and find ways to communicate concisely and effectively
Rachel:for other people. I definitely feel like infographics are definitely an underutilized tool. It's such a powerful way to convey a message, and I've seen some really neat projects even in the school I was previously at, I say previously at now, because I'm starting to feel like I'm no longer there. But they would create posters about history events, and then they would actually print those out and onto a magnetic background and then they would put them all up on the lockers throughout the hallway.
Katie:Yeah. We did that for history and so we, I did that with my ESL history class. And then all of the history classes were doing that. And it's great. They had so much fun and then knowing they could put it up on their locker and then people would go around and see what they've done. There was a lot of, uh, there was a lot of
Rachel:pride in their work. Yeah. Having that public audience. Right.
Katie:It also made them buy in, right, because then they're actually gonna put the effort into the images, really make sure that their text makes sense, especially from an ESL lens. Like we did peer editing and that was the first time in a long time, if ever, that these kids actually bought into peer editing. So it was a good learning
Rachel:opportunity. I love those projects. I love walking around the hallway and taking a look at all the different ones. They were great. Yeah, they, I was so impressed. So hopefully that gives you some ideas and different ways that you can use Canva with your students, not only for yourself as an educator, but also getting your students creating with this tool, because this tool is absolutely amazing and it's very, very user-friendly, especially for the beginner. With graphic design,
Katie:and if you use Canva and you want to share maybe an assignment that you do or a different way that you use it that we haven't mentioned, we'd love to hear from you. So feel free to check out our Flipgrid and leave a response there at edu. gals.com/flipgrid. Or if you have a comment on our website@edugals.com
Rachel:and we'll be sure to include all the links and resources that we have talked about today in our show notes. You can access our show notes@edugs.com slash 32. That's edu G a ls.com/
32.
Katie:And if you like what you heard today, make sure you share it with a colleague or a friend. We'd love to help out and support more
Rachel:educators. And if you haven't yet, make sure you subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcasting app. Thanks
Katie:for listening and see you next week. Thanks for listening to this episode of our edu Gals podcast. Show notes for this episode are available@edugals.com. That's E D U G A L s.com. We'd also love to hear your feedback, so leave us a message on our website and
Rachel:if you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe and consider leaving a rating or review on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep being awesome and try something new.