Overview
Our district has a wonderful collaboration with Canva for Education. Every teacher and student in our district has a Canva Pro account, complete with as many features as there is to offer. If your district hasn't taken advantage of this opportunity, I highly recommend it because the students are creating some incredible artifacts with it. The best part is that all of this is free! But, last week, I was in a virtual meeting with a Canva representative (our district Canva District Engagement Advocate), and we were discussing everything that Canva has to offer including what is coming soon. There are some outstanding resources that are already available and what's coming up is even more exciting! The snapshots below are only a small portion of the greatness that Canva has to offer for teachers.
To "Affinity".....and Beyond!
One of the awesome features of Canva is the ability to edit photos and make them look as professional as possible. However, recently Canva has taken that opportunity a step further with the introduction of Affinity, a photo-editing software. This is their version of the Adobe PhotoShop tool, but it's so user-friendly. If you're unfamiliar with Affinity, it is described as, "an award- winning suite of professional design software has that become a sought-after solution for everything from photo editing to complex graphic and vector design." Some use ideas in the classroom for this tool are creating school logos, photo touch-ups, and ensuring publications look as professional as possible. This is typically a paid addition, but will be available as a free addition to Canva for Education users.
Integration with Google
Perhaps the most exciting update, in my opinion, is the ability to integrate with Google! Before, you had the option of bringing Google designs into Canva to work on, but soon you will have the option of taking Canva designs out of Canva and embedding them into Google tools. You will be able to create, add, and preview designs in Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Sheets, Docs, and Slides. This integration is said to "enhance creativity and organization, making collaboration easier than ever!" This will appear for districts who approve the add-on very soon!
Save Time with Work Kits
Another resource that's highly valuable is the addition of Teacher Work Kits. All teachers love to use their time efficiently, and when possible, ease their workload. Those are the exact goals that Work Kits provide. These are collections of templates that cover a wide variety of topics that are already created and ready to use! The categories they are divided into are Teacher-led Direct instruction templates, Guided Practice templates, Student Independent Practice Templates, Socio-emotional learning templates, project-based learning templates and planning templates. If you're interested in viewing the entire library of what's available, please check out the Canva Work Kits page on the Canva website. Currently, the templates in the library are geared for elementary teachers, but more levels will be added soon.
A Few More Updates
A few more updates that are worth noting is the addition of captions if you're an avid Canva videos user. Launching this week, captions will be auto-generated and allow you to customize the look and style of them on each of your video edits. Although a minor upgrade, a welcome one for video creation. Another cool addition to Canva that increases the attraction to it is Polls and Quizzes. Launching next week, you will be able to add interactive elements to your designs to provide real-time feedback. This is a terrific way to engage an audience without ever having to leave the Canva interface.
Canva Whiteboards
When our meeting was about over, I had the opportunity to look at the usage data for our district. There are some impressive numbers so far, considering we have just been fully immersed in Canva's goodness for just about a calendar year. One of the shocking pieces to see was that Canva whiteboards were one of the top 10 designs that teachers in Davenport have been creating. This allows teachers to fully interact with their students. Or, vise versa, students are able to create whiteboard projects and share them with their teacher. Each month, Canva highlights a new tool. Click on the thumbnail image and check out all that Canva Whiteboards are capable of!
Google "Aha" Tip of the Week
As we know, there are a lot of topics trending in the news right now, both as a result of the election from last week and with happenings on our nation. But, the Google Trends Visualizer helps put all of those searches in perspective. If you've ever visited the Google Trends site, it's a neat way to see what's popular. But, the Visualizer adds an entirely new element to it, complete with customizable tiles that make viewing a little easier!
Contact Mr. Mosier!
Have a question about a tip, trick, or tool? Have an idea for a future Ed Tech Tip newsletter? Send it via email below!
Email: mosiere@davenportschools.org
Website: sudlow.davenportschools.org
Location: Sudlow Intermediate School, East Locust Street, Davenport, IA, United States
Phone: 563-445-5150
Twitter/X: @emosier3