To complete my personal journey through media, my third digital platform that I wanted to investigate more thoroughly is Canva.com. I have personally been using Canva for about a year now. I have created both personal and professional projects for myself and have found it very user-friendly, full of great templates and inspires my creativity. I have created items such as wedding and shower invitations, seating arrangements, visual graphics for previous classes, classroom decor and posters, personal business advertisements, and a summary of learning video from ECI 831.
Personal Creations
Canva For Educators
Having much success on my own, I wanted to dive into the educational side of Canva that they recently released for educators. I applied for the educator version of Canva which allowed myself and my students access to all of the premium features on Canva for free. The educator version also allows the teacher to add all of their students to the class, and any project that they create they can share with you, receive feedback, and download files to share them on other platforms as well. I have my students download their projects and upload them to Seesaw activities for their parents to view and to include in their digital portfolios.
Project #1
The first project that I had my students create on Canva was creating their own 7 Sacred Teachings poster. Every month our administration focuses on one of the 7 sacred teachings during our morning assemblies (Love, courage, wisdom, truth, honesty, humility and respect). We often watch videos from the Grandfather teachings by Elder Hazel and discuss how we can incorporate these teachings into our daily lives. Each student chose which teaching they wanted to recreate for their own poster, and explain how they can demonstrate that teaching in their life. Here are some examples of their posters. Each teaching is represented by an animal. The students did a great job for this being their first experience with Canva.
Project #2
The next project that I had the students explore was creating an infographic. An infographic differs from a poster because the template is longer in size and allows for more space for information rather than just visuals. In health, we have been discussing infectious diseases. I had each student research an infectious disease, and then create an infographic explaining their infectious disease. This time around the students explored with more templates, graphics, text options and information. Again, the students really seemed to enjoy the process of creating a digital project just like I do.
Project #3
Lastly, my class will be participating in this year’s Saskatchewan Virtual Heritage Fair. The objective is for students to choose a topic related to Canadian heritage and complete a report on this topic and become an expert. Topics vary from the Canadian military to Tim Hortons, the Canadian Goose or even maple syrup. I gave my students the option of choosing a traditional poster, an essay, a PowerPoint or a video. Once students are complete, they will upload all of their files to the Heritage fair website and the committee will judge all of the projects. There is the potential for different age categories to win prizes and be recognized on a provincial level. For the students that choose the video option, I will have them use the video creator within Canva as I have previous experience with it. I showed my students my Summary of Learning video that I created in the fall of 2021 so that they could see what Canva is capable of for creating digital videos. Students will have to endure a bit of a learning curve to learn how to navigate the program however, I am willing to spend some extra time with those students that want the challenge of creating a video and stepping outside of their comfort zone. If you have any comments or questions regarding personal or professional use of Canva, please leave your thoughts below!
Ms. Mihial's Classroom 