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Canvas Learning Journal#

Document exploration and design of a learning-journal casa for Canvas.

  • 1701LHS, 1712LHS, 7714LAW

Spark#

Increasing need to support a more "learning process" focus in assessment leading to need for a learning journal type tool. Issues with the Response Tool and absence of similar functionality unsuitable. PebblePad too heavyweight an option for a light tough learning journal.

Design#

Exploration of Canvas community practices#

In summary,

  • Canvas doesn't provide a learning journal tool.
  • Various external vendors provide options.
  • Common "kludge" used by Canvas users is to use a (single student) group discussion topic, one for each student.
  • Implementation is not entirely straight forward.
  • In Canvas, each group gets their own "mini-Canvas" site, including discussion topics and much more.
  • May be some value in designing a CASA to create and manage a single student group based learning journal

Vendors#

Is there a journal?#

I need to create a way for students to collect a number of bi-weekly writing assignments in a private journal, or logbook, or portfolio.The complete collection of assignments will eventually be graded, but they will not necessarily be read or marked as soon as they are written.Students should also be able to go back and add to, or change their posts, or at least comment on them, and I need to do that too. I used to use the journal function in Blackboard for this, but can't find an equivalent in Canvas. In a response to another question I saw the suggestion to create individual discussions for each student, and that might work, although it will not be possible to set this up until the students have been added to the course because until then I cannot be sure how many they are. I would like to be able to do most of the setting up before term starts. 🙂 The e-portfolio looked promising, but that is not something I can assign and grade in a course, is it? An open assignment would work, I suppose, but that would mean opening six or seven different submissions per student, instead of just scrolling down, wouldn't it? And students would not be able to go back and change anything, would they? Perhaps discussions is the best option? Grateful for any suggestions .

Implementing private journals in Canvas#

2021 idea conversation

Private journals are hard to create though on Canvas. In the current system, one has to create group sets (e.g Private Journals) under “People” and assign students one by one. Then under discussion, a new discussion for each topic (Private Journal 1, Private Journal 2…) must be created, and importantly one should also remember to check “this is group discussion” (private journals etc) to make them private before saving…This process can be cumbersome

Amazement#

solutions#

In operation#

The group that is set up can have an entire "view" of Canvas - pages, discussions, files etc. Not just the discussion. Could be useful for setting up background, but using the discussion for submission? Canvas explanation is that groups "are a small version of a course".

Or perhaps by using multiple marked discussions for different tasks.