{"id":2433,"date":"2021-06-30T17:26:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T16:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/?p=2433"},"modified":"2025-07-15T11:34:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T10:34:44","slug":"creating-a-canvas-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/2021\/06\/30\/creating-a-canvas-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Canvas Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4 class=\"entry-content\"><strong style=\"color: #003f80;\">Dan Graham, Learning and Teaching Assistant<\/strong><\/h4>\n<h4 class=\"entry-content\"><strong><span style=\"color: #003f80;\">Philosophy<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<h4 class=\"entry-content\"><strong style=\"color: #e96556;\">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences<\/strong><\/h4>\n<hr \/>\n<h4 aria-level=\"1\"><strong>What did you do?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>We created a Canvas Community to\u00a0communicate with students and\u00a0share\u00a0useful\u00a0resources\u00a0including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\">A digital noticeboard<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\">Events<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\">Student\/ Staff Committee information<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\">Philosophy Society\u00a0updates<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\">Student led\u00a0week\u00a0newsletter<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\">Philosophy\u00a0podcast\u00a0hosted by Dr Stephen\u00a0Overy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2436 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-1-1024x461.png\" alt=\"Example of the Digital Noticeboard section of the community\" width=\"640\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-1-1024x461.png 1024w, https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-1-300x135.png 300w, https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-1-768x346.png 768w, https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-1.png 1257w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4 aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Who is\u00a0involved?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">All Philosophy students at all stages and Combined Honours students who study Philosophy modules<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Dan Graham, Learning and Teaching Assistant<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Dr Stephen Overy, Lecturer and Student engagement coordinator<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Dr Adam Potts, Lecturer and Degree Programme Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h4 aria-level=\"1\"><strong>How did you do it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The first step involved developing a sitemap outlining the different sections that would be useful for students. Once we had that in place, it was quite straightforward to develop the community in Canvas.<\/p>\n<p>The community\u00a0continues\u00a0to evolve\u00a0as students and colleagues\u00a0see\u00a0it as a great opportunity to engage with\u00a0other\u00a0students and share\u00a0resources.\u00a0For\u00a0example,\u00a0the Philosophy Society\u00a0requested\u00a0an area\u00a0to share\u00a0information\u00a0about\u00a0who they are,\u00a0what they\u00a0do\u00a0and\u00a0upcoming\u00a0events\u00a0that\u00a0all students can get involved in.<\/p>\n<p>As well as making sure that the content on the site is what students need, there were a few other areas we wanted to get right to make the community valuable to all students:<\/p>\n<p><b>Structure<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Canvas has enabled us to structure the community in a way\u00a0that is easy to use so\u00a0students\u00a0can see\u00a0all of\u00a0the different sections on one page and easily navigate to the area\u00a0they\u00a0need.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ve created\u00a0templates for\u00a0different types of content and this consistency helps students know where to go to find information.<\/p>\n<p>The structure of the community is dynamic, and we try to think about the information that will be most important to students at a particular time and put that at the top. During assessment period important content included deadlines, staff office hours, where to go for out of hours support and study spaces available on Campus. So, we made sure this was the first thing that students saw when they visited the community.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2438 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-2-1024x424.png\" alt=\"Useful information section of the community\" width=\"640\" height=\"265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-2-1024x424.png 1024w, https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-2-300x124.png 300w, https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-2-768x318.png 768w, https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/files\/2021\/06\/Community-screenshot-2.png 1237w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Accessibility<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Accessibility\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0really\u00a0important\u00a0issue\u00a0and we consider this with all content. We do have\u00a0a\u00a0PDF version of the\u00a0newsletter\u00a0but\u00a0this is also\u00a0converted\u00a0into\u00a0a Canvas page\u00a0making it\u00a0accessible for everyone.<\/p>\n<p><b>Getting the communication right<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I send out a weekly summary of anything new that\u2019s been added to the community. This means that students aren\u2019t\u00a0bombarded\u00a0with emails but get timely reminders about content they might be interested in.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4 aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Why did you do it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>We needed a space for students where we could share important information, events and opportunities in a way that wouldn\u2019t be overwhelming. We knew we wanted to avoid sending lots of emails, so a Canvas community seemed a great option.\u00a0\u00a0There were also elements of the student common room that we wanted to recreate virtually. The digital noticeboard is a good example of this.<\/p>\n<p>Setting up a community also means that we can easily enrol other students\u00a0taking Philosophy modules,\u00a0so for example\u00a0Combined\u00a0Honours students are part of the community.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><strong>Does it work?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Canvas analytics is a really helpful tool, and we can see that students are using the community. We can access data on page views and the average time students are spending on a page. This is all useful information when considering how well content is being received.<\/p>\n<p>There are some aspects\u00a0of the community\u00a0that\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0as well used as\u00a0others,\u00a0but we expect to see more engagement as the\u00a0community develops over the next year.\u00a0We\u2019d\u00a0love to see the community\u00a0grow\u00a0even\u00a0more so students can use it as a place to chat and have a forum on there.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0also thinking about how to improve the type of content we have\u00a0and\u00a0are\u00a0exploring ideas around\u00a0videos and\u00a0podcasts\u00a0to increase engagement with the Student\u00a0Staff\u00a0Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Colleagues have also shared positive feedback about the community:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe Philosophy Community is an invaluable resource for students. It presents important information in a simple and intuitive way. The Community has helped solve the problem of email saturation by making key dates and instructions easily visible, and keeping students informed about events and opportunities. The nature of the Community means this happens as a two-way\u00a0process, and\u00a0allows active students the chance to advertise events and opportunities they have found or created. Engagement with the Community has been very\u00a0promising\u00a0and we&#8217;ll keep growing it!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Stephen Overy, Philosophy Lecturer and Student Engagement Co-ordinator<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div>&#8220;The Philosophy Community page is a fantastic initiative conceived by our Learning and Teaching Assistant, Daniel Graham. This page, located on all Philosophy student\u2019s Canvas dashboards, houses key information related to the programme, including the Philosophy newsletter, assessment deadlines, society events, committee dates, socials, and much more. It is a smart way of organising a range of information that is user-friendly and accessible. Also, given the email saturation that occurred this academic year, it helps streamline the Philosophy communications. The page launched this year and saw great engagement. It will be a vital tool for the degree going forward.&#8221;<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div><strong>Dr Adam Potts, Lecturer and Degree Programme Director<\/strong><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><strong>Student Voice\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis\u00a0Community\u00a0is designed to contain all of the workings of the department in one, easy-access location, so we no longer have to sift through past emails to find updates\/announcements, old issues of the newsletter\u00a0etc\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe podcast\u00a0is a great way to find out more about our very interesting faculty and the research that they are currently working on.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Izzy Mitcham 3rd\u00a0Year Philosophy Student\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4 aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Useful Resources<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncl.ac.uk\/learning-and-teaching\/effective-practice\/learning-communities\/\">Effective Learning Communities &#8211; guides on Learning and Teaching website<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Philosophy team needed a space for students where they could share important information, events and opportunities in a way that wouldn\u2019t be overwhelming. They knew they wanted to avoid sending lots of emails, so a Canvas Community provided a great option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3007,"featured_media":2441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,560,272,394],"tags":[618,616,615],"class_list":["post-2433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-canvas","category-hass","category-philosophical-studies","tag-learning-communities","tag-student-engagement","tag-undergraduate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2433"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3974,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433\/revisions\/3974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/casestudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}