Back by popular demand, the Poorvu Center hosted a Canvas Lightning Talks event on May 19th, bringing together innovative educators and technologists from Yale to share practical strategies for enhancing course design, student engagement, and learning outcomes using Canvas. Each poster showcased a distinct approach to leveraging Canvas’s features, offering actionable insights for instructors across disciplines.
Poorvu Center's Canvas Lightning Talks Celebrate Innovative Course Design
Canvas Assignments: ‘A One Stop Shop’ Poster Download
Poster Highlights
Canvas Assignments: ‘A One Stop Shop’
Mansi Bajaj, Lector of South Asian Studies, presents a streamlined approach to Canvas course design, emphasizing clarity, accessibility, and efficiency. By centralizing all course materials and assessments in the Assignments section and organizing them by weekly modules, instructors can reduce confusion and save students’ time. The “One Stop Shop” design enhances student experience, promotes consistent engagement, and supports more effective learning by reducing cognitive load. Student feedback highlights appreciation for this intuitive structure, which makes it easier to stay on track and engage with course content.
Optimizing Canvas with Speakology AI Poster Download
Optimizing Canvas with Speakology AI
Sarab AL Ani, Arabic Language Program Director, introduces Speakology AI, a specialized language learning platform integrated into Canvas. Speakology AI uses advanced avatars to simulate interactive video or phone calls, providing students with a safe environment to practice speaking and listening skills. The platform offers curriculum alignment, realistic interaction, privacy and safety features, instant feedback, and proficiency mapping. At Yale, Speakology AI is being trialed as a Canvas navigation tool, offering aligned feedback and immediate post-session reports to support language learning.
Sarab recently published an article within which she shares her experiences and lessons learned integrating the platform in her course.
Canvas as a Guided Pathway Poster Download
Canvas as a Guided Pathway
Devon Barker, Assistant Director of Educational and Engagement Technology, demonstrates how thoughtful design, structure, and analytics can help students move confidently through required content. The “Yale 101: Mapping Your Academic Journey” course used clear Canvas modules, visual page buttons, and Panopto videos to create a guided, accessible experience. With 100% attendance and over 90% completion of required videos, the course’s success is attributed to easy navigation and data-driven improvements. The use of Google Gemini for page buttons ensured a unified visual style, while Panopto provided valuable analytics for future course updates.
Designing Canvas Modules with Clarity and Purpose Poster Download
Designing Canvas Modules with Clarity & Purpose
Ryan Sobeck, Associate Director of Educational and Engagement Technology, outlines six key design decisions for building effective Canvas modules. These include disabling other navigation tools, creating visual hierarchies, using text headings, repeating module names, identifying content by type, and organizing materials in a prescribed linear order. The poster emphasizes the importance of grouping related content, moderating student progress, and facilitating self-paced learning. By lowering cognitive load and stress, well-designed modules help students find relevant materials when they need them, supporting both clarity and purposeful learning.
If you’d like to learn more or discuss implementing these ideas in your own course, please contact the Canvas @ Yale team for support and resources at canvas@yale.edu.